LUCID
Creativity is often not the picture perfect process we imagine it will be. It’s messy, constrained by time and budget, emotionally charged, plunging into a wave of euphoria, then slamming into a wall. It feels like a real being, an erratic supernatural force that you must appease or learn to work with. It can even feel like a monster. This is precisely what co-directors Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Fendall deal with in their feature film LUCID, a 90s-set, surreal, punk-infused psychological horror.
LUCID follows Mia Sunshine Jones, an art student with a severe case of creative block, worn down by her minimum wage job, alienating classmates, and a professor who demands she create “something with heart” in one week. Desperate for inspiration, she consumes a special candy elixir that induces lucid dreaming, opening up her mind in ways she did not think possible. Memories she had no idea existed resurface, and the wall between her and her creativity suddenly lifts. But instead of clarity, the candy unleashes monsters from her subconscious, forcibly sending her down a path of inspiration, meaning, and self-discovery in the most nightmarish way possible.
Caitlin Acken Taylor as Mia in LUCID
Pender PR supported this filmmaking team from completion of the film through festivals including Fantasia, Sitges, Brooklyn Horror, EFM and more. We supported the team through distribution, acquisitions including by Filmoption in Canada and Dark Star in the US as well as the theatrical run in 2026. Coverage included Variety, Deadline, Ebert and more.
An excerpt from the exclusive LUCID trailer drop that we secured with Jennie Punter of VARIETY for the Fantasia World Premiere in July 2025:
“Frontières gave us the chance to test-drive the surreal and handmade tone, sharpen our vision, and connect with a kind, yet brutally honest, community of genre lovers who didn’t flinch when we pitched them a Fried Chicken Monster,” Milligan told Variety last week.
“Making art and indie film is an act of rebellion,” she said. “We had to create this film outside traditional industry structures, and we were able to get through production thanks to an incredible community who showed up for the film.”
Milligan, who directed the “Lucid” short, is a veteran Canadian film and TV actor, while Fendall is a cinematographer, on, for example, Ethan Hawke’s doc “Seymour: An Introduction,” as well as producer and director. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, and working through their production company, Sublunar Films, the duo has developed a collaborative creative process that starts like that of a documentary.
“We get on the road, shoot on film, take photos, record sounds, collect fragments over months or even years,” said Fendall. “We love looking for locations that move and inspire us somehow.” “Lucid” reflects the importance of independent voices, Milligan added: “Our power is in our individuality – especially in today’s politically polarized climate where young folks crave authentic expression and hope.”
Quotes
“A Surreal 16mm personal odyssey in relentless pursuit of pure artistic feeling. Lucid is true-to-heart Canadian Underground filmmaking; weird, off-kilter and unabashedly outsider. With stylistic shades of early Greg Araki and John Waters, it arrives at a world untue its own. Trippy, DIY feeling visuals and a stellar indie/alt soundtrack only further imbue it with a punk rock energy that’s not to be missed.” AstroMonster, Letterboxd
Lucid is a visually arresting movie that haunts you long after its credits. Writers & directors, Ramsey Fendall & Deanna Milligan, deliver a Lynchian nightmare that is as compelling and gripping as its daring visuals that would make David Lynch proud.” - Victims & Villains