AFI’S Directing Workshop for Women
Presents
THE WINGED MAN
SYNOPSIS
The only thing we know for certain in THE WINGED MAN is that Daysi, a Latina high school girl, is pregnant.
Is the conception the son of a mystical “Winged Man”, as Daysi insists? Or the result of a one-night stand, as
the girl’s mother claims? This visually arresting and poetic rumination on truth, written by Academy-award
nominee José Rivera, asks what it means to hold onto your beliefs, and what it takes to let them go.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
MARYA MAZOR, Director
Marya Mazor was one of eight women chosen for The American Film Institute’s
presitigious Directing Workshop for Women. Her work as a director has been seen
across the country, including the west coast premiere of Philip Kan Gotanda’s Day
Standing On its Head at the Berkeley Repertory Theater and the Asian American
Theater Company; Kia Corthron’s Come Down Burning at the Long Wharf Theater;
and the world premiere of Cary Wong’s Mirrors Remembered at the New York Stage
& Film Co. Ms. Mazor’s work has also been seen at Nada, Dixon Place, the Boston Court theater, and the
Williamstown Theatre Festival (with Philip Seymour Hoffman), among many other venues. She developed her
own version of Chekhov’s Three Sisters featuring Lynn Cohen, Ruth Maleczech, and Valda Setterfield. Marya
also directs large-scale stage shows for Disney Entertainment Productions.
In 1990, Marya co-founded Voice & Vision, a professional theater in New York City, and she served as one of its
Producing Artistic Directors for more than eleven years. During her tenure, Voice & Vision developed the work
of some of America’s leading artists, including Olympia Dukakis, Kia Corthron, and Lynn Nottage. With Voice
& Vision, Marya directed Jocasta, an opera based on the libretto by Helénè Cixous; FireDance by Chiori
Miyagawa; and The Fall and Repentance of Mary at the Metropolitan Museum Cloisters, among numerous other
works. She received the 2003-2004 NEA/TCG Directing Fellowship, and has taught at The New School, Vassar
College, and Fordham University. Ms. Mazor received her M.F.A. in directing from the Yale School of Drama.
JOSÉ RIVERA, Writer
José Rivera is a recipient of two OBIE Awards for Playwriting, a Fulbright Arts Fellowship,
a Whiting Foundation Award, and a McKnight Fellowship. He studied with Gabriel Garcia
Marquez at Sundance and was writer-in-residence at the Royal Court Theatre, London. Mr.
Rivera was nominated for a 2005 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Spain’s
Goya Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a BAFTA award, a WGA Award, and
Argentina’s top screenwriting award, all for The Motorcycle Diaries. For television, he cocreated and produced the series Eerie, Indiana. In 2006, he wrote and directed the short film The Tape Recorder.
Mr. Rivera’s film Trade premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and opened nationally in September of
2007. In the works are screen adaptations of Kerouac’s On the Road and the novel Three Apples Fell From Heaven.
STEPHANIE BELL, Producer
Ms. Bell is an award-winning producer of film and theater in Los Angeles. She is
currently in development on her next feature film, The Devil of Appalachia. Ms. Bell has
produced for By the Woods Productions, The Annex Film Group, Soft Serve Pictures;
and award-winning theatre companies Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA (managing
director), Sacred Fools (Co-Artistic Director), and Theatre of NOTE, among others. Ms.
Bell has over 10 years of experience in production, business and legal affairs, and finance, working for such
companies as Paramount Pictures, Franchise Pictures, and Interscope Communications. She currently has a
number of short films on the festival circuit. Before producing film and theatre, Ms. Bell was an actress,
performing Off-Broadway, regionally and in film and television. Ms. Bell is a graduate of Mike Nichols’ New
Actors Workshop, and holds a BA in English Literature from Haverford College.
CAMILLIA SANES, Producer
Camillia Sanes is an actor-producer, who is currently producing a feature by Oscar-nominated
writer José Rivera entitled Celestina, alongside Walter Salles (Dark Water, The Motorcycle
Diaries) with a slate of other features in development. Her most recent producing project, War
Cry, was an Official Selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and the Monte Carlo Film
Festival. In front of the camera, Ms. Sanes has been directed by industry icons such as Steven
Spielberg and Gary Ross in award-winning blockbusters such as War of the Worlds and
Seabiscuit. She has shared the screen with Tom Cruise, Tobey Maguire, Holly Hunter, and
other major stars, as well as in television, Broadway productions and theatres around the world. In television,
Ms. Sanes is known for her fiery role as Aurora Aceveda in the multiple Emmy-award winning show, The Shield.
Other television roles include Saving Grace, Law & Order, and Cold Case. She is the annual guest artist at the
Scuola di Teatro in Bologna, Italy. Ms. Sanes received her Masters from Yale University.
ABOUT AFI’S DIRECTING WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN
THE WINGED MAN was one of 8 projects chosen out of hundreds to participate in this year’s DWW program.
AFI's Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) has been a major force in training women in narrative
filmmaking since 1974. Over 200 women have been given the opportunity to participate in this innovative and
unique training program for tomorrow's directors.
AFI's Directing Workshop for Women focuses on the development and production of a short narrative project.
Participants enter the program with a short screenplay, which they develop for three weeks within the Jessica
Kaplan Screenwriting Series at the Directing Workshop for Women.
CREDITS:
Directed by MARYA MAZOR • Written by JOSÉ RIVERA • Produced BY STEPHANIE BELL & CAMILLIA SANES
Director of Photography TIM HUDSON, ACS • Edited by SHELLY WESTERMAN
Production Design by DARCY SCANLIN • Costumes Designed by ELIZABETH BOURGEOIS
Music Composed by MAX A VERY LICHTENSTEIN • SFX Supervisor JOHN ANDREW BERTON, JR.
MARTA MCGONAGLE as Daysi • SHALIM ORTIZ as The Winged Man
TIFFANY HINES as Allysha • and ANA ORTIZ as Wanda
(a full list of credits is attached)
You can find more information about The Winged Man online at www.thewingedmanmovie.com
Wing & a Prayer Productions
229A 4th Street • Seal Beach, CA 90740 • (347) 645-8829