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The Story

Chichester's Choice follows filmmaker, Simonee as she investigates the life of her homeless father, Edgar Chichester who abandoned her at six years old. Twenty-three years later, Simonee journeys to the streets of Guyana and Brazil to find and reunite with her father in the hopes of forgiving and understanding him while coming to terms with who she is.

Chichester's Choice is Simonee's first film. It is a Raw and personal coming of age film that touches on the universal issues of homelessness, alcoholism and abandonment.

It is Produced by My Friend Simonee Films, and directed and written by Simonee Chichester Chichester's Choice was Produced with the Support of:

• The Toronto Arts Council
• The Canada Council for the Arts
• The National Film Board of Canada

"Sure to invoke discussion and remind audiences everywhere of their most important freedom - CHOICE."

Trailer

( Trailer edited by Angad Bhalla )

The Story

Simonee Chichester never understood what had led her father to a life of despair and poverty, but 23 years after he had abandoned her, she decided to reunite with Edgar in the hopes of better understanding her father and herself. During the summer of 2003, Simonee received a call from Foreign Affairs Canada informing her that her father had a severe, possibly fatal case of tuberculosis.

Edgar Chichester was now living on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Chichester's Choice is a personal documentary about Simonee's journey through Guyana and Brazil to find her father.

Director's Statement

When I was told by Foreign Affairs Canada in 2003 that my dad could be dying, I knew I had to see him before he was gone forever. It had been 23 years since I had last seen my father, Edgar Chichester. In all that time, I never understood what led him to a life of homelessness on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

I had been involved in the arts for ten years. Mainly as an actor who dabbled in dramatic writing and hoped to eventually make my own film. I never anticipated that I would make a documentary, much less, one about my life and journey to find my father.

When I started to work on the treatment for the project and investigate my father's life, I began to realize how other people would relate to my story. Like so many people today, I am the child of immigrant parents whose dreams had ended in divorce and a sense of failure. A single mother, with little resources, raised me and I struggled to define myself without having my father around. I wanted this film to be more than a chronicle of our reunion. I wanted to explore and mirror other people's search for identity; as I believe we are all on a life-long journey of figuring out who we are.