A highly decorated, former Navy SEAL is tasked by the Pentagon to train a new A.I. drone program to replace human “boots on the ground,” only to discover his own demons – which the newly sentient A.I. uses against him.

MARS ET AVRIL director, Martin Villeneuve, is officially helming the sci-fi, military drama MORALITAS, written by Michael Gozzard, who wrote the Lionsgate feature PRIDE, starring Oscar nominee Terrance Howard and the late Bernie Mac.

Villeneuve’s feature debut, the groundbreaking, sci-fi fantasy MARS ET AVRIL, starring Robert Lepage and Caroline Dhavernas, cost only a stunning $2.3 million to produce.

The achievement earned Villeneuve a prestigious invitation to give a TED Talk on how he made his acclaimed sci-fi feature on such a micro budget. Villeneuve is only the third film director to make a TED Talk presentation – the two others are James Cameron and J.J. Abrams – nice company.

Image — James Duncan Davidson © TED 2013

Exact plot is being kept under wraps, but MORALITAS takes place in the near future and centers on a highly decorated Navy SEAL, who is tasked to train a new, military A.I., only to discover his own demons – which the newly sentient A.I. uses against him.

MORALITAS is currently out to producers and talent. Ryan McGlazer put Villeneuve and Gozzard together and is Co-Producing.

Villeneuve is repped by David Flynn at UTA.