Teresa's Choice

Teresa is in her early 40's, aside from her work, she lives an isolated life. She has opted for artificial insemination and becoming a single mother by choice.

As the world pandemic strikes and she finds herself in a lockdown waiting for the donor's sperm; Teresa questions if she has the right to bring a new soul into a state of chaos, uncertainty, and danger.

Her deepest fears and doubts fed by the catastrophic news challenge her heartfelt desire to give life and love.

But life pulsates strongly inside of her and her dreams prompt her to make a decision and be true to herself.

  • Marlene Castaños Ortega
    Director
  • Marlene Castaños Ortega
    Writer
  • Marlene Castaños Ortega
    Producer
  • Gayatri Everitt Bajpai
    Producer
  • Lila Ferradans
    Producer
  • Tito Ferradans
    Producer
  • Marlene Castaños
    Key Cast
    "Teresa"
  • Nathaniel Vonssen
    Key Cast
    "Adam"
  • Sol Eden
    Key Cast
    "Sol"
  • Nicole Eden
    Key Cast
    "Pregnant Woman"
  • Lila Ferradans
    Key Creatives
  • Gayatri Everitt Bajpai
    Key Creatives
  • Lila Ferradans
    Key Creatives
  • Gayatri Everitt Bajpai
    Key Creatives
  • Janine Ferreira
    Key Creatives
  • Maria Pashkowsky
    Crew
  • Zack Houston
    Crew
  • Alisha Miller
    Crew
  • Jeff Lee
    Crew
  • Gabrielle Mar
    Crew
  • Yann Pluin
    Crew
  • Dani Sampaio
    Crew
  • Kelly Bastard
    Crew
  • Josefina Llanos
    Crew
  • Harold Torres
    Crew
  • Tyler Collins
    Crew
  • Kristina Soroff
    Crew
  • Sara Kinakin
    Crew
  • Tony Kajan
    Crew
  • Karina Correa
    Post Production
  • Janine Ferreira
    Post Production
  • Camryn Skeeles
    Post Production
  • Dmitri Kristalinsky
    Post Production
  • Devan Scott
    Post Production
  • Carla V. Smallwood
    Post Production
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 49 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 12, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Marlene Castaños Ortega

MARLENE CASTAÑOS ORTEGA

Marlene is a filmmaker interested in telling stories that awaken people's hearts. She started as an theater actress in Mexico before moving to Canada to study film and expanded her career as an actor and producer.
Teresa's Choice is her directorial debut, whose inspiration was to bring awareness to the life force we all are in times of uncertainty.
She founded Divine Spark Films, a boutique production company specialized in conscious films. She is developing a feature film and a TV series. Her stories are influenced by studies on psychotherapy, spiritual traditions, and meditative practices. She believes that films can expand human consciousness and she creates stories aiming to do so.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

WRITER/DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

“To give life or to fear life”

Teresa came to me during the strict lockdown of the pandemic. My close friends who have kids feared the fatal fate that could await their children were they going to die from the novel Coronavirus. It was a tough time to be a mother and yet, the pulsation towards life has and will always exist.

Those conversations made me question myself; Would I have the courage to bring a new soul to life if I knew that the current state of chaos, uncertainty, fear, and danger were going to prevail? Who does and why?

These questions were the seed for Teresa's Choice. A story about the archetypical inner battle between love and fear.

I wanted to convey a life lived in solitude, the isolation that we all experienced during the pandemic but that is actually the reality for many people longing to have deep loving connections and unable to do so.

The options for motherhood at a later age, the social pressure, the inner pressure, the biological clock. Artificial Insemination as a choice for our generation. What motivates a woman in her forties to become a single mother by choice? What is the experience like? All these questions popped up in my heart and became Teresa's journey.

I also wanted to invite some possibilities, the inner guidance that we all have in times of turmoil. Teresa loses herself in doubt, her mind and ears get filled with death and destruction as life in her little inner garden is in bloom, flowers grow and fish swim. Life goes on oblivious to her inner struggle. Her unconscious wisdom manifests itself through a brush of magical realism in dreams and visions that prompt Teresa to be true to herself and make a choice.