The Film
ABOUT
After Elise hits rock bottom she is forced to connect with a teenage boy, Jonah, battling demons of his own. Disheartened by the fact she can't find the 'magic words,' Elise is forced to show up in the most authentic way she can.
UNICORNS aims to is bring awareness and give a voice to the challenges of mental illness, specifically depression. We also have a majority female crew in order to employ women to more leadership positions including writing, directing, and producing the film.
MEET THE TEAM
CANDICE CARELLA
Director
Candice Carella studied fine art, photography and cinema at UCLA. Her first professional experience came as a wardrobe stylist and costume designer for music videos; working with Grammy Award winning artists (Eminem, Moby, Gwen Stefani) and styling large scale commercials (British Telecom, Coors, McDonalds).
Candice’s desire to work on more narrative projects led her to work in costume departments on several high profile TV shows (Sons of Anarchy, Revenge, Underground, Crossbones…) and feature films (50 First Dates, Haywire, Prom…)
Branching out on her own, Candice wrote, produced and directed a 30-minute short “PONY,” starring Xander Berkeley (Air Force One, Terminator 2, The Walking Dead) and Suzy Nakamura (Dodgeball, Togetherness, Dr. Ken, Avenue 5) which premiered on the festival circuit in 2015, screening in over 50 film festivals, winning 32 festival awards and gaining a worldwide distribution deal with Shorts International.
In 2017, as a recipient of the prestigious Panavision New Filmmaker Grant, Candice wrote, produced and directed a 20-minute film “THREE DAYS IN THE HOLE,” based on a true story about a young Yezidi girl's struggle to survive her ISIS capture after the Iraq genocide of 2014.
“Three Days in the Hole” was accepted as part of the 2018 Festival De Cannes Short Film Corner and was recently nominated for the 2018 Hollywood Film Festival Silver Screen Jury Prize, the 2018 Rome International Film Festival Best Narrative Short Film award, the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival Best long short award and is the winner of the Gold Remi Award from 2019 World Fest Houston.
In 2019, Candice Carella directed "UNICORNS", a modern fresh take on a serious subject, surviving depression. Unorthodox, and at times jarring, the film, starring Malik Yoba (Cool Runnings, New York Undercover, Designated Survivor, Empire), Markees Christmas (Morris From America, Black-ish), and Hilary Curwen (Bad Nannies, Happyland, I'm Dying up Here) ultimately shows us that we are not alone.
In 2017, as a recipient of the prestigious Panavision New Filmmaker Grant, Candice wrote, produced and directed a 20-minute film “THREE DAYS IN THE HOLE,” which was accepted as part of the 2018 Festival De Cannes Short Film Corner and was recently nominated for the 2018 Hollywood Film Festival Silver Screen Jury Prize, the 2018 RomeI'm Dying up Here) ultimately shows us that we are not alone.
CAITY WARE
Producer
Caity Ware is a UCLA alumna with a decade of producing under her belt. She has independently produced more than two-dozen award-winning short films, music videos, and web series, which have played over 50 festivals, including Tribeca, Dances With Films, and the Florida Film Festival, and have been featured on the curated sites Short of the Week and Omeleto. Her debut feature film, We Are Gathered Here, premiered at the 2019 Manhattan Film Festival where it won Best Romantic Comedy. It will have a limited theatrical run this Fall before being released on VOD. Caity is a member of Women In Film and SAG-AFTRA.
LEAH MCKENDRICK
Writer
Leah McKendrick is an actress/singer/filmmaker that got her start in musical theatre in San Francisco. She was raised by a Nicaraguan mother and Irish/Scottish father. She began writing and producing in her teen years and performed live throughout the Bay Area before moving south to study Theatre at Chapman University. She was signed to the pop record label, Monarch, in 2010. She went on to create and star in the critically acclaimed musical series, Destroy the Alpha Gammas, which made her a Webby Award Honoree and a Streamy Award Nominee. In 2014 she formed Villainess Productions, aimed at creating content featuring women in diverse and compelling roles. Her films have screened throughout the world at festivals such as SXSW, Sitges, Busan International and Fantasia. She recently sold a movie to Sony starring Hailey Steinfeld and a television show at HBO MAX.
HILARY CURWEN
Producer & Actress
Hilary Curwen hails from NYC, where she spent most of her life in theatre. Coming from a very artistic family she spent most of her teen years making videos and going to summer acting conservatories. She majored in Acting at Syracuse University where she graduated Sum a Cum Laude. Hilary has worked on many commercials and TV shows since moving to LA in 2011, as well as producing and starring in the play, Bad Jews at the Los Angeles, Theatre of Note. Hilary is an avid Improvisor and recently dabbled in standup. She has written and produced countless sketches and web series, and got notice for the viral web series Girls Are Assholes. After reading the script she knew this was a role that she was itching to play, thus crowd funded her way into making it a reality. This is her first short film she has submitted to film festivals and is excited to take it on the festival circuit around the country!