Private Project

Fable Deaf

With a uniquely Deaf aesthetic, Fable Deaf is a magical realist film featuring lush visual effects and an all-Deaf cast. Fable Deaf unfolds in a world of visual rather than spoken language, where the past is preserved in a glass library, and emotions can bring storms and monsoons.

Elderly Deaf archivist Hugo finds his rigid system of artifacts and tradition jeopardized by the sudden and unwelcome arrival of Jaul, a young Deaf traveler with an ancient map. Devi attempts to intervene in the escalating animosity, but her efforts only fuel the uncoiling of a calamity that threatens to end the world and plunge the Deaf child, Jasper, into a desolate and isolated future.

Fable Deaf stars four Saskatchewan actors between the ages of 12 and 74, all of whom identify as culturally Deaf and communicate using American Sign Language, and who have contributed to the film’s narrative.

  • Chrystene R. Ells
    Director
    Crow's Nest, Sisu, Véronique à vélo, Der Glöckner, Hungry Bones
  • Joanne C. Weber
    Writer
    1000 Ladders Down, Apple Time, Deaf Settlers, Deaf Crows
  • Michelle M. Grodecki
    Writer
    Apple Time
  • Berny Hi
    Writer
    Der Glöckner, Hungry Bones, George Bassler’s Perpetual Motion Machine, Véronique à vélo
  • Deaf Crows Collective
    Producer
  • Mustafa Alabssi
    Key Cast
    "Jaul"
    Black Summer
  • Oscar N. Grodecki
    Key Cast
    "Jasper"
    Canadian Football League O Canada ASL Version
  • Fatima T. Nafisa
    Key Cast
    "Devi"
    Never Saw ASL Poem
  • Allard A. Thomas
    Key Cast
    "Hugo"
    Election Saskatchewan Disability Access Training Video
  • Berny Hi
    Cinematographer
    Der Glöckner, Hungry Bones, George Bassler’s Perpetual Motion Machine, Véronique à vélo
  • Candace Cardoso
    Costume Design
  • Geoffrey Lee Park
    Production Design
  • Jason Rister
    Colourist
    Land of Rock and Gold, Talent, Nordic Lodge, Bridging Borders, I Lived With a Killer
  • Jack Hilkewich
    Post-Production Effects
  • Jason Maher
    Post-Production Effects
  • Roman Empire Studios
    Sound Mix
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Short, deaf, experimental
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 19, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    61,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    American Sign Language
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Yorkton Film Festival
    Yorkton
    Canada
    May 27, 2023
    North American Premiere
    Ruth Shaw Award (Best in Saskatchewan)
  • Deaf Film Festival
    Austin, Texas
    United States
    October 7, 2023
    Best Short
  • SignLight International Film Festival
    Los Angeles, California
    United States
    April 16, 2024
    Official Selection
  • Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards
    Regina, SK
    Canada
    November 25, 2023
    Nominee: Best Short, Best Technical
Director Biography - Chrystene R. Ells

Chrystene Ells is a director, visual artist, and animator. She grew up on an Alberta cattle ranch before moving to San Francisco in 1986, where she made practical special effects for film and animation, working on The Nightmare Before Christmas and for George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic, among others. Over two decades she built models, creatures and puppets, storyboarded, created concept art, and directed a number of theatrical productions and films.

Relocating in 2006 to Saskatchewan, Ells earned an Interdisciplinary MFA (Film, Visual Art, Theatre, University of Regina), receiving the Governor General’s Gold Medal (Academic) for her thesis feature film, Sisu - the Death of Tom Sukanen. She later received a Lieutenant Governor’s Arts Award. Her collaboration with Berny Hi, Der Glöckner (16mm, b&w), won Best Film and Audience Choice awards at Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards, and Best Director at QC Shorts. Perhaps best of all, at his Rogue Film School, Werner Herzog told Chrystene that her hand-processed 8mm film about a goose contemplating mortality was strange, and that he liked it very much.

Ells is currently directing and animating her animated short, Crows Nest, with the National Film Board of Canada.

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