Private Project

Alice and the Fishing Pond

Tormented by unanswered questions following her young daughter’s tragic disappearance, park ranger Elora St. John confronts her grief in the familiar woods she calls home. As she searches for answers, Elora faces the strange realities of what truly took her daughter away.

  • Madeleine Aimée
    Director
  • Simla Civelek
    Key Cast
    "Elora St-John"
  • Alexis Kharkhourin
    Key Cast
    "Alice St-John"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Fantasy
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 25 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 2, 2025
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Madeleine Aimée

Madeleine Aimée is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist currently based in Toronto, Canada. Fascinated with the early gothic art movement at a young age, Madeleine possesses a rich background as a visual artist with expertise in impressionistic oil painting, charcoal and graphite illustration, sculpting, and graphic arts. Although filmmaking held a constant presence in her life in more minor ways, her love of film took over at the age of 13 when her first film was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Since then, she’s progressed into a passionate writer and director who gained international recognition with her 2019 experimental documentary film Enfant Effrayé.

Madeleine creates unique and meaningful art in all areas of interest by challenging genre and intermingling dark gothic aesthetics with an innocent and nostalgic subject matter. Her films are also distinguished for integrating hand-painted rotoscope animation using her background as a visual artist. She’s currently working toward directing her biggest project yet, “Alice and the Fishing Pond”, which received funding from the Canadian Council for the Arts in 2021 and is scheduled to be first screened in 2025.

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Director Statement

Alice and the Fishing Pond was born out of my love for classic monster movies, particularly films like Frankenstein, Freaks, Dracula etc... There’s something about the charm and strangeness of those Old Hollywood staples, along with the “monster of the week” format from shows like The X-Files, that’s always gripped me. I wanted to write a kind of poeticized monster flick that feels like it’s being told from the pages of a fairytale.

When I wrote Alice and the Fishing Pond, I was going through a period where I felt completely disconnected from my childhood. For me, the best parts of being young were those quiet, boring moments where my imagination was forced to run wild. I wanted to capture that feeling of wonder by showing a young girl, Alice, who in her boredom, stumbles upon something fantastical and strange, giving life to those daydreams I often had as a kid.

I’m very drawn to exploring the space between innocence and something darker. I really wanted to play with that balance in this film, where childhood playfulness meets a creeping unease.

Visually, the film takes some definite risks. It’s heavily stylized and incorporates a fully animated creature into a live-action world. I was nervous about how it would turn out, but I’m proud of how it all came together. I painted all the animation by hand and wanted it to feel like an organic extension of the story’s “magical” realism.

I hope that through this blend of childhood imagination, and the forgotten charm of old Hollywood, viewers will be transported to a world that feels both familiar and otherworldly.