GRACE follows a mother trying to reconnect with her addict son who spent a night in the hospital under observation after experiencing a suicidal crisis just before Christmas.
GRACE faces something that no parent should ever have to go through. Her mid-twenties son, Liam, who’s been struggling with alcohol addiction and has been showing signs of depression, spent a night in the hospital under observation after experiencing a suicidal crisis. Grace picks him up to bring him home the day before Christmas Eve. We watch as she battles her own guilt and struggles to cope with her child's suffering while retracing the course of their lives up to that point.
Ksenia Naughton is a Chicago-based film director, screenwriter, producer, and video editor whose work explores social justice, mental health, and stories centered on women, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ communities. Driven by her own experiences, she is drawn to narratives of resilience, identity, and belonging, often focusing on female protagonists. Her films have screened at festivals worldwide. Her short film Jack and Anna screened at over 40 festivals, including the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival. It received the Best Global Short: Beyond the Rainbow Award at the 2019 SCAD Savannah Film Festival and earned Silver and Bronze honors at the 42nd Telly Awards. Ksenia has also been nominated for the Young Director Award at Cannes Lions and the Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase at the Gotham Awards. She is an alumna of the AICP Mentoring Program (Cycle 2), where she was mentored by Jennifer Sprunger of Ridley Scott Associates, and was a semi-finalist for the 2023 CDDP – Commercial Directors Diversity Program. In 2024, she was nominated for the Princess Grace Awards and the Tribeca Through Her Lens program. She is a member of BAFTA, Film Fatales, and NYWIFT.
Producer - Dashawna Wright
Cinematographer - Gabriel Jung
Composer - Peter Naughton
