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The Truth About Church Club

Science-brained 11-year-old Nora has finally convinced somebody - anybody - to join her club for debunking her school's religious nonsense. But when Nora's aunt walks in on a secret meeting with... dubious research topics on the agenda, Nora is sent on a journey to protect her club, show her religion teacher who's boss, and ultimately learn the balance between facts and feelings.

  • Ellie O'Brien
    Director
    We Were Girls Together
  • Ellie O'Brien
    Writer
    We Were Girls Together
  • Holly de Vaal
    Producer
    Feeling the Apocolypse, We Were Girls Together
  • Glee Dango
    Key Cast
    "Nora"
    Henry Danger: The Movie, Popularity Papers
  • Jadyn Nasato
    Key Cast
    "Aunt Molly"
    Desync
  • Peyton Boulley
    Key Cast
    "Kimmie"
    Murdoch Mysteries, Run the Burbs
  • Katherine East
    Key Cast
    "Miss Boare"
    Killjoys, 12 Monkeys
  • Michael Abes
    Cinematographer
    We Were Girls Together, I'm Sorry for Your Loss
  • Bethany Harrison
    Composer
    Jeffrey, We Were Girls Together
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Dramedy, Religious Comedy
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 19, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 CAD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Sheridan College
  • Sheridan Screen Arts Awards
    Oakville, ON
    Canada
    May 13, 2024
    Student film showcase
    People's choice for Best Film, Best Screenplay, & Best Directing
Director Biography - Ellie O'Brien

Ellie O’Brien is a passionate young filmmaker hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, now working in Toronto, Canada. She began her career as a child actor after a casting director told her she was “weirdly focused for a nine year old”. Now, over a decade into her career, Ellie is a multi-faceted creative with her sights set on writing and directing.

Inspired by her working-class Glaswegian background and desire to be taken seriously as a child, Ellie wrote and directed The Truth About Church Club in her final year of study in Sheridan College’s Bachelor of Film and Television program. The film was a major success at the 2024 Sheridan Screen Arts Awards, earning the People’s Choice awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Directing.

Post-graduation, Ellie is passionate about empowering women and children through the art of film. She applies her unique background in performance to empower the actors she works with, create original, genre-blending works, and challenge what high-brow artistic expression can look like.

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Director Statement

We’ve all heard the phrase “you’ll understand when you’re older”. When I was a kid, this drove me up the wall. I hated the idea that adults in my life were withholding valuable information from me. Suddenly, I absolutely needed to know where babies came from, otherwise, how was I meant to make sense of the world with only half the story?

The Truth About Church Club is a portrait - albeit exaggerated, quirky, and often comical - of the inner child in all of us who wants to be taken seriously. As a result, the film treats Nora with respect and challenges her to a journey of compromise and tough lessons.

All the characters in this film, including the children, go on a journey to learn to speak each other’s languages. Nora is science-brained and fluff-adverse, while her adult counterparts are deeply religious and embrace the mystery of faith. Neither is right or wrong, but to understand each other, the characters must make compromises and broaden their understanding of truth.

Children like Nora come into the world with a powerful curiosity that should be nurtured into adulthood. I hope that audiences can leave this film reflecting on the questions and pieces of identity they held as children, and consider how they have changed, evolved, or been left behind. There is value in reflecting on who we have been in order to make sense of who we are meant to become. This is especially true if we hope to see the unique value in each other that can be traced back to childhood, developed into adulthood, and nurtured along the way.