For the woman at the centre of Chell Stephen’s darkly comedic debut feature, online shaming may be the worst of all possible fates. Played by Romina D’Ugo (I LIKE MOVIES, KCFF23), Andy is a floundering, fraudulent entrepreneur who responds to the controversy swirling around her by retreating to her family’s remote cottage. But her plans to bring a definitive end to her problems go off the tracks when she meets Ryland (Augustus Oicle), a local with a troubled history of his own. Shot in Lyndhurst with many Queen’s film students among the crew, Stephen’s first feature uses a spiky sense of humour as a means of tackling tough subject matter. The rapport between D’Ugo and Oicle becomes another vital source of energy and – as the connection between their characters deepens – a surprising wealth of emotion, too.

This film is making its Canadian premiere!

Director: Chell Stephen

Cast: Romina D’Ugo, Augustus Oicle

Language: English

Runtime: 87 minutes

Content warning: mental health issues, self-harm, mature themes discussion/depiction of suicide 

Chell Stephen, Director

Writer/director Chell Stephen was raised in Toronto on healthy doses of music videos, The X-Files and teen dance movies — influences which shaped her debut short film CRYSTAL (SXSW, 2014) a dark comedy about a be-spandexed 17-year-old jerk. Its follow up, Shauna is a Liar, is based on a true story from Chell’s youth and features poppy camp visuals, a dash of surreal, plus an earnest beating heart at the center- aka Chell’s wheelhouse.

With a B.A in Media Studies from the U of Southern Maine, and an MA in Television-Radio-Film from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, Chell (with a hard CH) moved to NYC at 22 to start a three year stint as a producer/writer/director/editor at VOD network Music Choice. Brooklyn weekends were spent directing music videos for stand out indie bands BLK JKS, The Gay Blades and Earl Greyhound with production company family Think/Feel.

Obsessed with storytelling from a young age, Chell believes all good art should make you feel less alone. She’s drawn to exploring the darker themes of humanity — bad attitudes, bad habits, bad gals — but doing it all through the brightest possible lens, with out-of-this-world colors and as many foggers as we can rent. Chell has also worked professionally as an editor for commercials and music videos which helped hone her sharp eye for rhythm and pace. Her filmmaking style has been called sophisticated, confident and raucous; she loves to execute big daring visuals but not at the expense of working with actors intimately. Chell believes vulnerability is a super power and has historically never shied away from sharing way too much with everybody — inviting her collaborators into the murky soup of human emotion with her. You know… for fun!

Chell is a Sundance Fellow, selected to participate in the 2017 New Voices Episodic Lab with her series, Kidnapping Brihanna and after completing the 2019 WB Directors’ Workshop she directed an episode of The CW’s Riverdale in fall of 2019. Her second TV directing gig (shot Covid-style) was on Global TV’s Nurses in September 2020. She also directs fashion/ music content for brands including L’Oreal, JanSport, Fendi and Givenchy while repping the motherland in full Blue Jays regalia, from “fourth largest Canadian city,” Los Angeles.

Djouliet Amara, Actor

Romina D’Ugo, Actor

Augustus Rivers, Actor