

The Sci-Fi Romantic Independent film WITHOUT WARD takes place in the future where a one-world government; Contractualism, controls everything. A notable inventor, Ward (Martin Landau), creates a drug which allows people to literally live in their wildest dreams. Over the next 20 years, 50% of the world's population ends up on the drug, while the Union of United Esquires, lawyers with guns that act as the worlds police force by fulfilling and enforcing contracts, take care of them.
Acting
Landau's swan song performance, brief but committed
Production
Wildly ambitious worldbuilding on clearly limited budget
Director
Cory Cataldo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Martin Landau's final screen performance before his death in 2017; the film was completed years later and released posthumously in 2022.
The 'Union of United Esquires' concept eerily anticipated discussions about privatized police and contractual governance that dominated 2020s discourse.