Graphic Novel
Supported by Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice programme
Set during the final tremors of the Cold War, Colonel KURTZ follows a covert eco‑intelligence unit confronting a multinational network involved in nuclear‑waste trafficking, financial corruption, and geopolitical manipulation.
The story spans two decades — from a Siberian gulag in 1989 to London, New York, Rome and the Middle East in 2011 — and is told in a tense, realistic, character‑driven style. At its centre is Colonel Walter Kurtz, a veteran Russian intelligence officer operating off‑book with a small team of operatives who exist outside any official chain of command.
Supported by Arts Council England, the project is undergoing a structured phase of research, writing, and visual development, including historical study, narrative architecture, character design, and visual experimentation.
Episode 2 — Honey Trap · London, 1995
Mario Macario — a Monaco-based Italian naval engineer, with criminal ties — is at the Ritz to finalise
a nuclear waste disposal contract with Korean government representatives. Kurtz’s unit, coordinated
from a surveillance van, deploys Tyra, a Mossad operative twenty-five-year-old Krav Maga expert,
undercover among the models at an exclusive Marylebone mansion. The operation runs on multiple
parallel tracks. The deal is hours from closing. Macario will not go back to Monaco in one piece.
Everything between that decision and its execution is Episode Two.
Episode 3 — New York, New York · New York, 2001
Cargo ships are mysteriously sunk in the Mediterranean Sea. During the weeks surrounding 9/11,
Kurtz is operating in the city to track down the responsible man behind the sinking; simultaneously,
the city is grieving and being reconfigured by the forces that have harmed its people. Maxim, a
ruthless, lethal operative from a dark past, supports Kurtz’s NYC mission. Surveillance expands.
Intelligence becomes privatised. Kurtz enters a world where the emergency never ends.
Episode 1 — Exfiltration · Siberia, 1989
Three months before the Berlin Wall falls, Kurtz lands at Gulag 939 in a Soviet MI-8 helicopter. He is
there to extract one man: Vladimir Holovitz, known in Moscow as Dragovic — a German double
agent long presumed dead by his own service, abandoned by both sides, rotting in a cell. Son of a
Russian mathematician and a German Jew. Once the sharpest intelligence asset in Europe. Now
barely conscious on a metal bed, the spark gone from his eyes. Kurtz enters alone, dismisses the
guards, and confronts the broken man with a proposition: trust the enemy, or die here.
Short-animated movie (11.20″)
Genre: Gritty, Espionage
Completed independently in 2025 — part of the same narrative world
The short animated film Colonel KURTZ (11’20”) was produced in 2025 as an early exploration of the saga’s atmosphere. While separate from the ACE‑funded graphic novel, the film has screened internationally and contributed to the project’s visual identity.
Festival Selections:
- Portobello Film Festival — The Muse Gallery, London
- Festival Internationale Gbaka Animation — Institut Français de Lomé
- Exploding Cinema — The Cinema Museum, London
Selected at Portobello Film Festival, it will be screened at Local London and UK Films 4 on Friday 12th September 2025 at the Muse Gallery, 269 Portobello Road, London, W11 1LR
Selected at 2025 Festival Internationale Gbaka Animation in Lomé, at the Institut Français de Lomé & Agora Senghor, Togo from 10th to 12th October 2025.
Colonel KURTZ will screen at London’s Exploding Cinema on 22 May 2026 at The Cinema Museum, 2 Dugard Way, London SE11 4TH. Following its first public showing at The Muse Gallery in Portobello Road, this event marks the film’s debut in a dedicated cinema setting, presented as part of Exploding Cinema’s long‑running independent film programme. Tickets and full event details are available via Exploding Cinema’s official site.
Synopsis Set three months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Colonel KURTZ follows a seasoned Russian intelligence officer on a covert mission to exfiltrate a German double agent from a Siberian gulag. Against the backdrop of the Cold War’s final tremors, the story unfolds as a tense, atmospheric escape through frozen territory and shifting allegiances.
As Kurtz and the prisoner, Vlad, navigate the hostile landscape, a fragile bond forms between them — one that transcends national divisions and reflects a shared vision of a world without walls. The film blends espionage, psychological tension and human vulnerability, capturing the final moments of an era defined by secrecy, ideology and the pursuit of freedom.
Along the way, a bond forms between Kurtz and Vlad, transcending national allegiances as they share their dream of an ideal world without walls led by social justice.