Dawn Dusk

A designer’s journey through the dawns and dusks of grief, healing, and artistic identity.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Project status: Distribution
Director/Producer: Sarah Blue Winslow & Jason Gerber
Editor: Meredith Mantik
Composer: Silas Hite
 
Email: hello@dawnduskfilm.com
Website: dawnduskfilm.com
Instagram: @dawnduskfilm
 
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Logline

Chelli Look, a leather bag artist, must reconcile the legacy of her sister, who was murdered 10 years prior, with the future of her career as a designer.

Synopsis

Dawn Dusk is an intimate, personal and therapeutic witness to a leather bag designer’s process of grief after the murder of her sister. It’s been 10 years since Chelli Look’s sister Megan was murdered by Megan’s husband. Chelli’s brand, CHC, is about to launch her latest collection called Dawn Dusk. Through it all, Chelli wrestles with how to honor Megan’s legacy, and the weight of running a business, while remaining an artist at heart. Eventually, Chelli must reconcile these things with the future of her brand. Chelli’s search for healing and her creative voice is poignant and relevant for anyone who’s experienced loss. Woven with painterly visuals of the sun rising and setting, Dawn Dusk intimately captures an artist’s journey through grief and search for purpose.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Sarah Blue Winslow & Jason Gerber – Director/Producer
Husband and wife duo, Jason & Blue are a co-directing team working in films and commercials together. Their most recent short film, Otis’ Dream, about voter suppression, debuted during the months leading up to the 2020 election and was shared by Oprah as an official Super Soul Sunday short film, gaining attention from major media outlets.

Jason & Blue have directed commercials for brands such as 7UP, Scotch-Brite, Meiomi Wine, Chipotle, Intelligentsia, LOEWE and more, and their heart for storytelling can be seen in their work for The Boys & Girls Clubs, GE Girls, Athletes Unlimited, Lincoln Park Community Services, which won a Silver Telly, as well as piece for Chicago Connected which was shared by President Barack Obama.

Female and male, tactful and feeling, they evoke imagination and authentic human narratives directing as one voice.

Meredith Mantik – Editor
Meredith is an editor based in Los Angeles, California. She has edited four narrative features, five documentary features, and numerous short films and commercials. Her most recent narrative feature, DOWNEAST, stars Greg Finley and Kirk Fox, was distributed by Gravitas Ventures, and is currently available on Showtime.

She has worked as in-house editor for APS Films (DARK HARBOR, HUNTING LANDS, SPADES: THE SERIES), lead editor and editor on the Discovery series BERING SEA GOLD, junior editor on BBC Two’s BAFTA-winning series EXODUS: OUR JOURNEY TO EUROPE, and, most recently, assistant editor on the Amazon/Hello Sunshine feature film SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY’S.

Originally from Southern California, Meredith studied Creative Writing at Idyllwild Arts Academy, holds a BA in English, Film, and Philosophy from Colorado College, and, upon graduating with distinction from the UK’s prestigious National Film and Television School’s Editing MA course, received an AVID Excellence in Editing Award for her work on SWEET MADDIE STONE, directed by Brady Hood. SWEET MADDIE STONE went on to win Best British Short Film at London Critics’ Circle Awards and Best Short Film of the Year at the ODEON Film Awards, and was a Semi-Finalist at the Student Academy Awards.

Silas Hite – Composer
Silas Hite is an Emmy award winning artist and composer. His scores have garnered an Emmy, a Grand Clio, a Cannes Titanium Grand Prix, a Grand Effie and Adweek’s Campaign of The Decade.

He has written memorable music for some of the biggest video games and television shows of the past ten years and contributed music to both blockbuster and independent films. He has a large collection of unique instruments and plays many of them on his projects. He loves to play drums, guitar, bass, synths, keys, accordion, mandolin, organ and percussion instruments from around the world.

He began his career working with his uncles, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh (Devo), at Mark’s music studio, quickly earning a position as a full-time, in-house composer. Over the span of seven very productive years, he honed the craft of creating both mainstream and mutated music. Striking out on his own in 2009, Silas has since become an in-demand composer.

His music has played in institutions as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the New York Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, and The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.