A lberta-based filmmaker Sandi Somers and producer Scott Lepp have partnered once again, this time on the LGBTQ+ feature-length film Hailey Rose.

Principal photography on the drama, directed by Somers (pictured), has commenced in Hubbards and Chester, N.S., and will continue for a month. Hailey Rose is produced by Calgary’s Jordan Ashlee Uhl (Tribal), with Lepp (Tribal, Ice Blue) of Iylond Entertainment, and Pablo Salzman (So Long, Marianne) and Stephen Finney (Sugar) of Connect3 Media as executive producers.

The film is supported by Telefilm Canada, Super Channel, and the Canada Media Fund, and was developed with the National Screen Institute’s Features First Program, the Whistler Film Festival Producers Lab, and the Alberta Media Fund.

Hailey Rose follows a 28-year-old woman who heads back home after hearing the news of her mother’s passing and searches for the family’s lost boat. It stars Em Haine (Reginald the Vampire), Kari Matchett (A Million Little Things), Caitlynne Medrek (Heartland), Billy MacLellan (Nobody, Maudie) and David Oulton (Face to Face with David).

Producers are closing in on a deal for Canadian distribution, a spokesperson for the film told Playback Daily, with plans to bring the film to additional markets for international buyers.

Hailey Rose is the latest collaboration between Somers and Lepp following their 2018 feature debut Ice Blue, as well as the CBC Gem original series Hudson, and the Telus Storyhive digital series Realization.

Somers said in a statement that Hailey Rose is not only a “story of going back home for our character Hailey, but it’s also a coming home adventure for myself,” adding that the film is a “proudly inclusive, LGBTQ+ story… and an homage to a special place in Canada and in my heart.”

Image courtesy of Iylond Entertainment