
Chelsea McMullan
Directing
Biography
Chelsea McMullan (they/their) is one of Canada’s leading filmmakers. They make documentary, experimental narrative, and hybrid films that explore the work of leading international artists. Chelsea’s next feature, Ever Deadly, created in collaboration with Tanya Tagaq, captures Tanya’s incandescent and unforgettable artistic voice through the frame of a live concert performance shot in a single take, punctuated by documentary elements and animation by the internationally renowned Inuit artist Shuvinai Ashoona. Chelsea’s previous features, including My Prairie Home, a musical documentary about the pioneering transgender musician Rae Spoon, have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, True/False, and other leading festivals and venues internationally. They have also directed for television, including episodes of the documentary series This Is Pop (Netflix/Crave) and In the Making (CBC). Premiering on CBC and on broadcast channels internationally in 2023, their new documentary series Swan Song follows the National Ballet of Canada as it rebuilds from the COVID-19 crisis to mount one of the most ambitious productions in its history. Chelsea has also made numerous acclaimed short films about and in collaboration with major international artists such as Eileen Myles, Zhang Huan, Isabelle Marant and Ken Lum.
Known For

Unknown histories take center stage as the hitmakers themselves - from ABBA to T-Pain - explore dimensions of pop music you never knew existed.
This Is Pop

An immersive, behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s leading ballet companies as it mounts a new production of Swan Lake. Ballet icon Karen Kain, on the eve of her retirement, directs the National Ballet of Canada. The film weaves together intimate scenes of the creative process and the dancers’ personal lives. Executive Produced by Neve Campbell.
Swan Song

In Chelsea McMullan’s poignantly observed role reversal, a daughter extends unconditional support to her ailing mother as they explore alternative healing methods, deftly transmuting inherent eccentricity into a profound expression of care.
Healer

A true Canadian iconoclast, acclaimed transgender country/electro-pop artist Rae Spoon revisits the stretches of rural Alberta that once constituted “home” and confronts memories of growing up queer in an abusive, evangelical household.
My Prairie Home

Crystal Pite and the artists of the National Ballet return to the stage to remount the critically acclaimed Angels’ Atlas after a nearly two-year shutdown due to the pandemic. Crystal Pite: Angels’ Atlas grants audiences unprecedented access into Pite’s creative process, through intimate rehearsal footage and candid interviews, as the film builds towards an emotional opening night marking the National Ballet’s first performance onstage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts after lockdown.
Crystal Pite: Angels' Atlas

Ever Deadly weaves concert footage with stunning sequences filmed on location in Nunavut, seamlessly bridging landscapes, stories and songs with pain, anger and triumph—all through the expressions of Tanya Tagaq, one of the most innovative musical performers of our time.
Ever Deadly
The director follows her sister's entry into the glitzy world of beauty pagents.
In A Perfect World

A would-be exile explores her Georgia O'Keeffe fantasies through customer support calls.
Ida Western Exile
Frederico Fellini's unmade film ll Viaggio di G. Mastorna Detto Fernet became a graphic novel, just before Fellini's death in 1993. This is the story of how that came to be, as told by long time Fellini collaborator and illustrator for ll Viaggio di G. Mastorna, Milo Manera. Combining still photography and moving images, the piece which was produced in conjunction with Fabrica, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011. The short is anchored by an interview with Milo Minara shot entirely in stills. The interview discusses his personal take on the main existentialist themes of the book; this interview has been intercut with the actual graphic novel and what appears to be the lost footage (via recreation) of the story's first scene. This short doc is an exploration into dreams and fantasy, moving through different realities. Shot between Milan, Italy and Koln, Germany.
Derailments
In his twenties, John Hanmer was a well respected police officer and family man in Hamilton, Ontario. Two decades and three countries later, his life would end in a barrage of gunfire in Angeles City, Philippines. Surviving him were his four children: Michael, Shannon, Michael, and Shannon. This is not a typo.
Michael Shannon Michael Shannon John

This short film is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to award-winning director, writer and composer Des McAnuff.
Mise en Scène

Starring electronic-music pioneer Beverly Glenn-Copeland and conceived by his wife and creative partner Elizabeth, this never-before-seen pilot for an unproduced children’s show is a joyous, colorful kaleidoscope of handmade puppets, eye-whirling archival montage, and Glenn-Copeland’s transcendent music. Though the planned series ultimately never came to fruition due to Glenn-Copeland’s subsequent dementia diagnosis, this small treasure is a testament to the radiant imagination of a singularly serene, inspirational life force who is a beacon to both underground music and the trans community.
Caring Cabin
A young woman attends a healer’s book-signing event with her sick mom.