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EXCLUSIVE: Riele Downs (Henry Danger) is leading coming-of-age drama Dreams of the Moon, which is set against the backdrop of the 1970s watergate scandal, women’s lib movement and the echoes of the space race. Directed by Alfons Adetuyi (Love Jacked), the film also stars Evan Ellison (She Came to Me), John Daniel (The Hardy Boys), Karen LeBlanc (The Kings of Napa), Keith David (The Lowdown), and Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire). Filming has recently wrapped on the Ontario, Canada, leg of the production and moves to Cape Town, South Africa later this year. The film follows Lucy (Downs), “a fearless young Black girl whose dream of becoming an astronaut collides with the extraordinary moment NASA astronauts descend on her small Canadian mining town. As Lucy and her friends navigate the complexities of their world, they discover the power of hope and the courage to dream big. Inspired by the true events of the 1971 Apollo 16 training mission in Northern Ontario, Dreams of the Moon blends historical fact and fiction against the charged backdrop of Watergate-era politics, the women’s liberation movement, and the lingering echoes of the space race”. The project is an Inner City Films Production produced and directed by Adetuyi. The film is written by Adetuyi and Dennis Foon. Cora Tonno and Lisa Di Michele serve as executive producers. Co-producers are Sidney Chiu and Horace Rayners. The film will be distributed in Canada by Elevation Pictures. Support comes from funders Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC), AfroGlobal Media, and Media Productions 2C. It was made possible in part by the Government of Canada (Creative Export Canada). In Cape Town, South African co-producer Horace Rayners will oversee the local production. The Cape Town shoot will feature South African crew and locations. “This is the movie I’ve been waiting my whole life to make,” said director/producer Alfons Adetuyi. “Sudbury, Ontario, shaped me as a storyteller—it’s where UFO conspiracies were debated over fries, where neighbours from around the world built new lives, and where a little Black kid could look up at the sky and believe anything was possible.”
