FIDELITY to Premiere at Chelsea Film Festival: A Daughter’s Search for Connection in the Age of Artificial Intimacy
Feature Film Debut From Roberto Drilea Explores Memory, Identity, and What It Means to Be Present in a World of Performance
New York, Oct. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A young actress steps into the role of a dying man's estranged daughter, and finds herself confronting the unresolved loss of her own father. FIDELITY, the debut feature from writer-director Roberto Drilea, will make its World Premiere at the 13th Annual Chelsea Film Festival, on October 19, 2025, at Regal Union Square.
FIDELITY Poster (Graphics by Beth Morris)
The psychological drama follows Mira (Catherine Dauphin), a promising young actress questioning whether there's a future for her in a profession under threat. Navigating gigs tangential to acting, like lending her likeness to an AI educational avatar, or voicing children's audiobooks, she finds unexpected community in an acting class with an overbearing coach (Ethelyn Friend). At a career crossroads and pining for roles with emotional depth, she receives an intriguing invitation to stand in for the daughter of Vinh (Thom Sesma), a terminally ill man. As Mira and Vinh kindle a surrogate father-daughter relationship, she's forced to reckon with her own unresolved past and the father who left when she was a child.
"At its heart, this is a film about seeking connection and belonging, but also about why we pretend; with others, but especially with ourselves," says Drilea. "Mira is invited into an unusual performance, and through that fiction, she has to face the very real absence of her own father."
Catherine Dauphin, a French-Vietnamese actress making her leading debut, stars alongside Thom Sesma (2024 Drama Desk Award winner for Broadway's DEAD OUTLAW, THE LION KING, Netflix's JESSICA JONES) and Ethelyn Friend (International Roy Hart Center, founding faculty of Naropa University's groundbreaking MFA Theater program). Cinematography is by Jun-ting Zhou, with production by Vadim Egoul under Saine Productions.
Drilea wrote FIDELITY for lead actress Catherine Dauphin after the two met in a 2022 workshop led by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (MEMORIA, UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES). The collaboration deepened into a microbudget passion project first developed in Filmshop, a non-profit collective of filmmakers committed to peer support and workshopping.
FIDELITY arrives at a moment when actors are grappling with existential questions about their craft. “The AI elements were originally conceived as near-future science fiction; but as we made the film, they became a reality actors already inhabit, where your image can be scanned, replicated, and used in ways you may never fully control,” Drilea reflects. “That's the question of fidelity in this film; the constant tension between trying to be faithful to what's real and true, and the stories we tell ourselves to make life bearable."
The film doesn't offer easy answers. Instead, it stays close to Mira's experience; an artist trying to make a living, make art, and make sense of a past that won't stay buried. Beneath all the contemporary questions about performance and authenticity lives a universal story: a daughter searching for her father, and the mysterious ways grief and longing can resurface when we least expect them.
About Roberto Drilea
Roberto Drilea is a Romanian-American writer-director based in Brooklyn. A 2016 Film graduate of Northwestern University, he has apprenticed under esteemed directors Lucrecia Martel (ZAMA) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (MEMORIA). His short film and VR work has premiered at festivals including SXSW and Reykjavik International Film Festival. FIDELITY is his feature debut.
About Chelsea Film Festival
Founded in 2013 by French actresses Ingrid Jean-Baptiste and Sonia Jean-Baptiste, Chelsea Film Festival is an international non-profit festival dedicated to supporting independent filmmakers. Ranked #6 in USA Today's "Top 10 Best Film Festivals in North America," the festival showcases films from emerging and established directors with a focus on global issues and has become a vital platform for diverse voices in independent cinema.
Screening Details:
Chelsea Film Festival
October 19, 2025 – 4:00PM
Regal Union Square
New York, NY
For screening times and tickets: chelseafilm.org
MEDIA CONTACT:
Roberto Drilea – Director/Producer
hello@pixelandrhyme.com – (315) 636-0360
FILM WEBSITE:
fidelitymovie.com
TEASER TRAILER:
https://vimeo.com/drilea/fidelity-trailer
PRESS KIT & MATERIALS:
fidelitymovie.com/#press
SOCIAL MEDIA: Instagram @fidelitymovie
FIDELITY Official Selection at Chelsea Film Festival
A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://youtube.com/embed/znW-Nf3ibtU
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