Film Synopsis
Charlie still has hope and is adamant in caring for her mother, Yolonda Thomas, as her health takes a turn for the worse. Loyal, she insists on sticking by her mother’s side until the very end. But when her school begins to notice 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 new Neorealism film directed by Alison Duke and co-written with Lindsay Addawoo 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 were apprehended by Child Welfare and she passed away shortly afterwards. Alison Duke carried the story with her and wrote about it in an article called The Missing 17 Minutes for the Project Muse Journal. While making other documentaries about women living with HIV in Canada such as Positive women: exposing injustice (2012) and Consent (2014) this story continued to haunt her psyche. After hearing about other Black women living with HIV who have experienced hyper surveillance and apprehensions by child welfare she became motivated to turn the experience of child apprehension into a short drama and worked with writer Lindsey Addawoo to show people what is happening to Black families in our society. Promise Me, is her first fictional work to date.
KEY CREATIVES
Key Creatives
Alison Duke, Director & Co-Writer
Lindsey Addawoo, Co-Writer
Fonna Seidu, Producer
Lucas Joseph, Cinematographer
Eui Yong Zong, Editor
Ezinma, Composer
Ladan Mohamed Siad, Production Designer
Sophia Rickson, Costume Designer
Principal Cast
Olunike Adeliyi as Yolonda
Breonna Morrison as Charlie
SET PHOTOS
