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EXCLUSIVE: Fusion Entertainment has signed the director, writers, and actor of the acclaimed independent drama Mountains, Monica Sorelle (director and co-writer), Robert Colom (co-writer and producer) and Chris Renois (actor).
The film premiered at Tribeca Festival, where it received Special Jury Mention for Best Narrative Film. It also won the audience award at BlackStar and was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival—making it an extremely rare example of a film to play both Tribeca and TIFF. Mountains has garnered unanimously glowing reviews. Deadline called it “Affecting and meditative… An enormously impressive feature debut,” while “The Hollywood Reporter called it “a quietly moving proclamation of presence.” It will have its LA Premiere at AFI later this month.
Mountains marks the debut feature from Miami-based Haitian-American writer/director Sorelle, who is also an acclaimed producer and visual artist, and worked in the casting department on Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight. The film is a loving look at the intergenerational frictions within a Haitian-American family in a rapidly gentrifying Miami, exploring the desires and conflicts of three main characters: Xavier (Atibon Nazaire), a middle-aged demolition worker, his seamstress wife Esperance (Sheila Anozier), and their adult son Junior (Renois), caught between two cultures as he pursues a career in stand-up comedy.
The film was co-written and produced by Robert Colom, a fixture of the Miami filmmaking community. Both Colom and Sorelle are key members of the Caribbean creative collective Third Horizon, which currently has a showcase of films on The Criterion Channel.
Mountains also marks the onscreen debut for Chris Renois, a prominent Miami-based comedian. Renois was a semi-finalist on “Stand Up NBC” and in the digital realm, has amassed a dedicated following of over 150k fans across all his social media platforms, with a staggering 120k followers and 1.2 million likes on TikTok.
“We are so proud to add Monica, Robert, and Chris to the Fusion family,” said Fusion partners and co-founders Chris Evans and Adam Kersh. “As a first feature, Mountains is absolutely unparalleled in its cinematic elegance and remarkable for the love and grace it bestows upon its characters and setting of Miami’s Little Haiti. This is due to Monica Sorelle’s patient and visionary direction, and her sensitive, incisive script, co-written by her immensely talented co-writer and creative partner Robert Colom. The natural onscreen charisma of Chris Renois helps bring the story to life. All three artists have so much to offer and we are excited to help them build on their talents.”
BIOS
MONICA SORELLE
Monica Sorelle is a Haitian-American filmmaker and artist born and based in Miami. She has worked in the casting department on films and TV shows including Moonlight and Sesame Street and was a creative producer on the short films T (winner at Berlinale, BlackStar, Miami, New Orleans; shown at Sundance and on the Criterion Channel) and You Can Always Come Home (winner at Miami, exhibited at BlackStar and New Orleans). Her photo and video work has been supported by Oolite Arts, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Locust Projects, and Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. Monica is a member of Third Horizon, a creative collective dedicated to Caribbean voices and stories.
ROBERT COLOM
Robert Colom is a producer and writer from Miami. His short films have been featured and awarded at Tribeca, Berlinale, Sundance, SXSW, and Miami Film Festival, and acquired by HBO, PBS, and the Criterion Channel. Robert has been a fellow of Film Independent’s Producing Lab (2022) and New Orleans Film Society’s Southern Producers Labs (2020, 2018), the European Film Market (2023 Fiction Toolbox), The Gotham (2022 U.S. Features in Post, 2021 U.S. Narrative Features) and U.S. in Progress (Wrocław 2022). He is a member of the Caribbean creative collective Third Horizon, and is a programmer for Third Horizon Film Festival. In 2022, Robert founded the nonprofit “Cinemóvil”, a free mobile cinema presenting classic and contemporary films from Latin America and the Caribbean across Miami neighborhoods, with support from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
CHRIS RENOIS
Chris Renois is a stand-up comic, actor, and content creator based out of Miami. Chris has amassed over 150k followers across all his social media platforms with over 120k coming from TikTok alone. One of the fastest rising performers in Florida and beyond, his skits have been featured on TV programs such as Right This Minute and Access Hollywood. Chris was recently selected for the 2023 Laughing Skull Comedy Festival in Atlanta.
