An indie film crew throws caution to the wind when they attempt to shoot a completely improvised drama where the film’s big twist is being kept secret from their lead actress, while also navigating on-set mishaps, bizarre twists of fate, and the first year of a global pandemic.

2024. Canada

Director: Christopher Warre Smets

Subjects: Jeremy Lalonde, Jonas Chernick, Amanda Brugel

The Eye2Eye Festival audience was granted a sneak-peak of this documentary after the screening of Ashgrove.

Our Q&A with Actor & Writer Jonas Chernick was held on June 4th, 2023.

CHRISTOPHER WARRE SMETS - BIO

Christopher Warre Smets has written and directed the feature films The Overlookers (2005) and The Last Hitman (2008), the latter starring Tony Award-winning actor Joe Mantegna. Both films were awarded Best Feature at the Canadian Film Fest. He has also directed the short films This Is Not What You Had Planned (2015) and Flung (2016), which was part of Telefilm Canada’s Not Short on Talent selection at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. More recently, he co-wrote (with James Villeneuve) and associate produced the Shudder original Vicious Fun (2020), co-starring David Koechner, which won the Golden Raven at the 2021 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.

In addition, he has directed music videos for The Strumbellas, William Prince, Simon Ward, and The Abrams, and created behind-the scenes content for such films and TV series as Orphan Black, The Lost Symbol, Dare Me, Possessor, Take This Waltz, Stockholm, and Killjoys.

The Ashgrove Experiment is his first feature-length documentary.

JEREMY LALONDE - BIO

Jeremy LaLonde is a filmmaker who resides in Toronto where he was awarded with NOW Magazine’s ‘Best Local Filmmaker’ Reader’s Choice Award in 2015. His films have screened internationally including Toronto Int’l Film Festival, Slamdance, Cinequest, Santa Barbara, Dances with Films and Whistler. His film SEX AFTER KIDS won Best Feature at Film North Huntsville, Best Comedy at the Edmonton Int’l Film Festival, and Best Screenplay & Best Director at the Canadian Comedy Awards.

His film HOW TO PLAN AN ORGY IN A SMALL TOWN premiered at Slamdance and won Best Indie Feature at the Edmonton Int’l Film Festival, and Best Ensemble & Best Feature film at the Canadian Film Fest. His fourth feature film THE GO-GETTERS had its world premiere at Cinequest where it won the Jury Award for Best Comedy Feature.

Jeremy has won multiple Canadian Screen Awards, a Director’s Guild of Canada, and a Canadian Comedy Award for his work both directing and editing on BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW (CBC/IFC). He was an integral part of the show for its first three seasons. His fifth feature film JAMES vs HIS FUTURE SELF co-written by Jonas Chernick and starring Daniel Stern, Frances Conroy, and Cleopatra Coleman recently took home four awards at Toronto After Dark including Best Feature Film (Bronze), Best Canadian Feature, Best Sci-Fi Feature, and Best Supporting Actor and it also screened at Whistler, Santa Barbara, and Brussels among others. It was nominated for four Canadian Screen Awards including Best Original Screenplay. His sixth feature film, ASHGROVE, had its world premiere at the Glasgow Int’l film festival to rave reviews and recently won Best Ensemble Cast and Indie Spirit Award at the Canadian Film Festival and Best Feature Film at the Forest City Film Festival. It was recently nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards. Jeremy’s seventh feature DANIEL’S GOTTA DIE, recently starting touring film festivals winning Best International Feature & Best Ensemble Cast at the Garden State Film Festival as well as Best Comedy Film and Best Ensemble at Toronto After Dark. He is readying his eight feature film and is developing several properties for television.