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Director

As an actor, I want to get to the centre of a character, find their truth.

As a director, I want to help other actors do the same:  building confidence, creating safety, respect, and joy in spaces where collaboration is easy and fruitful. 
 
I'm looking for stillness that is full, silence that is resonant, and images that are vibrant and alive.  
 
Below are trailers for short films including the most recent, DUCK DUCK GOOSE winner of the Atlantic Film Festival's Best Short, Finalist in the CBC's Short Film Face Off, and
Telefilm's NOT SHORT ON TALENT choice for Clermont-Ferrand in 2018. 

PEARLS  played around the world, and is the prequel to the feature 

DAWN, HER DAD & THE TRACTOR

Shot in the summer of 2020 in Windsor, Halifax and Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
Released to festivals in 2021, as of October 2022, Dawn played on CRAVE Canada, and in festivals around the world

Translations
 

TRANSLATIONS was commissioned and launched in Canada on Bell's Fibe TV1 -  a VOD channel here. Six episodes of varying durations as per the attached EPK. 

 

TRANSLATIONS explores the lives of a diverse group of trans individuals and their advocates as they connect at a beautiful, remote retreat in Nova Scotia.

A round-robin series of conversations introduces us to five very different pairs in a stunning location: 

a queer mom and her 13-year-old trans daughter, a queer Iranian man and his trans female fiancé; a married couple with two kids, a dog, and a picket fence living their best life in small-town Nova Scotia; a pair of black drag kings who've helped each other through their transitions since their high school days; and a Catholic university Gender & Sexual Diversity Advisor and her young trans charge from a northern Alberta Mennonite community - all articulate the complexity, humanity and humour of their experiences. 

Presently on FibeTV1
Arriving on other Platforms June 2025

Director's Reel

Pearls

Short
Filmed in Hillsvale and Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia with Robb Wells, Jennie Raymond and introducing Michelle Raine
 
A rural family grapples with grief as Miranda realizes her son Don can only become the woman she is by defying her father and leaving their farm, in an outfit Miranda provides that includes a much-loved heirloom.

A Maritime Home Invasion



Short Doc on the phenomenon of House Concerts

Dawn, Her Dad
& The Tractor

Dawn Her Dad & The Tactor is available to view on Prime Video, Tubi, Roku and YouTube

Duck Duck Goose

Short
When hiding for your life becomes a frightening game, an elementary school teacher and children cope with the fear and guilt created by lockdown.

DAWG

Short
Filmed in Halifax in 2014
with T. Thomason, Richard Donat, Gordon White

A bittersweet story of friendship, grief, and moving on. An isolated young musician moving from a small-town to city life, must come to terms with love and loss.

Bats
Short - filmed in Toronto, May 2015
with
Karen Waddell and John Ralston.
​
A beautiful woman in middle years wakes beside a lover she doesn’t seem to know well. Outside the window, a winter branch shifts in the wind. She’s unfamiliar with the house. Seasons pass, disorientation grows, but love and sex remain, in the face of disease and…company.

Maritime Home Invasion  
A Short Music Doc about House Concerts
 
Filmed in Nova Scotia, 2013
With the participation of
 
Shelley Thompson (Director)
Peter Murphy (Camera, Editor)
Musicians:  Steven Fearing, Erin Costelo, T. Thomason, Ian Sherwood, Hupman Brothers, and more......

Bats
Short - filmed in Toronto, May 2015
with
Karen Waddell and John Ralston.
​
A beautiful woman in middle years wakes beside a lover she doesn’t seem to know well. Outside the window, a winter branch shifts in the wind. She’s unfamiliar with the house. Seasons pass, disorientation grows, but love and sex remain, in the face of disease and…company.

Dawg
Short -  filmed in Halifax in 2014
with
T. Thomason, Richard Donat, Gordon White

A bittersweet story of friendship, grief, and moving on. An isolated young musician moving from a small-town to city life, must come to terms with love and loss.

Maritime Home Invasion  
A Short Music Doc about House Concerts
 
Filmed in Nova Scotia, 2013
With the participation of
 
Shelley Thompson (Director)
Peter Murphy (Camera, Editor)
Musicians:  Steven Fearing, Erin Costelo, T. Thomason, Ian Sherwood, Hupman Brothers, and more......

Bats
Short - filmed in Toronto, May 2015
with
Karen Waddell and John Ralston.
​
A beautiful woman in middle years wakes beside a lover she doesn’t seem to know well. Outside the window, a winter branch shifts in the wind. She’s unfamiliar with the house. Seasons pass, disorientation grows, but love and sex remain, in the face of disease and…company.

WINTER SKY
 

Coming in fall 2025

From celebrated filmmaker, actor, and novellist Shelley Thompson comes a collection of stories, both cherished and fresh as new-fallen snow. A blend of historical and contemporary, written in breathtaking prose, the stories in Winter Sky reflect the season’s contrasts: the light and the dark, the complexity and the comfort.

 

In “The Compass,” a chance encounter on a bus during a winter storm leads to the unravelling of a family mystery decades old. In “The Goat’s Christmas Carol,” an unexpected trio of carollers visits the home of a sick child on Christmas Eve, bringing not gold, frankincense, and myrrh but gifts of song, community, and a future.

 

In “Winter Sky,” the constellations provide company, and inspiration, for a young prairie boy on his early-morning walks to school. In “The Thing of It Is,” a couple’s never-ending home renovation binds them to a carpenter whose wisdom lies in recognizing what the heart needs to build comfort and joy.

 

Just like the season itself, these stories bring delight and heartache, and the wonder of gazing up at a winter’s sky.

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