Pelican Pictures aims to make films with commercial value and artistic integrity.
We are a home for international film-makers to help find expression for their talent & ideas.
We have the drive to realize imagination and tell stories that captivate, challenge & entertain.
Joe Rabl heard the call to ‚go west‘ and moved to the United States to pursue his ambition and passion for acting. He attended schools in Los Angeles (Harry Mastrogeorge, Stella Adler) & New York (Lee Strasberg Institute) paying his way as a private chef for the likes of; James Newton Howard, David Geffen, Pete Sampras, William Robinson,
Mark Mack Architects in Los Angeles.
He started in TV on ‚The Visitor‘ & ‚Brooklyn South‘, appeared in short films ‚Ice Cream Sundae‘ with Tippi Hedren (written and directed by Désirée Nosbusch, music by Harald Kloser) & ‚A.W.O.L.‘ with David Morse & John McGinley (written by Shane Black) and then made his feature début in ‚Godzilla‘ (TriStar Pictures, Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin) followed by ‚Breakdown‘ with Kurt Russell. (Paramount Pictures, Dino de Laurentiis, Jonathan Mostow)
After returning to Europe he has continued to perform in both Hollywood productions: ‚U-571‘ (Universal) & ‚Spectre‘ (Eon) and independent films: ‚Snakebite‘ & ‚Schilf‘ He has also gained wide-spread recognition in the German-speaking world both in TV series‘ and becoming well known as a commercial model at home and abroad. He has appeared in photo campaigns, TV and print commercials and magazines for clients and networks in Germany & Austria: 3Austria, EnBW, Sixt Germany, DEKRA, Bang & Olufsen, Mercure Hotels Germany, Best Western, Sixt, EnBW, Siemens and Mercedes Benz, Raiffeisen Bank Austria and Porsche, Württemberger Wine, Pro7, Sat1, Arte, ARD and ORF.
The Art of Finding Ideas:
WE ARE Pelican Pictures creativity, we find original film concepts:
We’re here to challenge the way people see things: no matter how big or small, our passion is inspiring audiences to look at the world differently.
We believe the most powerful stories are not about what people do, but about why they do it. This runs through all of our work, whether it’s an independent feature film, a national advertising campaign or a 30-second film for a website, we work tirelessly with a carefully selected team of people to tell the best possible version of the story in the form of a beautifully-crafted film.
Not content with just being in front of the camera, Joe Rabl launched his company Pelican Pictures, as a executive producer / producer/ director and screenwriter, he wants to foster international collaboration and generate projects with commercial value and artistic integrity.
He has created his production company ‚Pelican Pictures‘ to work on his own projects and also to foster international collaboration with other creative talent. He is developing his own feature projects: ‚Solar Storm‘, ‚In The Shadow Of The Red Salamander‘ & ‚Merka ‚ and let’s go to Hollywood….
Pelican Pictures will be a home for film-makers to connect and find expression for their talents, a place of support and joining together to make high quality films.
I spent six months working on a trawler out of Dutch Harbour, Alaska in the Bering Sea and, apart from the savage beauty of the ocean and nature around me, my eye was drawn to the firmament above and the mystical wonder and spectacle of the Aurora Borealis. The shapes and colours of the Sun’s charged particles interacting with the upper atmosphere producing what the Cree called the ‚Dance of the Spirits’…It reminded me that despite our technological advances we are a part of Nature and its forces and therefore there are influences on us beyond our control. Natural disasters are all too obvious in the way they disrupt our lives but what about the more subtle unconscious effect of the environment on us. We are usually aware of how we feel when it rains or shines, if we’re hot or cold and how our mood changes depending on how much light we receive to open our eyes, open our hearts…but can we be engaged at a level deeper than we suspect.
Having talked with a senior police officer I found out that it is no urban myth that the emergency services are more busy at the time of a full-moon…what if the Sun could have a similar effect on human behaviour…2013 marks the climax of the 11 year cycle of solar activity and there have been some amazing images captured by astronomers of solar flares this year but what if the Earth’s natural defence of gravity deflecting the waves of coronal mass ejections to the poles is impaired either as result of man-made environmental impact or an unusual scale of event…what if our scientific studies geared to the protection of electrical infrastructure have ignored the ‚danger‘ to the human being’s physical and psychological metabolism…what if the all-pervasive commercial imperative behind the safeguarding of satellites, communication networks, power grids etc. is ignoring something fundamental…the effect on ourselves…this is the genesis of Solar Storm.
The writing of Solar Storm:
The story-telling maxim of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and/or doing extraordinary things is given a wonderful conceit in the premise of Solar Storm – the characters trapped in their different lives are given a licence to find a way out of their problems, doing things they wouldn’t normally do and coincide because of the governing factors beyond their control – however they are not just pawns in some cosmic game of providence because what particularly interests me is the very personal way they try and understand and deal with what happens to them. If you contest the scientific interpretation of research done on the phenomenon of the effect on human behaviour by solar activity then this ‚abstract‘ idea is made real by someone failing a test that they normally would ace…if there is a victim of the global economic downturn, losing their job having tried to better their life or someone seeking a new life and being exploited, there can be a tendency to be immune to these stories because of their regularity in our news-saturated lives…but to find a way to show these people as individuals with individual needs and concerns – to engage an audience with a dramatic style to enquire about the motivation of their actions then there is an invitation to think again, about the cause and effect flap of the butterfly wings, this time captured through the lens of a motion camera. So themes of financial crises, environment, abusive relationships, economic migration and human trafficking, social crises, identity and love are explored through the very personal journeys of the characters and identify things that affect us all.
Dear Joe
I was so pleased to read the story and the script of ‚Solar Storm‘.
It’s a terrific movie with a lot of suspense, action, drama with a right bit of romance. But overall the mood and the environment surrounding the main characters, created by the Solar Storm is in my opinion one of the lead role in this movie. Its effects on the infrastructures, on the softwares, computers or whatever electronic devices is banned by the powerful magnetic field, is absolutely a awesome and original idea to put in background of a apparently simple story between Joe, the Shark, Jasmine and the Inspector Munro, become more complex in an extraordinary circumstance like the Solar Storm and what pandemonium it creates all around the world.
Here is the genial thing in this movie.
All the characters in Solar Storm are well defined and fit perfectly the story: JOE, great charcater, and his past crime world trying to live in simple way but capsizes in incredible events; JASMINE with her unexpected events to come; and overall the INSPECTOR MUNRO, lovely charcter, old school detective, great personality, chasing Joe and Jasmine and the gangs in a world becoming crazy..for sure will be magnificent on the screen; the interesting bad guy llke the SHARK, strong personality; the MAYOR, a double personality, classic business man that use the politic for cover, hide affairs and increase his fortune.
But also all the supporting cast are believable and ’surround‘ the main cast in perfect way.
So Joe Rabl he did such a beautiful work conceiving the story and writing the wonderful script. 
One important mention is about the design and the ‚look‘ of the movie: Solar Storm is set in a modern city when its magnetic fields and radiations put down every electronic devices, software, connections and the electric power creating chaos, panic among people…there is some thunders, explosions, fires, electric wires hit by the Sun creates sparks and so on. So in all this contest all the city is like transformed in a dangerous place where the elements in night are just very dimly illuminated aside natural events happening here an d there.
I was so fascinated by this world and that was one of the reason i adore this script and as a Production designer creating this ‚atmosphere‘ will be more than a honor for me.
Grazie Joe Rabl,CEO and Founder of Pelican Pictures
Davide Stefano,Rom,Italy
Production Designer
The Sun reaches a climax of activity, massive ejections of matter and electromagnetic radiation are thrown into space…it’s a solar storm and it’s heading towards Earth. As scientists monitor this phenomenon, an event of a different kind is in full swing – the City Mayor’s Re-election Fund-raiser. After Joe (a guitar-playing, reformed petty criminal) gives leftover food to a homeless guy he returns to serve champagne to the great and the glittering good including Eric (a seemingly respectable businessman with a dark mode of operation) and his wife Jasmine (poised on the outside but hiding their abusive relationship & her hopeless outlook)
Joe takes his meagre earnings to a bar to drown his despondency with life and is found by his old friend Shark (a gang leader with a taste for voodoo) He resists the temptation of joining Shark in their old ways with his proposition of robbing a gas station. The city gives way to the slumber of the night except for the increasing excitement of the scientists observing the sun and decision to issue an alert to all agencies.
Dawn breaks and as the Mayor attends a disaster-planning briefing and the news media starts to broadcast information regarding the imminent impact of the solar storm and its possible effects: Joe is threatened with eviction for non-payment of rent and his only possession of value, his guitar, is taken away from him; Inspector Rich Munro (a been-there-seen-it-arrested-it old-school police detective) performs badly on a weapons test and; Jasmine & Eric have breakfast with their bickering conversation changing to a threatening tension between them, despite the presence of her son.
Joe is desperate for money and remembering his conversation with Shark the previous night, steals a gun and decides to rob the gas station. Jasmine is there, filling up after taking her son to school and the Inspector is washing his car on his way home from work. Joe grabs Jasmine and forces the Attendant to hand over the money at gunpoint, the Inspector tries to intervene but has to back down, Joe handcuffs him to the Attendant and escapes by forcing Jasmine to drive her car to get away despite the Inspector’s threat that he will hunt him down.
Eric proves he’s not quite the respectable business man and husband he appears, pimping Jasmine out for cash to the Mayor and putting pressure on Joe’s Landlord to get him his money. The Mayor explores the potential for personal financial gain through exploiting the impending crisis. Jasmine skilfully evades the police in pursuit and takes Joe to a secluded car park. When Jasmine tries to escape, Joe catches her and can’t let her go as he agreed…some kind of connection is growing between them.
Police radios break-up, traffic signals malfunction and a volatile incident involving street people are signs that the ‚Storm is exerting its influence despite the Mayor’s public re-assurances. The robbery is reported on the T.V. news and seen by Shark, he is not happy with what he sees and sets out to find Joe. The Inspector makes it back to headquarters and continues his investigation, despite a rising tension with his team he discovers Joe’s identity and his address as Eric, concerned that Jasmine has missed an appointment, finds out that her car isn’t where it should be.
Joe takes Jasmine to his apartment to hide, evading capture on the subway…they get increasingly close as they share something of their lives and why they feel trapped. Jasmine reveals the abusive nature of Eric, Joe doesn’t know what to do but he does know that he cares for her. The Inspector brings in a S.W.A.T. Team and prepares to raid…Shark is on his way…
The Inspector and S.W.A.T. Team smash into the apartment to the surprise of the couple that live there – it’s Joe’s old address but at the same time Shark arrives at the right address and hammers on the door – Joe, thinking it’s the police, tells Jasmine it’s over and he’s going to escape but she doesn’t want to be left behind. They run over the roof tops and are chased by Shark who wants the money. Joe is shot and he and Jasmine are both hurt in the fight that ensues…Joe loses his gun but they get away, even when they run into a stand-off between police and a violent group of youths, the police actually help them away not realising Joe is wanted as they try to contain the rioters and arrest Shark.
The Inspector tells Eric what’s happened, Eric seems genuinely distraught as the Inspector realises there might be an element of Stockholm Syndrome or even collusion on Jasmine’s part. Eric calls Joe’s Landlord and tells him to find them as the Inspector searches for more information.
After escaping Shark’s gang members Joe and Jasmine hole-up in a hotel. They dress their wounds, they make love and decide to rob Eric and start a new life together. The Landlord and the Inspector, independently track them down as a beautifully strange aurora colours the night-time sky. An electrical surge sets the hotel on fire and they have to avoid the Landlord as they get away through the city – a city on fire in the chaos of full scale riot and looting which increases when the power grid and mobile network fails. They manage to lose the Landlord although the Inspector almost has them cornered – when a satellite crashes into the mayhem…they disappear but the Inspector has a hunch and isn’t giving up his quarry.
At Jasmine & Eric’s apartment, Eric’s presence surprises them, Jasmine shoots him, she picked-up Joe’s gun on the roof, Joe tries to stop her by taking the gun and is caught with it in his hand as the Inspector arrives and arrests Joe.
Joe writes a song for Jasmine in his cell, the Inspector drives home and Jasmine warns her son about the effects of the sun…the effects of a Solar Storm…
Can’t wait for Solar Storm to start in theaters worldwide? Check out our gallery here.
Joe Rabl, CEO
Headquarter Pelican Pictures:
Pelican Pictures, EOOD:
ul. Verila.5, Fl.2, 1463 Sofia, Bulgaria
BG: 206805350
Office: +359 2 868 4599
Web: www.joerabl.com
Email: office@pelicanpictures.net
Christian Collovà
Attorney Pelican Pictures International:
Legal International:
Senior Partner
Viale Pasteur, 5 – 00144 Rome, Italy
Tel. +39 06 5917071
Fax +39 06 5926372 / +39 06 96681303 (efax)
Web: www.legalinternational.com
Email: c.collova@legalinternational.com
Valentin Dobrev
Attorney Pelican Pictures Bulgaria, Sofia:
Ruskov & Colleagues Lawyers:
Verila Str.5, Fl.2, 1463 Sofia, Bulgaria
Web: www.ruskov-law.eu/bulgaria/contact.html
Email: v.dobrev@ruskov-law.eu
Fax: + 359 (0)2 868 11 41
Radostina Milenkova
Accounting Pelican Pictures Bulgaria, Sofia:
Germania OOD:
Verila Str.5, Fl.2, 1463 Sofia, Bulgaria
Office: +359 2 868 4599
Web: www.germania.bg
Email: assistant3@germania.bg
Solar Storm Original idea and Pictures
(C) 2025 by Joe Rabl. All rights reserverd.
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