outrun your memories 
After a life-shattering trauma, Zouzou, an art therapist seeks to escape her past by moving to new surroundings. As she attempts to focus on her fledgling career as a painter, she soon realizes she can’t outrun her memories.
In a world where reality has become indistinguishable from make-believe, a symbiotic relationship with an enigmatic child develops. Will that friendship create an opportunity for Zouzou to redeem herself, or be the force that pushes her over the edge?
Project Type: Feature
Genres: Drama, Psychological Thriller, supernatural thriller, horror
Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes 49 seconds
Completion Date: August 15, 2022
Production Budget: 138,000 USD
Country of Origin: United States
Country of Filming: United States
Language: English
Shooting Format: Arri Alexa 4K
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Film Color: Color
First-time Filmmaker: Yes
Photo by Marianne Grégoire
Photo by Aleksandar Adzic
Photo by Marianne Grégoire
Photo by Aleksandar Adzic
Photo by Marianne Grégoire
When I was initially asked to co-write and direct THE UNCANNY, I almost declined. If the idea was to work convincingly, it would require an emotional authenticity that could only be uncovered during an excavation of the darkest part of ourselves and the universe we inhabit. The more I considered the theme of suicide, the more I realized how horror seemed an ideal fit for its unearthing. It’s within this context that I became convinced that this was a story that had to be told.
From THE UNCANNY's earliest stages of development, I was drawn to an aesthetic that challenged preconceptions of how these stories should be portrayed. I saw the world of THE UNCANNY in the vibrant pastels and jewel tones found in a confectioner’s shop and sprinkled with characters who retained the ability to laugh while facing internal struggles. My own experience confronting depression informed me that those in the trenches exert what power they have to wrap themselves in comforting make-believe worlds.
Arguably one of the most unique and personal aspects of the production was directing my mother. A mother-daughter creative partnership is rare in cinema, which is unfortunate given the acute awareness and knowledge of the inner workings we have of each other. If watching my mother portray a character whose unraveling summoned in me some of the most wretched feelings imaginable, the experience of directing her was compensated by the creative language we share.
With an outstanding cast and crew from sixteen nations, representing every inhabitable continent, such a variety of creative minds added a culturally rich and diverse perspective and authenticity to our narrative taking place in Los Angeles, mirroring the world we live in.
Once upon a time, while browsing through a dimly lit thrift store, I saw her, this tiny thing of beauty, ghostlike, nestled in a glass coffin amidst faded, silken blooms. I knew she hid secrets, so I took her home. An online search revealed that she was a grave doll, a Victorian miniature wax effigy of a deceased child, commissioned by grieving parents as a way to cope with their loss. Morbidly, some of the dead child’s hair was often used to make the doll more realistic.
I named her Mae and felt compelled to write her story. This is how THE UNCANNY came to light. A tale of loss, everlasting grief and redemption, told through the eyes of a mother/daughter filmmaking team and the creative input of a terrific cast, crew and post production team who made the seemingly impossible possible.
When my daughter Clara Gabrielle and I initially conceived THE UNCANNY in 2016, the world had yet to be rocked by COVID-19. During the course of the last few years, in a classic case of life imitating art, we watched how the news seemed to mirror so many facets and themes within our feature, from the Spanish flu pandemic, to the application of the Thomas theorem within our political sphere to social media’s pressure on women to look like dolls by conforming to unrealistic beauty ideals.
Thankfully, as filmmakers, the pandemic had a silver lining for us. When everything came to a halt, elements of post production were put on the back burner, allowing us to take our distance from the project and replenish. By rearranging our non linear narrative like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and adding new elements to its storytelling in terms of dialogue, sound and score, we were finally able to tell our story the way it was meant to be told.
According to Sigmund Freud, “an uncanny effect often arises when the boundary between fantasy and reality is blurred, when we are faced with the reality of something that we have until now considered imaginary, when a symbol takes on the full function of what it symbolizes.” While THE UNCANNY fits firmly in the world of fantasy and the supernatural, it’s tragically its most fantastical elements which reflect our current reality and contain the true horror of the story, a horror that sits much closer to the world we now live in than the one we inhabited when we wrote THE UNCANNY.
A native Angeleno, Clara Gabrielle has been performing ever since she was cast in the role of Julia Roberts' baby boy in STEEL MAGNOLIAS where to conform to a world of make believe, her gender was kept secret from director Herbert Ross by the cast and crew. Throughout her childhood, Clara studied at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and, as a teen, honed her acting skills by majoring in drama at the distinguished Los Angeles County High School of the Arts (LACHSA). Upon graduation, Clara played the lead in three award winning shorts, COONS, GUIGNOL and THE YELLOW RIBBON.
After portraying an underage sex trafficking victim in the Off-Broadway production of the social justice play INNOCENT FLESH, Clara pivoted her career trajectory to pursue storytelling from behind the camera.
In 2017, she teamed with award-winning Brazilian director, Stefania Vasconcellos to co-write THE FRENCH TEACHER, a feature film that went on to win Best Artistic Direction at the Edera Film Festival in Italy.
According to her mother, Clara is an aspiring keyboard warrior. THE UNCANNY marks her directorial debut.
Marie’s passion for the arts manifested at an early age when she convinced her family to indulge in Jello Pudding in order to purchase a mail order puppet theater. Despite the woefully inadequate production values of that early foray into show business, Marie left her native Quebec City for Hollywood in the 80’s. She quickly found herself cast alongside luminaries such as John Ritter, Steve Railsback, Klaus Kinski, Burt Reynolds and Harry Dean Stanton in an early David Lynch production.
After a flurry of roles, Marie took a break from acting and spent the next twenty years as a counselor with abused/neglected youth. Her experience in the trenches gave her a new outlook on humanity and a heart full of stories to share. In 2016, she enrolled in a filmmaking master class under the guidance of James Franco. The goal was for students to write, produce, direct and act in a feature, resulting in the psychological thriller DARK HOURS: ROXANA.
In 2017, under the direction of Brazilian filmmaker Stefania Vasconcellos, Marie played the lead in The French Teacher, which was awarded Best Artistic Direction in 2019, at the Edera Film Festival in Italy.
In 2018, Marie and her daughter Clara Gabrielle teamed up to write THE UNCANNY, a personal story inspired by Marie’s work in residential treatment facilities and the quirky neighborhoods she’s lived in. Four years in the making, this supernatural psychological thriller is ready to spread its otherworldly wings.
Marie still enjoys putting on puppet shows to the annoyance of her relatives.
Anthony Pedone is a producer/director and Sundance Alumni who splits his time between Los Angeles and Texas. He has produced, written, directed or shot over 24 features, documentaries and short films.
In 2012, he founded the Victoria Independent Film Festival where he continues to serve as program director.
In 2015, Anthony produced THE STRONGEST MAN which had its world premiere at Sundance and was released theatrically, and on VOD by Film Buff in North America and Sundance Global internationally.
In 2018, his directorial debut AN AMERICAN IN TEXAS, screened at the Dallas International Film Festival and Austin International Film Festival. It won the Dutch Golden Stone Award at the Scenecs Film Festival in Hilversum, Holland and was distributed by Gravitas Worldwide.
Most recently, he produced HBO's ONE NATION UNDER STRESS, with director Marc Levin and Dr. Sanjay Gupta; STOCKTON ON MY MIND (HBO) and MY HEART CAN'T BEAT UNLESS YOU TELL IT TO (Tribeca 2020).
Bianca Butti is a cinematographer based in Los Angeles. Her work has premiered at numerous festivals around the world including Sundance, SXSW, Slamdance, Byron Bay International Film Festival, New Horizons Film Festival in Poland and the Scenecs Film Festival in Holland.
She worked as a DP on MEASURE OF REVENGE, starring Academy Award winner Melissa Leo, Bella Thorne and Jake Weary. Other features include AN AMERICAN IN TEXAS starring James Paxton, Tony Cavallero and Barry Corbin directed by Anthony Pedone and festival darling, HANK AND ASHA starring Andrew Pastides and directed by James Duff. The latter won her the Director’s Award for Best Cinematography at the Woods Hole Film Festival.
Recently, she worked as camera operator on BONES AND ALL under the direction of academy award nominee Luca Guadagnino. The film
stars Timothy Chalamet and Chloe Sevigny.
Born in Tijuana, Mexico, Paola is an artist and unapologetic thrifter at heart. She discovered her passion for production design in high school. When creating a set, she tries to put herself in the character's shoes, creating a richer visual landscape for the camera to capture.
In 2003, she designed her first formal set at the age of 21 for an opera presented in Tijuana’s premier theatre.
She has worked in various positions within the art department, first as an intern in THE TREE OF LIFE and then as production designer, art director, decorator, sculptor and scenic artist, on prestigious, award winning films such as THE 33, LITTLE BOY and HONEY.
Falling in love brought her to Texas where she has lived for the past six years balancing work primarily as production designer while raising a family.
Miriam Mayer assisted 5-time Oscar-winner John Williams on many of his classic scores including, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, STAR WARS THE PHANTOM MENACE, and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.
An experienced and versatile composer, she scored the award-winning horror features, BUGS: A TRILOGY and BLOOD OF THE MUMMY; the award-winning feature documentary about child marriage, KNOTS and the soon-to-be released feature documentary, GOD ON THE STREET. Miriam is the winner of Best Music Score at the Overcome Film Festival and Best Music at the Indie Horror Film Festival.
Miriam’s compositions are heard on films and television shows including Universal Pictures’ HALF BROTHERS, THIS IS US; CHELSEA, YOUNG SHELDON, SNOWFALL, HALT AND CATCH FIRE and RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE. She is a voting member of the Television Academy.
Her violin and viola grace several hundred film scores, including Oscar-winner Michael Giacchino’s scores to RATATOUILLE and UP.
Miriam is a native of Los Angeles and is currently the worst surfer on Malibu beach.
Jeffery Alan Jones, a prominent composer and sound designer has over 150 films to his credit and won Best Sound Design at the Queen Palm Film Festival in 2019 for his work on the film SOUND. Jeffery also designed sound and composed original music for the film CROWN VIC which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2017 Jeffery won the Grand Jury Award - Best Narrative Feature at SXSW Film Festival with his music and sound design for the film MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND. Jeffery also made a splash at The Sundance Film festival in 2017 with the film BITCH, directed by Marianna Palka.
Jeffery was the winner of The Los Angeles Composer Competition and was commissioned to conduct his orchestral composition Cinema Fantastic with the National Chinese Symphony Orchestra in Beijing. He also won The John Lennon Songwriting Award with his song "My Dream.” Jeffery was honored to have composed and arranged music for Miss Diana Ross.
Jeffery received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Masters of Music in Composition with honors from California State University. He also earned an artist diploma in Composition and Piano Performance from the Dick Grove School of Music. Jeffery also completed studies in Film Scoring at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Mike Schulte had a 15-year run in post-production before helping to drive a nail into the coffin of BEVERLY HILLS 90210’s final season and shifting to a career in journalism.
THE UNCANNY marks his return to the editing room after a 20-year hiatus. His acting resume includes an episode of MIAMI VICE in which he portrayed “guy walking out of a porn shop” and a high school play, the title of which escapes him.