Hot new writer/director Christie Conochalla is ready to take on LA and the world!
There’s a league of extraordinary women filmmakers that currently inhabits the earth.
Take your Conns and your Baders. Take your Brooks and your Selbaks. Your Wadleys and your Turners.
You have a smorgasbord of outstanding talent that is dedicated to bringing you the ultimate visual experience through lesbian film.
We are happy to induct one more woman in this amazing circle of artists and strong women.
Her name is Christie Conochalla and she is here to make all of our dreams come true. This lighting director by day and talented writer/director by, well, every other moment of her life, has set forth to captivate our longing for quality lesbian cinema.
With her short, Once Upon a Zipper, Conochalla wanted to poke fun of the lesbian romantic comedies that we all enjoy watching. “When it was decided that I’d be the one to direct, it turned into a Katharine Hepburn-esque screwball comedy,” says Conochalla.
The film proves to be a ‘laugh out loud’ hit with our main character, Rachel (Kate Gorney-Miller) who just can’t seem to stop herself from falling in love with Paulie (Jillian Leigh), the woman in charge of the bridal shop where Rachel is trying on her wedding gown. Rachel gets caught in a dress that Paulie must help her out of. Hilarity ensues.
They share a brief moment where they obviously find their feelings for one another before Rachel flees the shop. Will Rachel get married to the man, ew, at the end of the altar? Or will she choose the woman who undoes her zipper?
“The story is about love, breaking stereotypes and realizing that no one else can tell you who you are or guilt you into no being true to yourself,” says Conochalla. “You are who you are and eventually it’ll explode out of you when faced with the right opportunity.”
With Once Upon a Zipper under her belt, Conochalla is moving on to bigger and better things. Her new project, La Douleur Exquise, is a lesbian web series that focuses on the love and struggle of a young lighting designer in the music industry and a concert pianist who is attempting to further her career.
Conochalla decided to write this drama to show a continuing love that can, or at least try to, withstand the tribulations of time and distance. “I wanted them both to have high profile careers and I wanted to show their relationship over the span of a lifetime.”
For this project, Conochalla has recruited the power house talent of Mandahla Rose to play Sasha, the woman in the tech field who has been accepted into the “boys club” in her male dominated career. Rose recently played E, the sexy night club DJ who finds a bag of money and goes on the run with her gay roommate, in the hit Australian lesbian film, All About E.
“I was in LA for Outfest for the screening of E. I met Christie (Conochalla) there and we became friends,” says Rose. “About a month or so later she told me about LDE (La Douleur Exquise) and mentioned how I would be great as Sasha. The producers got the ball rolling, I was granted a 0-1 visa and there ya go!”
Rose returned to the states after a brief homecoming in Australia back in December to film the pilot episode of the new lesbian web series. Co-starring in the role of Elisabeth, the touring and talented concert pianist is beautiful French/Canadian, Marie Gibeault.
“I had submitted for this role on two different casting sites,” says Gibeault. “Christie sent me an audition invitation and she wanted a real French girl.” And French she is, with an accent as beautiful as she is!
When you put together the creative mind of a talented filmmaker with the acting talents of two very up-and-coming starlets of the screen, you have the mixture of complete and utter perfection waiting to be viewed.
“Mandahla is just amazing,” says Gibeault. “The moment we met it was as if I’d known her for years and was super comfortable with her.It was the same with Christie. The way she writes her female characters is just unbelievable. I connected with Elisabeth as soon as I read the script.”
“Marie is so great,” says Rose. “I’m rather shy so I needed to have coffee dates with Marie so we could get to know one another before jumping right into the kissing.”
Did someone say: Kissing? Kissing is what we love to hear! Especially when it’s from serious eye candy like Marie and Mandahla. The new IndieGoGo campaign was recently launched to get La Douleur Exquise off the ground. With the pilot shot, Conochalla hopes the fundraising will fuel the first season into your living rooms.
“This is a time where women are still fighting for equality, which is a disgusting reality,” says Conochalla. “Sasha is a lesbian whom I haven’t seen yet in films and content. The release of the project is so important because though the lesbian story is the central focal point, it is not all about being a lesbian. It’s about being a woman, working to survive and succeed in this world we live in today, and the internal struggle we all face when having to choose between being the best in your field or giving in a little for love.”
Well sign me up! I pledge my non-existent million dollars to help this series come to life! Does that help at all? It’s the thought that counts, right? I do, however, implore you all to take a chance on something worth it. Something that dares show truth in such an ugly world. Something that will provide you with quality entertainment and a storyline that will undoubtedly leave you breathless.
“You would be amazed by the power of love and the battles and sacrifices it takes to really be with someone that feels the same way,” says Gibeault. “It doesn’t happen too often these days, spending a lifetime with the same person because it’s just so easy to leave when things get hard.”
“I really feel connected to this project and it would be great to accomplish the goal of getting full funding,” says Rose. I also want people and or fans to mash Elisabeth and Sasha’s names together like, Sashabeth or Elisasash. Haha.”
The. Time. Is. NOW.