Lighten Up
Directed by: Brielle Robillard
Starring: Yatharth Bhatt, Tomaso Sanelli, Brielle Robillard
Country of Origin: Canada
Runtime: 15:50
Synopsis
When his best friend Maddy leaves town without warning, 17-year-old Alex becomes consumed by the fragments of their final days together. Through her journal, he relives her growing closeness with his friend Lucas, the fragile balance of his own bond with her, and the unspoken truths that lingered between them. But the deeper Alex sinks into the past, the more unstable his memories become, leaving the audience to question what really happened, who can be trusted, and how much of the story is shaped by his guilt and longing.
A psychological coming-of-age drama, Lighten Up explores obsession, miscommunication, and the narratives we construct to protect our sense of self.
Director Statement
With Lighten Up, I explore how memory reshapes the past and what happens when the protective narratives we build around ourselves begin to fracture. The film considers how female experience exists alongside male narratives, while portraying male vulnerability and friendship with intimacy and normalcy. It is a story where mistakes are not only inevitable but central to understanding who these characters are. At its core, Lighten Up asks what becomes possible when we step outside the fantasies we construct about ourselves and others, and whether genuine connection and fuller processing of pain lie beyond them.
Lighten Up is my debut short as a writer/director after many years working professionally as an actor, and a true collaboration among young, Toronto-raised artists whose long-standing friendships shaped the film’s emotional honesty. My hope is that the film shows audiences that forgiveness, redemption, and connection can emerge in unexpected places when we move beyond the limits of our own ego.