Hello! My name is Alan Leonardo. I'm a filmmaker and animator from Houston, Texas.

In 2024 I made my debut short film LEATHERBACK on a $5,000 budget. It's a found footage sci-fi film about time travel and grief. It ended up with 15 international festival selections, 4 wins, and a selection at a BAFTA-qualifying film festival. The Houston premiere is August 29, 2026. It hits YouTube September 4th.

But... LEATHERBACK was never meant to be just one film! It's the first installment of a planned trilogy.

I actually started back in 2019, when I began developing The Orkanian Odyssey, a massive 2D animated feature film set on a distant abstract alien planet, originally conceived as a comic titled The Time Grapplers. I spent 4 years building that world before a YouTube video I made back in 2021 called PROJECT LEATHERBACK planted a tiny little seed in my brain that I couldn't ignore. So, I set aside Orkanian Odyssey to the side and made LEATHERBACK first. Now I realize why. LEATHERBACK is the beginning of the story and Orkanian Odyssey is how it ends.

The second film, LEATHERBACK 2, picks up in 2031. Anthony Schmitt is living as a ghost, hiding in the basement of a restaurant, quietly running an escape network with his niece, Kaitlyn, helping people escape a totalitarian regime using time manipulation technology. When he discovers his old partner Yulon Ackster is being used as the regime's lead scientist, he has no choice but to go get him. What follows is three people trapped in a basement, a ticking clock, and a friendship on the verge of collapse under the weight of a secret nobody will say out loud.

The third film, The Orkanian Odyssey, jumps 300 years into the future on a distant alien world, where the consequences of everything Yulon Ackster set in motion comes full circle.

The stories of these 2 projects are outlined and the lore and the worlds are made. What I need is the budget to make them reality.

As a thank you, anyone who donates $200 or more will receive a Special Thanks credit in LEATHERBACK 2 and a shoutout on social media.

Anyone who donates $100 or more gets exclusive access to the unfinished 2020 cut of The Orkanian Odyssey. 15 minutes never released in its entirety, last worked on in 2023!

If you've ever wanted to watch something get made from the ground up, this is your chance to be part of it from the beginning! :)