The serendipitous crossing of paths between a fashion designer from the house of Dior and a reclusive Brisbane writer.
Ellie Poussot and Sonny Clarke were two women from opposite ends of the globe and opposite poles of the creative world. Ellie (a world citizen hailing
from France) had sacrificed a successful fashion career in the big-name
fashion houses of Paris to pursue a passion for acting and eventually found her way to Sydney, Australia. Meanwhile, Sonny was tapping away at a keyboard in Brisbane and submitting creative writing samples whenever the opportunity arose. When Sonnyʼs script, Family Planning was selected as part of the Short and Sweet Theatre Festival 2016 in Sydney, Ellie chose it from the pool of contenders to produce and direct at the world-famous event. The two creative women met for the first time at the premiere of that play and havenʼt looked back since.
Picture by Anna Lisa Durighello Photography.
While that first collaboration concluded with the performance date at the Depot Theatre in Sydney, Ellie and Sonny quickly made plans for their next project together; a short film that Ellie would produce and also act in. The Hemingway Shot, a mystery that deals with the dark and destructive side of creativity was filmed on location in Sydney with Alessio De Nicola Directing and would go on to hit some highs on the Short Film Festival circuit in Europe, the pinnacle of which was a Best Short Film award in the ARFF International Paris and recently being selected to show at their exclusive annual screening also held in Paris (April 2019). Poussot also picked up nominations for both her roles as first-time producer (Oniros Film Awards) and best actress (MEDFF – Mediterranean Film Festival). The Hemingway Shot finally debuted in Australia in late 2018 and garnered a Semi-finalist place at the Australian Independent Film Festival. Ellie says there are just a few more festival entries to go for this film before they can close the book on Hemingway.
In the midst of all this international Hemingway action, Ellie has been over in Italy acting in an award-winning thriller, Time Perspective and Sonny is now in the second year of writing for Brisbane-based inclusive theatre group, Blue Roo. Time to Go, their first collaboration showed at Brisbaneʼs Cremorne Theatre to packed audiences in November 2018.
As for the Ellie and Sonny show: Ellie is currently steeped in post-production on their third collaboration and Ellieʼs favorite so far. Donʼt Smoke in Bed is a story that started twenty-five years ago at the end of Clarkeʼs pen (literally, computers were still fairly expensive back then) and has been gathering dust in Sonnyʼs archives ever since. As if the script was always meant for Ellie, she immediately fell in love with the brash leading character, Maureen and was determined to bring her to life. Embarking on a years-long, international production journey that ended with shooting taking place in London and post-production completing now back in Sydney, Poussot says sheʼs really excited about completing this film. Donʼt Smoke in Bed is a gritty noir-style short set in the Art-Deco era. Ellie trawled the antique markets of London and Paris and the rich imagery of the production show-cases her eager eye for style. Whatʼs next? In typical Ellie style, sheʼs already whipping Sonny up for the next project; a feature this time and Ellie has her wish list in for genre and style.
To keep track of Ellie or Sonny visit (Ellies www.instagram.com/ellie_poussot/
OR www.sonnyclarke.com) For more information about the films mentioned above see (https://thehemingwayshot.wordpress.com)
