SYNOPSIS

Director｜Monica Zanetti

Screenwriter｜Monica Zanetti

Cast｜Marta Dusseldorp, Zoe Terakes, Sophie Hawkshaw, Rachel House, Julia Billington

Producer｜MahVeen Shahraki, Patrick James

Cinematographer｜Calum Stewart

Genre｜Romantic comedy

Length｜80min

Year｜2020

Dialogue｜English

Subtitles｜English

Region｜Australia

Production Company｜Brazen Lot

Synopsis

School captain Ellie (Sophie Hawkshaw) has a serious crush on her classmate Abbie (Zoe Terakes), and is angsting over inviting her to the Year 12 dance. When Ellie accidentally outs herself to her mum (Marta Dusseldorp), things start to get complicated, and a little bit spooky. Enter her deceased aunt Tara (Julia Billington), a lesbian activist from the ’80s who returns from the dead to act as a kind of fairy godmother to Ellie, guiding her through the trials and tribulations of her first love.

Director Biography

Monica Zanetti is an award-winning Screenwriter & Director. Monica wrote and directed ELLIE ABBIE (& ELLIE’S DEAD AUNT) which opened the 2020 Mardi Gras Film Festival; the first Australian film to do so in the festival’s history.  The film was also accepted into Melbourne International Film Festival, Outfest, & BFI Flare London to name a few and is being distributed by Arcadia Pictures locally & around the world. She has most recently directed the series IGGY & ACE for SBS which premiered at SERIES MANIA. Her earlier work includes writing on the Netflix series SISTERS and the ACORN series MY LIFE IS MURDER starring Lucy Lawless. She was also a Writer/Producer on the ABC nightly Comedy series TONIGHTLY WITH TOM BALLARD.

Director’s Statement

Ellie and Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt) had it’s first life as a play. Monica wrote it out of a sheer desperation to see a lesbian, high school rom-com anywhere in the Australian entertainment landscape. The play had a breakout season in 2017 and after such an overwhelming response from the crowd so Monica set out to turn it into a feature film. For Monica it wasn’t just about making sure that there was a lesbian prom film out there for teens, it was also about making an LGBT film she could watch with her mum: “There are so many excellent Queer films out there that I enjoy, for example BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR but there are almost none that I could sit down and watch with my family”. Authentic casting was also incredibly important to the project , with 60% Queer identifying cast, including non-binary actor Zoe Terakes in a leading role.