SUE ME is a proof of concept for a female-led comedy feature in the vein of “Booksmart” or “Joy Ride” meeting “Zola”. It’s a collaboration between two friends, Sherry Li, the director and co-writer, and Minda Wei, co-writer and actor, who met through Twitter (pre-Muskification) once upon a time, and feel a certain nostalgia for the internet before it was individual algorithms and completely divisive. We’re both fascinated by the way the internet and virality has changed how people interact with each other and how quickly someone’s life can change almost overnight.

In 2016, two college girls fake a lawsuit on live TV to fund their last spring break together. When their episode goes viral mid-rave, their drug-addled fame tests their friendship.

At its core, “Sue Me” is a story about friendship, as Tobi and Lei Lei’s friendship is tested, first with diverging paths as they head towards graduation, and then with fake rivalry and fame. This project is ultimately about that liminal space that exists between ‘real’ adulthood and the remaining youth we have with our best friends.

Sherry is committed to expanding diverse, female representation with complex, contradictory, and imperfect characters. This is explored in both central characters in this project. 

Lei Lei is a bold character who is morally grey and more interested in partying than her grades. She’s a direct contrast to the polite, studious, and well-behaved Asian typically portrayed in media. Lei Lei is unapologetically herself, even if that self is unreliable and arguably a bad person. She’s interested in maximizing pleasure, taking recreational drugs, and rebelling against the responsibilities thrust upon her. 

Meanwhile, Tobi, also from an immigrant household, is much more future-oriented. She’s studious, polite, and a chronic overthinker. With her law school acceptance in hand, she knows she’s the pride and joy of her parents. But don’t let her bookish appearance fool you, you can’t be that tightly wound without needing to let loose every once in a while.  

We're shooting for 2 days this August in Toronto. Our production team has already raised $5,000 CAD, and this campaign will help us bridge the gap to pay our cast & crew, secure locations, rent a camera package, and pay for production design. We've brought together an incredible team who has proven they can make this happen.

Sherry Li is a Chinese-Canadian writer and director, born in Dalian and raised in the Greater Toronto Area. She then studied journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), which is where her interest in storytelling began. She then went on to get an MFA in Scriptwriting and Story Design, where she received the Creative School Graduate Development Award. Her work is women focused and often explores immigrant experiences from an intergenerational perspective. Her short film and directorial debut, “Yellow Fever” screened at Toronto Indie Horror Shorts, Fascinasian Calgary, and other film festivals in Canada. Her script "Pangzi" was part of the 2025 Script Development Program at the Female Eye Film Festival. Her project “Mother Tongue” was part of the winter ‘25/’26 Impact Mentorship Program from Story Money Impact. She’s part of the upcoming Reelworld Emerging 20 cohort in 2026.

Minda Wei is a writer, union actor, and filmmaker. Since leaving a career engineering supercomputers, Minda writes chaotic yet reasonable characters surviving late capitalism. Their directorial debut GARFUSSY premiered at So F*cked It's Funny. Wei was named an International Screenwriters' Association 'Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch in 2024' and a LearningTimes Emerging Filmmaker for their docu-fiction pilot ALONE & AFRAID. Minda story-edited Spotify Studio’s FEAR OF GOING OUTSIDE Podcast, co-directed Austin Sketch Fest, and peaked comedically on Las Culturistas with 'I Don't Think So, Honey, Geysers.’ In their free time, they play guitar in the punk band Cool Knife. They are represented by Bryan Brucks (831 Entertainment) and Tanya Kleckner (HRI Talent).

Findlay Ironside is an emerging producer, writer, and director. She is a recent graduate of the MFA Scriptwriting and Story Design program at Toronto Metropolitan University during which she was one of 10 students from across North American participating the emerging filmmakers incubator program through Film Independent in partnership with HieronyVision. She is also the co-founder of the production company Jane of All Trades Productions Inc. alongside Amanda Werger. Findlay’s work largely focuses on female-driven slice of life narratives. The script for her upcoming film, “Family Portraits,” has received over a dozen laurels, and most notably won the Raindance Film Festival script contest in 2024. Her most recent short film, “First Rites,” had its world premiere in July of 2025 at the critically acclaimed Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal before screening at Blood in the Snow. Her next short “Something Borrowed” is TAC funded and expected to head into production in February of 2026.

Hayden Salter is a Chinese-Canadian queer-trans cinematographer based in Toronto, Canada. He is passionate in exploring themes of identity, relationships, queerness, growing pains, belonging and the adversities of the human condition. Hayden is Toronto Metropolitan University graduate from the film studies program. He graduated with the Achievement in Cinematography Award and the Norman Jewison Scholarship. Hayden’s recent work also awarded him Best Cinematography at TIFF Next Wave (2024), screenings at festivals such as Inside Out, VAFF, Blood In The Snow and Queer Voices NYC among others. Hayden finds himself lensing on a variety of projects from the healthily funded and supported short films and commercials to DIY living room projects. Hayden’s work has been described as sensitive, evocative, intimate, gentle and naturalistic. He is highly driven by story, light and feeling. He seeks to work collaboratively to capture such storytelling that resonates with the viewer on a humanistic level as well as provide a stunning visual experience.

Rosany Ho is a Toronto-based production designer, art director, and visual storyteller originally from Hong Kong. A graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where she studied Production Administration, Rosany has built a multidisciplinary practice that encompasses film, fashion, photography, and an expanding range of visual and material-driven mediums. Since relocating to Toronto, Rosany has collaborated with filmmakers, musicians, and visual artists across emerging and independent scenes. She also has experience in commercial production environments, having worked on the production and location teams for the Amazon Prime Video series EXPATS and the short film Once Upon A Time, which won the CILECT Prize in Fiction.

Anna Villeneuve is a multidisciplinary artist who, over the past 5 years, has had the pleasure of exploring the world of casting both for stage and screen. She started her casting journey working on a multitude of theatre and new media shows for the company she Co-Founded, 6 AM Productions. She then made the jump to the screen, casting her first feature film, Masterpiece (dir. Evan Bard), as well as the short film Family Portraits (dir. Finn Ironside). Anna has worked in the offices of some of the largest casting directors in Canada, including RDC Casting and Lisa Parasyn Casting, where she currently works as a casting assistant. Anna is looking forward to working with the incredible team on the wonderful project that is SUE ME! 

Ali Zaidi is Muslim, Indian Canadian full-time editor working in both documentary and narrative filmmaking. He’s an alumni of York University’s film studies program, and interned at MLSE in his final year, where he worked on a docuseries about Toronto FC’s 2018 campaign, called All For One. Projects he edited include award-winning short films and documentaries like Saving Fairy Creek, The Unknown Soldier, and Yellow Fever, which have screened at festivals throughout North America and beyond, like Fascinasian, Chicago South Asian Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Awards, New York International Film Awards, Madrid Shorts Film Festival, and World Film Festival in Cannes. He worked as the lead editor for seasons 3 and 4 of TVO’s The Thread with Nam Kiwanuka. Since 2023, he’s used his spare time to edit for the Muslim Media Hub, a non-profit dedicated to uplifting Muslim Canadian filmmakers, and is an instructor in Muslim Media Hub’s Short Film Lab. He’s currently editing a TVO series slated for 2026.

Sherry’s artistic practice is rooted in strong character work that gives voice to those whose stories haven’t been told with depth, care, and empathy. She often uses humour, nonlinear structure, flashbacks, and sensory detail in her work to mirror the way memory and trauma unfold. Her director’s vision for this project incorporates her usual techniques, in addition to: colourful, trippy, visual aesthetics; creating a ‘period piece’ by setting it in 2016, which highlights the time period’s peak monolithic internet culture; and intentional, integrative sound design, as the music and audio will enrich the authenticity of the character’s experiences partying, experimenting, and participating in EDM rave culture. 

The aesthetics of “Sue me” will show a duality: a sterile, cold, and strict environment to reflect the constraints of the system the characters live in and must conform to, showcasing how they take advantage of those ideas to eventually free themselves;  as well as colourful, dreamlike visuals to reflect the emotional and literal highs as they experience momentary freedom. Thematically, the visuals will help tie together the idea that these two understand the game everyone is playing and how they utilize those rules to their advantage, until the consequences catch up to them. 

Through this collaborative project, Sherry gets to lean into her fun, creative side, and justifies her experimenting and raves she went to over the last year with her EDM-loving friends as “research.” If you like comedy, supporting emerging filmmakers, independent film, and women-led projects, donate to our campaign! We’re relying on your support to help make this project happen.

Let’s bring Tobi and Lei Lei’s story to life.