PROMISE ME SYNOPSIS:
Charlie still has hope and is adamant in caring for her mother, Yolonda Thomas, LOGLINE: as her health takes a turn for the worse.
Loyal, she insists on sticking by her Yolonda and her daughter Charlie are mother’s side until the very end. But ripped apart by illness, an unjust when her school begins to notice system, and a failure to face the truth. Charlie’s absence, she is placed under a system of surveillance and Charlie will soon come to find that some decisions are outside of her control. WHY THIS FILM?
Promise Me is a film that is inspired by events while filming a documentary called The Woman I have Become (2008) about eight African, Black, and Caribbean women living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto trying to build awareness about their struggles in the Canadian health care system. The children of one of the mothers was apprehended by Child Welfare, because she was too sick to mother. A week later her mother passed away. Alison Duke carried the story with her and wrote an article about it called The Missing 17 Minutes for the Project Muse journal. The story has haunted her psyche for years and recently, she turned it into a short dramatic script. Promise Me, is her first fictional work to date. GENERAL INFORMATION
Film Type: Short Narrative Drama Run Time: 24:47 Country: Canada Language: English Year: 2019 KEY CREATIVES Alison Duke, Director & Co-Writer
An award-winning writer-producer-director and passionate artistic activist committed to boldly telling stories of resistance and change. Recently, she co-wrote and co-produced the television documentary 'Mr. Jane and Finch' (19) directed by Ngardy Conteh George which garnered two 2020 Canadian Screen Awards: the Donald Britain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary and Best Writing for a Documentary. During the same timeframe, she directed 'Cool Black North’ (19) a two-hour television documentary special for CityTV/Rogers about the unique and vibrant Canadian Black Community and its role in our country’s contemporary identity. The movie goes about it through the POV of 15 former winners of the Harry Jerome Awards. The film was Roger’s top 10 streaming show in February 2019.
Inspired by Ava Duvernay, #metoo and the reality that opportunities for women behind the camera in Canada are long overdue, Alison hired five Black female Canadian directors to helm short films for the 'Akua Benjamin Legacy Project’ (16) which celebrates the legacies of Canadian-based black activists Dudley Laws, Charles Roach, Rosie Douglas, Marlene Green and Len and Gwen Johnson.
Alison got her start directing and producing documentaries with the hip hop cult classic, ‘Raisin’ Kane: a rapumentary (00). From there she worked as a segment producer and field director on syndicated factual and lifestyle shows. Eventually she made her way to social issue docs; ‘A Deathly Silence (03). She also collaborations with other filmmakers as a producer; Andrew Nisker’s ‘Garbage: The Revolution Stars at Home’ (07), Dany Chiasson’s ‘My Joan of Arc’ (08) and Thomas Allen Harris’s ‘Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photography and the Emergence of a People’. She is now focusing more attention to fictional storytelling.
'Promise Me' (2020) her first short fiction inspired by the seminal HIV documentary 'The Woman I Have Become' (08), is currently touring the festival circuit after winning the Winston W. Moxam award for Best Canadian short film at the 2020 AfroPrairie Film Festival. Alison has an MFA at York University in film production and is sought after lecturer.
She founded OYA Emerging Filmmakers Program, a 3-year initiative to support black youth who are graduates of film, television and digital media programs access essential training, mentors, networks and film industry spaces. Lindsey Addawoo, Co-Writer
Lindsey is a filmmaker from the Toronto area and graduate of Ryerson University's RTA School of Media (fka Radio & Television Arts) program. In 2014, she earned a Tara Award nomination ('Best Upper Year Script') for UNDERside, a student-based webseries project highlighting underprivileged youth based on their social class, gender, and race.
In the past, she has worked in TV broadcast journalism as a freelance news writer and chase producer at CTV News Channel.
With a strong interest in sci-fi, fantasy, supernaturalism, and cultural mythology, she now lends her efforts to diversifying the speculative fiction world. Her script, 'ROOM 219' (formerly called 'Diagnosis'), placed in the quarterfinals for ScreenCraft's Pilot Launch TV Script Contest. That same script later took her to the Caribbean where she was a recipient to mentorship under the Bahamas International Film Festival 2015 Screenwriters Residency Program.
In 2016, Lindsey completed the BlackWomenFilm! Leadership Program. In 2018, Lindsey co-wrote and co-directed, Queen of Hearts, an Afro-futurist tale about a ruthless queen who has to deal with the betrayal of a lover. The script won a premiere at the Inside Out Film Festival along with a 50K production award. Fonna Seidu, Producer
Fonna Seidu is a producer who champions narrative projects that have compelling storylines and niche audiences. Fonna Seidu brings her many years of experience as a project manager to 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPOC-led productions with bold, vibrant stories often untold.
She entered the screen-based industry in 2018 and since then, she’s worked on over 30+ commercials, docs, and films. Fonna’s producing debut was the multi-award winning short, PROMISE ME, directed by Alison Duke. In 2019, she helped produce BEING BLACK IN TORONTO, a six-part documentary anthology in partnership with Oya Media Group and the Fabienne Colas Foundation, currently on CBC Gem’s Absolutely Canadian.
Currently, Fonna has multiple projects in development with CBC including Aden Abebe’s upcoming IPF funded series virgins! and Lu Asfaha’s short film FRESH MEAT, winner of BIPOC TV & Film’s Reel Work Filmmaking Initiative and was a Screencraft Film Fund finalist.
Other projects on her slate include Carolyn Wu’s short film TOE THE LINE which won Breakthroughs FF pitch contest; producing Kiley May’s romantic comedy DISCLOSURE supported by ImagiNATIVE and Charles Street Video; working on the fully-funded feature VILLAGE KEEPER with Karen Chapman and Lora Campbell; and in the late development stage of a queer comedy heist feature called LET’S DO THIS. Through her company, Snail Mail Media, Fonna is producing various shorts, features, and web-series funded by CBC, IPF, CMF, and Telefilm. Review her projects at www.snailmailmedia.com Lucas Joseph, Cinematographer
Lucas Joseph is a Canadian Cinematographer based in Toronto, Ontario. Crafting his technical and creative skills at Sheridan College, Lucas was selected for a post grad internship at SIRT (Screen industries research and training centre) after 2 years with the team, he expanded his network and started his own freelance production company at Lucas Joseph Media (LJM).
Working professionally for now 5+ years in the film industry, Lucas had various roles including DP, camera operator, camera assistant, and focus puller for multiple commercials, music videos, Episodic/reality TV and short films.
He has over 35+ cinematography film credits under his belt ranging from commercial shoots with Cossette, Rogers Media, eOne entertainment, Gearshift Productions, Leader media, Mad Ruk entertainment, Mowad Productions, OPC, Skin and Bones, Sparks, TSN, Nike Vanguard and more.
Currently he's worked on over 15 productions internationally including productions in Cuba, Korea, Germany, the UK and all across North America. Eui Yong Zong, Editor
Eui Yong Zong is an award-winning filmmaker whose works have screened at TIFF Student Showcase, Hot Docs, Montreal World Film Fest, CamFest, Reel Asian and many others.
He directed a docu-fiction Leftover which won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award in 2015. His first fiction film Sun screened on CBC’s 2017 Canadian Reflections programming and on Air Canada’s Enroute inflight entertainment system.
He’s recently completed a mid-length doc Until We Meet Again as part of his MFA thesis (York University), which was funded by SSHRC (Social Science and Humanities Research Council grant).
Yong worked as assistant editor for films such as My Enemy My Brother (Hot Docs), Sugar Sisters (CBC), Superfood Chain (TVO) and War Story (History Channel).
His editor credits include Over Time (Bravo Factual), I Hold the Decho in My Heart (CBC), and Here and Mars (NFB FAB). Ezinma, Composer
Ezinma (eh-zee-mah), also known as Classical Bae, was a featured violinist in Beyonce’s Homecoming (Netflix). Beyonce is quoted as saying, “Her violin adds so much to my music.” Ezinma also worked with Pharrell Williams as a violinist on the score of Black Panther (2018).
Ezinma first picked up the violin when she was three-years old. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska to a Guyanese father and a German-American mother, Ezinma’s mixed cultural and ethnic background influenced her musical upbringing and helped mold her into the versatile artist she is today. Growing up, there was a melange of music booming from the stereo: Parliament, Bill Monroe, Bob Marley, Van Morrison, Billie Holiday, Earth Wind and Fire, Bob Dylan, and Roberta Flack to name a few. These artists—along with her classical study of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart—were influential in Ezinma’s development and continue to inspire her today.
In 2012, Ezinma moved to New York City to pursue her professional career as a classical violinist. In New York, she performed with string quartets and orchestras at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Madison Square Garden. While classical music will always be a passion for Ezinma, she felt a strong need to present the world with a different side of her and a new context for the classical violin. Since then, Ezinma has collaborated with jazz, R&B, pop, hip-hop and electronic artists such as Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, Mac Miller, and Clean Bandit.
Ezinma’s style cannot be limited to one genre. Her music is a blend of virtuosic melodies and orchestral soundscapes with hard hitting beats. This fusion, this juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated worlds, allows Ezinma to connect with diverse audiences and communicate her passion in a way that is uniquely her own. Ladan Mohamed Siad, Production Designer
Ladan Siad is a Multidisciplinary Creative Technologist who works with art, design, and technology to tell narratives about the world. Ladan is a natural born collaborator and has used their skills to teach and help in many community-based projects in both Washington, DC and Toronto, Canada.
As the Creative Director of Practice of Creation Studios, a multidisciplinary art and design studio they create distinctive brand identities for organizations and individuals impacting change locally and globally.
Not limited to one creative practice, Ladan’s directorial debut was a short film titled IFTIN (2018), about a genderqueer Somali-Canadian teenager is forced to spend the day taking their grandmother to their appointments, forcing the two to confront their assumptions of one another. Sophia Rickson, Costume Designer
Sophia Rickson has been in costuming since her childhood, as her father is a Costume Designer as well. Currently, she runs her own Costume Design business and her objective has always been to give every customer and project 100% of her effort.
Having the opportunity to run her own business has taught her to balance tasks while maintaining a high level of professionalism. Not only does her business design for hundreds every year, but they host various types of events as well; from charitable golf tournaments, to large scale banquets, to smaller boat parties.
Sophia started in the TV/Film industry because of CAFTCADEMY and later joining CAFTCAD. She’s been an assistant, a daily, a set super and a Designer. She loves breakdown and being as hands on when building and designing as she can.
She has volunteered at various events, exhibits, classes and recently was the Volunteer Coordinator at the Inaugural CAFTCAD Awards.
Her dream is to be a Costume Designer in TV/Film and CAFTCAD has shown her that it is possible. PRINCIPAL CAST Olunike Adeliyi as Yolonda
Olunike Adeliyi was born in Toronto, Ontario to Sunday Adeliyi, a Nigerian computer scientist and Roxiana Bell, a Jamaican nurse. Raised in both Jamaica and Canada, the well travelled actress ultimately earned a place at the highly coveted American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. After graduating from AADA, Olunike returned to Toronto to pursue a film, television, and theatre career which ultimately landed her the series-regular role of Leah Kerns in the highly rated and vastly popular television series, Flashpoint. Olunike's popularity gained momentum after her appearances in films and TV shows such as SAW 3D, French Immersion, The Listener, Two Cities, Being Human, Republic of Doyle, Group Home, A Christmas Horror Story, The Emmisary, Lost Girl, Killjoys, Boost, and The Girlfriend Experience, to name a few.
In 2012, Oluniké was nominated for "Best Performance by a Female - Film" at the Canadian Comedy Awards for her performance in "French Immersion" and won the 2014 Black Canadian Award for "Best Actress" for overall performances that year. This year, Olunike will star alongside Anna Paquin (True Blood), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), and Denis O'Hare (Dallas Buyer's Club) in a feature film, The Parting Glass. Also due out, Olunike will be seen working alongside Tom Holland (Spiderman), Daisy Ridley (Star Wars), and David Oyelowo (Selma) in the anticipated dystopian SyFy feature film, Chaos Walking directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith).
Olunike is currently on CBC's new breakout comedy, Workin' Moms created by Catherine Reitman (Blackish). Breonna Morrison as Charlie
Patience Breonna Morrison came into this world strong, determined and never taking no for an answer. Breonna believes in doing her best at all she can, however, she’s not quite as organized as her mother would like her to be but her reply to that is “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what is an empty desk a sign of?” - Einstein.
Taking on her first major role, as Rafiki in a theatre play Breonna’s acting skills grew into her securing a lead role in Promise Me. Overall, this avid reader, wonderful team player, loving sister and caring individual who's always willing to help take her time to know that things are going to be okay no matter what. She is an animal lover sometimes putting them before humans.
Breonna's dream is to be a forensic pathologist but has done many things along her way, a force to be reckoned with, a blessing to her family, always willing to make others laugh, her smile is contagious with her big bright eyes she will forever be Mommy’s baby girl, putting God first, she will always be who she wants to be.
This is just the beginning. Look out Hollywood, look out everyone because Breonna Morrison is on her way. Press and Media
● October 2020 | Five shorts that had our hearts and reelworld
● October 2020 | Toronto filmmakers to watch at Reelworld Film Festival
● June 2020 | History, resistance, reality: Five films exploring Black experience in Canada display diversity of voices
● June 2020 | No one gets left behind; these three films show us that all black lives matter Screenings and Talk-Backs
● Women Of The Lens Film Festival (2020) ● Promise Me: a Roundtable Discussion with McGill University, Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, Archive/ Counterarchive, Mediqueer and the Moving Image Research Lab (2020) ● Social Justice Now film Festival (2020) ● Short Film Factory Monthly Screenings (2020) ● Reel World Film Festival (2020) ○ Winner of Stand Out Writer for Short Film Award ● Festival International du Film PanAfricain de Cannes (2020) ● Montréal Festival du nouveau cinéma (2020) ● Columbus Black International Film Festival (2020) ○ Winner of Best Short Film Award ● Bronze Lens Film Festival (2020) ● Las Vegas Black Film Festival (2020) ● Afro Prairie Film Festival (2020) ○ Winner of Winston W. Moxam Best Black Canadian Shorts Award ● Still Beginning (2019) ● Other Places Book Launch Series (2019) PRODUCTION CREDITS Director Cinematographer Alison Duke Lucas Joseph
Writers Editor Alison Duke Eui Yong Zong Lindsey Addawoo Composer Producers Ezinma Fonna-Tasha Seidu Lucas Joseph Production Designer Ladan Mohamed Siad Executive Producer Alison Duke Art Director Ngardy Conteh George Chris Laxton
Lead Cast Costume Designer Breonna Morrison as Charlie Thomas Sophia Rickson Wendy Olunike Adeliyi as Yolonda Thomas Casting Director Evelyn Appiah Supporting Cast Angie Reid as Maxine Nicols First Assistant Camera Alana Bridgewater as Mrs. Gail Waqar Ahmed Woods, Teacher Wyatt Lamoureux as Principal Dan Second Assistant Camera Walton Shaquille Griffith Unit Production Manager Set Decorator Kanda Farkollie Bernice Chu
First Assistant Director Props Master Oliver Thompson Ahmed Girde
Second Assistant Director Art Production Assistant Marci Herbert Aliya Hussein
Script Supervisor Costume Supervisor Tamim Aoude Jameel Green Russel
Cast Wardrobe Assistant
Slimthick Monroe Mitchell Ballantyne, Police Officer
Joy Amissah, Young Charlie Sound Recordists Tyrone Moses, Mr. Thomas Amanda Ann-Min Wong Nick, CAS Worker Siyu Han Richard Chevelieu, Voiceover Actor
(CAS Worker) Boom Operators
Siyu Han Charlie’s Friends Isaac Mbikay Finn Campanella Bernice Chu Alan Kashkevich Hurst
Aryanna Afful Set Photographer Alison Park Yvano Antonio Denika Ellis
Isabelle Hazelwood Charlotte Hazlewood Charlie’s Friends contd. Craft Services Olivia Graham Slimthick Monroe Justice Morrison Sierra Babb Office Assistant Kayona Mohammed Milca Kuflu
Gaffers Production Assistants Lu Asfaha Stephanie Hanson Isaac Lemi Roshni Raveenthiran Kae Egalite Grips Ghadeer Ali Alkhalif Shawn Hackett Radha Pithadia Hanfare Kadafo Muna Mohamed Youssouf Post-Production Departments
Swing Post-Production Supervisor Jay McPherson Alison Duke
Makeup Artist Assistant Editor Anna Hans Nathan Allen
Hairdresser Sound Designer Rae Galutira Derek Brin
Caterer Visual Effects Lanre Onigbinde-Bey, 5 Principles Tarek Al-Ward Cuisines Colorist Howard Hamilton Executive Patron Special Thanks contd. Andrew Beckerman Aden Abebe The Canadian HIV/AIDs Legal Network Caperones Women’s Health in Women’s Hands -CHC Fran Campanella Wangari Tharao Olga Kashkevich Marvelous Muchenje-Marisa Muluba Habanyama Alexandra Afful Chantal Jueun Lee Paulina Nicole Ellis Lisingu Stephanie Hazlewood Miata Massaquoi Duke Sierra’s Guardians Notisha Massaquoi Kayona’s Guardians Production Equipment supplied by: Special Thanks William F. White International Inc. John Greyson Lucas Joseph Media Ricardo Diaz Gearshift Productions Dean Bernard Ontario Camera Nancy Asiamah-Yeboah S1 Studios Lesley Johnson Nina Beveridge Supported by: Pertergail Williams Raven Dauda York University Conrad Coates Stolen from Africa David McKercher Black Youth! Pathway2Industry Rufina Bernabe ACTRA Breslin Seidu Goldelox Productions Queen Kukoyi OYA Media Group Neil "Logik" Donaldson
Made in York University’s Film MFA Program
All Rights Reserved 2019 © SPONSORS & SUPPORTERS Production Equipment Supplied By Supported By Contact Information
Alison Duke, Director (416) 420-4083 [email protected]
Fonna Seidu, Producer (647) 239-7371 [email protected]
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