FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 16, 2023 (Montreal, QC): Cameras have started rolling on Montreal-based writer/director, Susanne Serres’ debut feature film Celestine with regional production funding from Telefilm Canada, along with the WIDC Feature Film Award, which includes in kind sponsorships from screen industry companies across the country.

An original English-language drama with Afro-futurist elements, Celestine is produced by Slykid (Mars and April, Our Own, North of Albany) and financed by Telefilm Canada and the WIDC Feature Film Award with Montreal-based Maison 4:3 on board to distribute. Shooting in two blocks through to the end of March 2023 with a second block being lensed in August 2023, Celestine was developed through the Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) Story & Leadership Program (2019). 

The screenplay is written by Susanne Serres and Kim Barr. Inspired by Serres’ own lived experiences, Celestinefuses graphic art and Afro-futurism to build a healing bridge between the Black and LGBTQiA+ communities. 

The film’s cast includes the up-and-coming talents of Chanel Mings (Motel Paradis, 2022; Falena Whistler Film Festival 2022) playing visual artist Cassie whose graphic novel comes to life as she fantasises about heroic adventures with the girl of her dreams, played by Maxine Denis (Polarized, 2023). Thomas Wilkinson Fullerton(CBS / Global’s Ghosts) plays Cassie’s out and proud forever-friend, Luca.

Cassie’s devoutly religious immigrant family will be played by Phyllis Gooden (The Bold Type, Broken Trust) as Cassie’s widowed mother Esther, Nouella Grimes as Mamie, Cassie’s kindly grandmother, and is rounded out by Ralph Prosper (District 31, White House Down) playing Cassie’s strict uncle, Tonton Eugene.

“Celestine is a story about love and expression through art that opens the way to a spirituality that is healthy, inclusive, and accessible to everyone,” says writer/director Susanne Serres. “I feel blessed by the commitment and enthusiasm from my entire team, including our funders, sponsors and community.” 

The project is being lensed by DP Benoit Beaulieu (North of Albany, Peace by Chocolate, NBC / CTV’s Transplant), who is also producing the film. Lee Paula Springer serves as associate producer. Serres is an executive producer along with WIDC’s Carol Whiteman. Whiteman is executive producer on nine other award-winning WIDC Feature Film Award films including director Kim Albright’s debut feature With Love and a Major Organ which world premieres at South By Southwest Film & TV Festival in March 2023.

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CELESTINE | Synopsis

In present day Montreal, CASSIE ST CYR’s (18) coming out has caused her devoutly religious family to stage a series of interventions that only serve to drive her away and deeper into the Afro-futuristic graphic novel world she is creating. When Cassie’s best friend LUCA (18) encourages her to express her feelings for ALEAH (18), the girl of her dreams, Cassie’s religious teachings run so deep that everything goes wrong. Overwhelmed, Cassie feels utterly empty and surrounded by darkness and her fictional characters begin to merge into her real life. In a race against time to get home before the planet she is on dies, interplanetary heroine, CELESTINE (played in live action by Cassie) must summon the courage to take a leap of faith. Is she worthy?

CHANEL MINGS | Cassie / Celestine
Born and raised in Ontario, CHANEL MINGS is a polyvalent bilingual actress. She moved to Quebec in 2011 to pursue her extensive theater training at Collège Lionel-Groulx. Shortly after graduating in 2018, her career took off: Chanel made her way to the big screen, but it was on television that she first attracted attention by landing lead and recurring roles in series such as LES PETITS ROIS, NOUS, MOTEL PARADIS, CEREBRUM and AVANT LE CRASH to name a few. Chanel Mings is known for her poignant and nuanced performances and her commitment to exploring complex characters in her work as an actress.

MAXINE DENIS | Aleah / Alix
Fluent in four languages, Maxine Denis (she/her) is a Lebanese/Canadian actor and creative artist working in the film and television industry. She moved from Dubai, U.A.E. where she was born and raised, to Montreal to pursue higher education and a career as a professional actor. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University. Her most recent acting credits include a lead role in the feature film Polarized, directed by Shamim Sarif, a lead role on the horror feature Mary, Fuck, Kill produced by Incendo and Tubi (a FOX owned platform), a principal role in Sony Productions’ Party of Five and more. She is also the lead on an indie French/Arabic feature film titled Le Ventre de Bassima.Denis is very involved in the voice over world as well, having narrated and produced audiobooks for Amazon’s Audible platform. Her most recent credits include Finding Felicity by P. Creeden and Try Not to Die in Brightside by Mark Tulius and Dawna Gonzales. She has also worked on projects in dubbing and video games such as Netflix’s A Christmas Crossfire and Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege, respectively.

THOMAS WILKINSON FULLERTON | Luca
Thomas Wilkinson Fullerton (He/Him) grew up in rural army town of Petawawa, Ontario where at 13 a family friend helped land him a role in a community production of “The Ugly Duckling”. Studying by day, he received a performance degree from Dome Theatre in 2014, while  performing in Montreal’s Village nightlife scene as “Bambi Dextrous”. Thomas has since grown his cred through such film projects as Pool, to television’s 19-2, The Bold Type, and Just for Laughs: “Gags”. When not acting, he regularly lends his acting ability to the world of Medical Patient Simulation via McGill University. He can also be found delivering studied, word-perfect, lip-sync performances both in Drag and on social media that are characteristically imbued with his own sense of wit and pop-culture savvy, all while furthering his abilities in makeup artistry and the occasional modelling gig.

SUSANNE SERRES | writer / director / executive producer
Susanne Serres is an award-winning director, visual artist, and screenwriter committed to creating impactful cinematic works. Her short films have screened in festivals internationally: MY LAYERS (2021) screened at Slamdance; HIPPOCAMPE (2019) at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema as part of the Rendez Vous Québecois; ZAYA (2017) won Best Cinematography at the LGBT Toronto Film Festival and the Diamond Award at the International Independent Film Awards. Susanne also directed a segment of the episode of Sesame Street, “The Mustard Factory,” which aired in 2021 on HBO and PBS. Susanne’s debut feature CELESTINE showcases Susanne’s distinct creative vision but also serves as a cinematic bridge to the LGBTQiA+ and Black communities in Canada.

KIM BARR | writer
(Archdale Pictures) Though Kim is primarily a director / writer, she also champions other filmmakers by getting involved in producing and writing. Her short film Snow (2017), was nominated for a Golden Sheaf Award and selected for CBC Short Film Face Off.  Snow, and Elevator (2013) were broadcast on Canadian Reflections. A Late Thaw (2015) won a Goldie for ‘Best Technical’ and a nomination for ‘Best Writing’ at the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival.  

BENOIT BEAULIEU | producer / cinematographer
(SLYKID) Benoit is an award-winning producer and cinematographer who champions emerging filmmakers. Recent credits include executive producer and director of photography on first time feature filmmaker Jonathan Keijser’s Peace by Chocolate; Oscar Nominee Marianne Farley’s feature debut North of Albany and Our Own  (Les Notres) directed by Jeanne Leblanc.

LEE PAULA SPRINGER | associate producer
Lee Paula Springer is an award-winning screenwriter, director and producer from Montreal. With a background in literary and film translation, Lee has adapted several French-language film scripts (The Sinner, The Tempest), as well as the Spanish-language novel “Baile con serpientes” into English. Her self-produced feature directorial debut Dead Dicks has won multiple awards worldwide, including the Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature (Fantasia International Film Festival), Best Screenplay (Fantasporto, Other Worlds, Vancouver Badass, Blood in the Snow) and Best Foreign Film (Another Hole in the Head). She joined Benoit Beaulieu’s production company SLYKID as Head of Development in 2021.

CAROL WHITEMAN | executive producer
Best known as co-creator and producer of Canada’s internationally respected Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program, Dr. Carol Whiteman is a two-time Governor General’s award nominee and multiple award-winner for promoting gender equality in Canada’s screen industry. Since 1997, Whiteman has worked tirelessly to advance the careers, fiction feature films, network television and web series of a generation of female screenwriters and directors across Canada and internationally. Through WIDC, she has produced over 150 short films and is executive producer on ten award-winning feature films including Red Snow (2019); Rustic Oracle (2019); Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor (2021); and With Love and a Major Organ (2023).

ABOUT WIDC
Celebrating 25 years of advancing the careers and narrative fiction screen projects of Canadian women directors, Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) was founded in 1996/97 through an initial collaboration among ACTRA, the Banff Centre, and Women In Film and Television Vancouver. Over 300 director alumnae, working across Canada and around the globe, have directed 1000’s of hours of quality screen entertainment. WIDC is presented with major support from Telefilm Canada, CBC Films, and with the participation and support of ACTRA National, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, UBCP/ACTRA, Creative BC, and the Independent Production Fund.

WIDC Feature Film Award is supported by a variety of companies from across Canada including MELS Studios, MTL Grande, Sim International, Panavision Canada, Keslow Camera Film and Digital, RAW Camera, William F. White International Inc., North Shore Studios, Company 3, Encore VFX, Elemental Post Production, Kalos Studios, Post Moderne, Walter Lighting & Grip, The Bridge Studios, Vancouver Film Studios, Whites LES, Portable Electric, The Research House Clearances Inc, Descriptive Video Works, Front Row Insurance, National Captioning Canada, Line-21 Media Services Inc., Power of Babel, EP Canada, Signal Systems.

WIDC also appreciates community collaborations with the Director’s Guild of Canada, WIFT Vancouver’s International Women in Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Reelworld Film Festival, BANFF, TIFF, VIFF, Crazy 8’s, and the Whistler Film Festival.