Hobby Holmes’ atmospheric short film explores love, memory, identity, and the dangerous space between devotion and control.
CELESTE IN THE SUMMER, the new short film from writer-director Hobby Holmes, is set to make its World Premiere at the HollyShorts Film Festival, introducing audiences to an intimate and quietly unsettling story about love and the boundaries of reality.
Starring Alice McMillan and Freddy Carter, the film takes place within an idyllic world where an endless summer day appears to stretch on forever. At first, the setting seems almost impossibly perfect. But when one half of a couple begins questioning the nature of the world around them, the relationship starts to change, revealing unsettling questions about memory, identity, freedom, and control.
Rather than approaching science fiction through spectacle, CELESTE IN THE SUMMER uses the genre as a subtle framework for examining the psychology of intimacy.
When Devotion Crosses a Line
At the center of the film is a couple whose seemingly perfect relationship begins to unravel when one of them starts questioning their reality.
The film gradually introduces uncertainty into its idyllic setting, asking audiences to consider whether a relationship can remain an expression of love when one person attempts to control the environment surrounding the other.
That tension gives CELESTE IN THE SUMMER its emotional and psychological core.
Love can provide security, comfort, and belonging. But when the desire to preserve that feeling becomes an attempt to control another person’s experience, the distinction between devotion and possession begins to disappear.
The film uses this conflict to explore a larger question: Can genuine connection exist without freedom?
Hobby Holmes Brings Music and Cinema Together
Written and directed by Hobby Holmes, the film represents another stage in the filmmaker’s development of a distinctive cinematic voice.
Based in London, Holmes has spent more than a decade directing cinematic music films through Mahogany Sessions, working with internationally recognized artists including Billie Eilish, Hozier, Florence Welch, Leon Bridges, Ludovico Einaudi, and Olivia Dean.
That background has shaped Holmes’ approach to visual storytelling.
His work has developed at the intersection of music and cinema, where atmosphere, performance, composition, and sound can communicate emotion without relying entirely on dialogue.
CELESTE IN THE SUMMER carries that sensibility into narrative filmmaking, creating a world in which visual and musical elements become central to the storytelling.
A Romance With a Science Fiction Undercurrent
Although the film begins with the familiarity of a romantic relationship, CELESTE IN THE SUMMER gradually introduces elements of science fiction.
The genre is deliberately understated. Rather than building its story around elaborate technology or conventional science-fiction spectacle, the film uses the premise to question the nature of reality itself.
The result is a story that feels simultaneously romantic and unsettling.
The endless summer setting provides a striking contrast to the uncertainty developing underneath the surface. What initially appears to be an idyllic escape increasingly becomes a space where questions of identity and autonomy take on greater significance.
Alice McMillan and Freddy Carter Lead the Cast
The film stars Alice McMillan and Freddy Carter.
McMillan has appeared in projects including The Souvenir, The Souvenir: Part II, Roadkill, Cursed, and Outlander. Her performances bring an understated emotional quality that suits the film’s intimate approach to storytelling.
Carter is internationally recognized for his role as Kaz Brekker in Netflix’s Shadow and Bone. His work across film and television has established him as a versatile performer, and his presence opposite McMillan gives the film a strong central pairing.
Together, the actors navigate a relationship that gradually moves from tenderness and familiarity toward uncertainty and psychological tension.
Their performances are particularly important in a film that relies on subtle shifts in emotion rather than exposition.
A Story Told Through Image and Sound
One of the most distinctive aspects of CELESTE IN THE SUMMER is its limited use of dialogue.
Instead, Holmes places significant emphasis on sound, music, visual composition, and atmosphere.
This approach reflects his extensive background directing cinematic music performances and allows the film to communicate its emotional ideas through images and sensations rather than simply explaining them.
The result is intended to be immersive. Audiences are invited to experience the world alongside the characters rather than being given every answer immediately.
The contrast between the beauty of the setting and the increasingly unsettling implications of the story becomes an important part of the film’s identity.
Love, Memory and Identity
Beneath its science-fiction premise, CELESTE IN THE SUMMER is ultimately concerned with deeply human questions.
How much of our identity is shaped by memory?
Can a relationship survive when one person no longer trusts the reality they share?
And where is the line between protecting someone and controlling them?
These questions give the film relevance beyond its genre framework.
The story suggests that love requires more than emotional attachment. It also requires trust, autonomy, and the willingness to accept that another person cannot be completely possessed or controlled.
World Premiere at HollyShorts
The World Premiere at the HollyShorts Film Festival marks an important moment for Holmes as he continues expanding his work from music-driven filmmaking into narrative cinema.
For audiences, CELESTE IN THE SUMMER offers an opportunity to discover a filmmaker working within the space between romance, psychological drama, and science fiction.
Its combination of limited dialogue, evocative imagery, atmospheric sound, and intimate performances creates a cinematic experience that asks audiences to look beyond the apparent perfection of its world.
What begins as an endless summer romance gradually becomes something more complicated: a meditation on the desire to preserve love at any cost, and the realization that love without freedom can become something else entirely.
With its World Premiere at HollyShorts, CELESTE IN THE SUMMER introduces Hobby Holmes’ emerging narrative voice through a story that is beautiful on the surface, unsettling underneath, and ultimately deeply human.
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