Press Kit
Logline + Synopsis
Logline:
Haunted by a tragic past, a stunning music student “Shahrzad” (Francia Raisa) flees Iran and ends up in an
estranged marriage in LA, where her piano teacher’s young lover “Sebastian” (Ryan Guzman) sparks a
passion in her that threatens to destroy all.
Synopsis:
Destiny weaves a web of tangled souls in a love triangle: Shahrzad, a stunning music student, her husband
Sean, a successful stand-up comedian, and Sebastian, a poetic Spanish American gardener. Caught in the
middle is Shahrzad’s piano teacher, Elana, a former screen femme fatale, who is having her own furtive affair
with Sebastian. Soon Sebastian falls in love with Shahrzad. Shahrzad discovers her “arranged” marriage
with Sean is doomed. Unexpectedly, a friendship flourishes between Shahrzad (Muslim) and her piano
teacher Elana (Jewish), nourished by their passion for classical music, especially Tchaikovsky’s music. It
grows stronger when they learn of each other’s secret tragedies. Shahrzad becomes the focus of attention of
two women, Elana and Parisa, her mother-in-law. Simultaneously, Shahrzad becomes the object of desire for
three men: Sebastian, Sean, and Ray, her mysterious, young brother-in-law. Infusing the young lovers’ secret
romance are Rumi’s ecstatic poems and Lorca’s mysterious poetry that drive Sebastian in hot pursuit of
Shahrzad, inflaming a passionate love that threatens to destroy all.
Director's Inspiration
“Lorsque rien n’existait, l’amour existait ;;
et lorsqu’il ne restera plus rien, l’amour restera ;;
il est le premier et le dernier.”
—–
“When nothing existed, love existed;
an when nothing shall remain, love shall remain;
It is the first and the last.”
- Princess Shéhérazade, One Thousand and One Nights.
What?
In early 1990’s while studying ‘French language and French Civilization’ at Sorbonne University in Paris, I
read a book called Scheherazade ou L’education d’un Roi (Sheherazade or the education of a King) written by
Marie Lahy-Hollebecque. I kept the above quote from the book. On screen this quote starts the movie Beyond
Paradise.
A dual USA and UK citizen but being of mixed descent and having spent most of my life in exile – away from
my motherland and family, studying, living and working in London, San Francisco, Rio, Paris, New York
and Los Angeles – I’m partial to cross-cultural love stories. The idea is to encourage inter-nation dialog
towards more understanding and enjoyment of diverse cultures.
I’m drawn to the stories of displaced people, the plight of the voiceless and marginalized minorities of the
world, especially women, children, ethnic and religious minorities, gays and lesbians.
Beyond Paradise maybe the first movie about the lives of some Iranian immigrants uprooted from their
homeland and displaced to California. In particular, the film is about the tragic consequences of violent abuse
of a young classical music student Shahrzad who had to flee Iran.
Perhaps as a therapy against her tragedy, Shahrzad becomes a lover of 13th C. Persian poet Rumi. Thus
Rumi’s poetry is invoked in the film, a bit similar to the use of Neruda’s poems in the Italian movie Il Postino.
Set in LA, it felt appropriate Beyond Paradise should be mostly in English language in part to introduce
Rumi’s majestic poetry and the story’s tragic theme ‘Violence Against Women’ to a wider international
audience.
Images
To arrive at an outline of a story, I need to imagine striking visuals or be struck by images that are so
astonishing and haunting they shadow me during the day and follow me to bed at night. The images begin to
generate, or associate with, themes or ideas that I care passionately about. It helps if the images or the
themes evoke specific music and/or dance that could become organic elements of the story. Music and poetry
quickly became integral parts of this storytelling. Being a world music collector (a Patron of World Music
Institue in NY) I gravitate to plots where music and preferably dance and/or poetry are natural elements of the
story. My first feature David & Layla (a romantic comedy) works because of its mélange of music of both
Jewish David’s and Muslim Layla’s worlds, mixed with New York jazz, NY being the city were the unlikely
lovers meet.
Violence Against Women
Beyond Paradise’s Shahrzad character and her tragic story evolved from several sources. A few years ago, I
saw a mobile phone video on YouTube of a delicate 17-year old girl, Dua Khalil Aswad in Iraq, being stoned
to death by men. The murderers were mostly from her own family. This was a horrific example of so-called
“Honor Killing.” What was Dua’s crime that her family so badly wanted their ‘Honor’ saved from by
murdering her? She and a 19-year old boy from a faith different than hers had fallen in love. The images were
so devastating that I could hardly sleep that night. During her struggle, a black cloth is thrown over her lower
body but it comes off, exposing her sexy black Western underwear. This further infuriates a guy who slams a
concrete block down onto her head to finish her off.
So surreal and disturbing were the grainy and shaky visuals of young Duas trying helplessly to rise and
escape rocks that were struck down onto her, I could never erase them from my mind. Then, in summer 2009
I saw on TV the Tehran street protests against President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election. Long batons
brutally beat peaceful young men and women. Then, a young woman named Neda Agha-Soltan, a music
student accompanied by her music teacher, was shot to death by a government sniper. Neda’s final moments
were caught and broadcast around the world and posted on the Intenet. (The haunting video of her still eyes
wide open framed by flowing blood on her forehead is shown in Beyond Paradise.)
The fact that Neda Soltan was a young music student led to our fictional character Shahrzad to be also a
music student. This allows the organic use of music in the movie.
Sheherazade’s 10001 Nights
The next piece came from the classical story of Sheherazade (Shahrzad), the young princess storyteller of One
Thousand and One Nights, misnamed as Arabian Nights.
Shah ‘King’ Shahryar who caught his wife making love to the cook was so enraged he had his wife
decapitated. Convinced that all women are false and faithless, he vowed to behead each of his virgin brides
after the first nuptial night. But the most beautiful of all the virgins, Princess Sheherazade willingly offered
herself to the Shah. She saved her life by entertaining her lord with compelling tales.
What a homage to the power of storytelling that a young girl can educate a King and make him fall in love
with her instead of beheading her after he deflowers her.)No wonder A. S. Byatt and many literary scholars
consider Sheherazade’s 1001 nights to be probably the best story ever told.
Sheherazade was so well educated in literature, poetry, theater, art, psychology and history that she managed
to tell fantastic stories night after night for over 3 years, each dawn ending on a riveting cliff hanger so the
King would postpone her death to the next night to hear the rest of the story. But Shahrzad’s mesmerizing
stories within stories were never ending. Using psychology, she got the Shah’s attention by telling her initial
tales about treachery, vengeance, and death exposing crafty, vile, trickful and disloyal women.
Only when Sheherazade got the Shah’s confidence did she unfold moral tales of magic, humor, warmth, wit,
surprise and happy endings; imaginative and astonishing tales of fantasy and eroticism with Jins, Houris
and speaking animals, and flying magic carpets and crystals that could instantly reveal distant scenes much
like today’s internet devices.
Many of Sheherazade’s engaging stories showed women to be clever, captivating, strong, and sensual
heroines with noble virtues of wisdom, patience, grace, love, charm, and yes, absolute loyalty!
Consumed with curiosity, the Shah postponed from day to day the execution of Sheherazade, and finally
repudiated his bloody vow entirely. He fell in love with Sheherazade and married her. Thus Sheherazade
triumphed not only to save herself but all the other virgins from being deflowered by the Shah, and then
beheaded.
Naming our music student Shahrzad, a popular pre-­Islamic name for girls in Iran, led to the background
subplot that she, too, tries to save her best school friend Zara from being murdered in Tehran street
protests. Shahrzad risks her life to save Zara. But she fails. Worse: an acid attack scars one of her breasts.
She survives with the memory of Zara’s murder in front of her eyes. As well as being scarred physically and
emotionally for life, Shahrzad has to live with the guilt of her failure to save Zara. Hence Shahrzad’s guiltful
dialog in Beyond Paradise to her lover Sebastian: “I don’t deserve to be called Shahrzad.”
Music
Shahrzad’s tales of 1001 nights fascinated Europe and the rest of the world. Voltaire confessed he read it
fourteen times before he authored his ‘Zadig’ a short tale in the style of 1001 nights. After some twenty years
of research the British scholar Robert Irwin states in his companion book to 1001 nights “it’s much shorter to
list the World’s authors who were not directly influenced by 1001 Nights.”
In 1988 the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov paid his homage to Sheherazade’s 1001 stories by
composing a splendid orchestral symphony suite entitled Sheherazade. In 1910 this Sheherazade symphony
inspired the ballet adaptation Sheherazade in Paris performed by Ballets Russes under Michel Fokine’s
direction.
Luck! Again music shows up that could be used as a theme on the movie’s score.
Rumi and Lorca’s Poetry
Shahrzad’s love story led to the 13C. Persian poet Rumi who had written about Divine Spirituality and Love.
Astonishingly, Rumi also composed ecstatic romantic love poems in 13th C., some 300 years before
Shakespeare’s poetry and prose about the magic of love.
I wanted to compliment Shahrzad’s love for Rumi’s poetry. Making Sebastian Spanish-American gave the
opportunity to use Federico Garcia Lorca’s poems to parallel Shahrzad’s passion for Rumi. So poetry became
an additional attraction between the two lovers.
Why?
All this got me to wonder: Why is it that women who hundreds of years ago had such important roles in
literature and society and were the objects and muses of high admiration, passionate poems, and splendid
music but now they are objects of fear, abuse, oppression, beatings, acid attacks, even being stoned to death?
Why in the 21st C. are women not allowed the same freedom as men? Women under Iran’s Islamic Republic
are not even allowed to sing in public.
Destiny’s Love Triangle
Shahrzad flees Iran and marries a stand up comedian in Los Angeles in a kind of arranged marriage- a
marriage of convenience. Many young girls hopelessly stuck under oppressive regimes and some even suffer,
or threatened with, violent abuse often end up marrying men of their own ethnicity who are already successful
and established in the West.
By creating the Shahrzad character to be a classical music student, it gave the idea to create Elana, who
becomes Shahrzad’s piano teacher. Since Shahrzad is Muslim, making Elana to be Jewish, albeit a reformist
liberal, it made the student and teacher dialog and relationship more interesting.
Young Sebastian is Elana’s handsome and poetic gardener and her secret beau. But it’s Coup de Foudre, Love
at First Sight, when Sebastian by accident (Destiny) first sees Shahrzad. Later by the ocean waves, Shahrzad
weeps over a Farsi word she had written in the sand- ‘Qismat’ meaning Destiny. Thus a Love Triangle ensues
between Shahrzad, her husband, and Sebastian.
Breast Cancer
About the time of developing these characters and themes, my London-based sister was diagnosed with
breast cancer. Later my older sister was also discovered with breast cancer. I made Shahrzad’s piano teacher
Elana to be also afflicted with breast cancer. Thus Elana and Shahrzad discover that in addition to their
common passion for Tchaikovsky’s music, they both suffer from breast problems. By sharing their secret
breast tragedies, Shahrzad and Elana gradually bond and become best friends… while both in love with
Sebastian.
Classical Music
Shahrzad, Elana and Sebastian, with their passion for music and poetry, led to the natural use of both
Iranian and Western classical music on the movie’s soundtrack.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Sheherazade” poignant and tender music opens the movie. This sweet music is played
over the shockingly violent beating of Shahrzad and Zara during the Tehran street protests. This may remind
of Stanley Kubrick’s use of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 to contrast the gang rape scene in A Clockwork
Orange. Korsakov’s Sheherazade music is repeated five times during Beyond Paradise to underline and
contrast the beauty and poetry of Life against the ugly and senseless violence of some men.
Shahrzad’s teacher Elana, the classical pianist, gave the chance to feature the classical music of
Tchaikovsky, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. This parallels the use of classical Persian music played on
ancient instruments of Iran: Setar, Ney, Robab, Santoor, Def and Tonbak- some of which are about 4000
years old.
The Ocean
The ocean is a constant graphic metaphor from the start of the movie to the end. The lovers’ rendez-vous are
often on the beach. Their poignant, joyous and sad romance, and final tragedy occur by the sea. The
backdrop imagery of the ocean echoes Life including the lovers’ ideal Love: beautiful, turbulent, ceaseless,
endless, and forever. The final scene of the script reads:
“Camera flies, chasing the gun down the cliff. It sweeps over the rocks, searching for Shahrzad and
Sebastian’s bodies. Nothing is seen or heard except the sound of the wind and the sight of the ocean
endlessly returning to embrace the shore over and over, as if nothing happened…”
Beyond Paradise’s end may remind of Romeo and Juliet’s finale. But Beyond Paradise ends with a surprise
additional ending: a dream-like ending in soft grainy white that fades to pure white: a divine wish that
perhaps true love survived, thus book-ending the opening quote of the movie: “When nothing existed, love
existed; and when nothing shall remain, love shall remain; It is the first and the last.”
In the same vein, the Rumi spiritual poem “Cycle of Life” is sang by the actress/singer Fereshteh Dehghani in
the final ending of the movie.
I died as a mineral, I grew as a plant
I died as a plant, I arose as an animal
I died as an animal, I returned as a human
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
—–
When I die as a human, I shall fly with the angels
When I leave my angel-soul, I soar higher
I shall reach the ecstasy of the Divine
All shall perish, except the Divine.
- Rumi, 13th C. Persian poet
*******
Filmmakers
Gill Holland, Executive Producer
Spirit Award nominee for Producer of the Year, Gill Holland produced
Hurricane Streets, the first film ever to win 3 prizes at Sundance and has
over 95 other films to his credit, including other Sundance faves FLOW:
For Love of Water, Spring Forward, Loggerheads, Catechism
Cataclysm, It Felt Like Love, the FOX sit-com Greg The Bunny, the Spirit
Award winner and first carbon-neutral independent film Sweetland, Al
Gore’s 2008 Reel Current Award winning doc Mountain Top Removal,
SXSW audience prize winner Maidentrip and the Emmy-nominated doc
Dear Jesse. He produced three volumes of cineBLAST! short film
compilations. He is partner at The Group Entertainment, the KY/NYC management/production company,
and former adjunct professor at NYU Graduate Film School. Gill worked at the French Film Office and has
been on the jury for shorts at Sundance and selection committee for the Academy Awards, Student Division.
Gill Holland and his wife Augusta were instrumental in turning an economically depressed and run-down
east downtown Louisville area into NuLu – a thriving arts/design and sustainability district. Holland coined
the term NuLu and serves as President of the NuLu Business Association. 5 years ago, Holland opened
NuLu’s flagship arts center “The Green Building”, the only LEED “Platinum” commercial building in
Kentucky. He is now working on developing Louisville’s Portland district.
A Spirit Award nominee for film producer of the year (the Oscars for independent films), Gill has worked on
several movies, many award winners and Sundance Film Festival favorites. Gill is a former lawyer, runs
sonaBLAST! Records (Ben Sollee is on the label), has written children’s books and published others. He is
involved on many cultural boards (incl. Fund for the Arts, Speed Art Museum, Actors Theatre, Olmsted Parks
Conservancy, KY Film Commission, Forecastle Festival) and was named 2009’s Person of the Year by
Louisville Magazine. He has three children, Cora, Owsley and Lilla.
J.J. Alani, Writer / Producer / Director
Based in New York, J. J. Alani aka J. Jonroy Alani also works in Los
Angeles and Paris. A Directors Guild of America (DGA) member and a
Writers Guild of America (WGA) member in New York since 1996, Alani
is the Writer/Producer/Director of the theatrically released independent,
critically acclaimed, and controversial feature David & Layla.
His new feature Beyond Paradise is one of the most anticipated
independent movies of the year. The film stars Francia Raisa, Ryan
Guzman, Daphne Zuniga, Misha Crosby, pMax Amini, Rachel Spencer,
and Yareli Arizmendi.
In the Official Selection at 28 international film festivals, David & Layla won 8 Awards, including Mon
Amour Festival’s Grand Prix du Public against La Vie en Rose, 2 Days in Paris, and Lady Chatterley. He
dedicated this film to his family members murdered in a genocide campaign.
David & Layla received critical praise in the New York Times, Variety, Washington Post, LA Times, etc., and
from the Nobel Laureate, Oscar nominee Screenwriter and Playwright, Harold Pinter: “A bold, politically
relevant film against impossible odds.”
Alani is in development on a new independent movie entitled Amorous, and two epic films: the
5000-­year-­old epic historical allegory “Gilgamesh” as two screenplays: Gilgamesh, and Gilgamesh: In
Search of Immortality.
He studied at The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and at the USC School of Cinematic Arts
(Advanced Screenwriting Practicum) in Los Angeles, 1985-1989.
Hollywood’s largest studio, Warner Bros, as well as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Turner Classic Movies,
etc., continue the digital distribution of David & Layla.
Its Musical score is on 60+ international music sites, including iTunes.
Following Creative Photography studies at the London Camden School of Arts, Alani worked briefly as a
Fashion Photographer in London and Paris.
In Paris, he studied at the Sorbonne University, 1990-1994, receiving a “Diplôme Supérieur de Langue et
Civilisation Françaises.”
In New York, he coached graduate students at the Graduate Department of New York University (NYU Film
School- Tisch School of the Arts) on their final thesis projects, 1996-2000.
He served as an Acting Coach at the Circle in the Square Broadway Theater School in New York where his
then wife, Olga Alexandrova aka “Layla Alexander”, was studying, 1995-1999.
Earlier in England, he had received a (B.Sc.) First Class Honors in Science and Sociology at Leicester
University, (D.I.C.) Diploma of London Imperial College, and Masters Degree (M.S.) in Cybernetics at
London University.
In London, as a Marketing Executive with ICL, he worked with the creators of the Monty Python London TV
series, while at night he studied ‘Acting, Speech, and Movement’ at the “City Lit”- the City Literary Institute.
A member of The Royal Photographic Society (U.K), Alani is an Art and World Music collector.
He is the founder of “Human Rights For All – No Exceptions!” featured on Facebook, which focuses on
female empowerment and equal human rights for oppressed women and all minorities of the world, including
gays and lesbians.
A dual American and British citizen, J.J. Alani was born in the Middle East. He is fluent in English and
French, some Portuguese, and he speaks and understands a few Middle Eastern languages. He has lived and
worked in Paris, London, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.
Matthew Lessall, Casting Director
Born in London but raised in New York, casting director Matthew Lessall
has made a solid name for himself, chalking up an impressive list of
casting accreditations, memberships, titles and casting films that result
in award wins and official selections at the World’s most prestigious film
festivals. He studied at DePauw University. Matthew’s casting experience
is diverse, casting major network series as well as having held the
position of Director of Feature Film Casting at 20th Century Fox and on
the indie front, as in-house casting consultant for the Fox Searchlab
Writer/Director Program.
Matthew’s credits include Sundance Film Festival standouts, Rocket Science, Mean Creek, as well as the
NetFlix Find Your Voice winner Almost Kings. In 2011, he chose to join the tech revolution and became go-to
casting for Warner Premiere; Warner Bros. new media arm, casting the mega-successful webseries, Mortal
Kombat, follow up Mortal Kombat 2 and season 2 of Wonderland Sound & Vision’s Aim High. His Bait 3D
(a/k/a “Shark”), garnered an Official Entry at the 2012 Venice Film Festival and this same year also saw him
with two films at the inaugural edition of Paris’ Champ d’Elysees Film Festival, including the Liam Neeson
starrer After.Life. After University, Matthew then lived for several years in London, before making Los
Angeles his home. His dual nationality (USA/UK) affords him the broad vision imperative to cast in today’s
global market. He has cast productions and co-productions for Canada, Germany, Holland, Italy and
Mexico. Matthew is a member of BAFTA and a board member of the Casting Society of America. He is
currently based in Los Angeles.
Sandra Valde-­Hansen, Cinematographer / Associate
Producer
Sandra got her start in documentary, working for an Emmy-award
winning documentary cameraman, Tony Foresta, who taught her beauty
of the image is found in simplicity.
After seven years as a camera assistant and operator, Sandra Valde
decided it was time to pursue a full-time career as a cinematographer. She
applied to the prestigious American Film Institute and was accepted into
their MFA program in Cinematography. While at AFI, Sandra honed her
craft in the art of visual storytelling, learning from the master
cinematographers
and
deepening
her knowledge of light and
composition. She has had the invaluable opportunity to mentor under Stephen Lighthill, ASC, Steven Poster,
ASC, Larry Parker, and Alan Caso, ASC. Since graduating from AFI, Sandra has been able to take her passion
of cinematography throughout all mediums of storytelling.
Sandra shot the last season of the very popular MUN 2 Reality show, The Chicas Project, which brought
Sandra across the country. Her camera has allowed her to be part of the political and socially conscience
filmmaking of Brave New Films. She is looking forward to seeing her work in the Spring launch of Street
Knowledge 2 College launched by PBS.org. She has been able to travel the world shooting in such locations
as Paris for the relaunched MTV House of Style and Mexico for PBS Voices “Tales of the Masked Men”
co-produced by Latino Public Broadcast and ITVS. Some of her other clients include Al Jazeera America,
USC, MAX Films, TED, and Mastercard.
Sandra shot indie guru, Gregg Araki’s feature Kaboom that was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film
Festival, 2011 Sundance Film Festival and released in 40 cities around the US under IFC. Sandra’s narrative
work has been seen in festivals spanning across the world from SXSW to Cannes. Her films Fly Away, Acts
of Mercy, and Christmas in Compton are in limited release via VOD. Sandra continues to shoot powerful
stories, as in Beyond Paradise in the realm of independent narrative and documentary. Sandra is also on
faculty for the American Film Institute Cinematography Department.
Jennifer Nash, Music Supervisor/ Music Editor /
Associate Producer
Jennifer Nash began her musical journey at age 12, quickly becoming
more and more entranced by playing the piano and singing. As a teen she
developed an interest in how film scores can cast a spell over an audience
and decided to pursue a career in film music. Jennifer moved to Los
Angeles and initially worked as a post-production mix tech before taking
on the world of film music as a Music Editor. Her first projects were The
Rich Man’s Wife starring Halle Berry on which she was the assistant to
music editor Abbey Treeloggen. She soon moved into music editing on
major motion pictures including ANTZ, Lords Of Dogtown, Pearl
Harbor, In The Valley Of Elah, R.E.D., and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Jennifer has also written and
produced two albums of original music as well as performing and touring with her band. Given such a diverse
career over the last 18 years, Jennifer naturally gravitated towards Music Supervision and began supervising
independent films, including American Violet and Crusade in Jeans. Both films gave Jennifer an opportunity
to create original music with her husband, composer and music educator Dan Ostermann.
Beyond Paradise has given Jennifer a great opportunity to expand her skills as Music Supervisor as the film
features on-camera musical performances which required her guidance during pre-production, production,
and post production. The Beyond Paradise process also introduced Jennifer to the classical music and poetry
of Persia as she worked closely with the director to combine European and Iranian classical music to
seamlessly dramatize and tell this cross-cultural love story. Jennifer worked with the director to select music
for the characters to perform and dance to, as well as commission original material for the lead character to
sing and play (who is a songwriter/pianist like Jennifer herself). She supervised the technical aspects of
on-set musical performances and continued into post-production to select, record, edit, and pre-mix music for
the edited footage.Beyond Paradise is also Jennifer’s first credit as Associate Producer.
Mark Kilian, Music Composer
South African born Mark Kilian has had a successful and eclectic film
scoring career since moving to Los Angeles in 1994. He is most known
for his ethnic flavored scores like the Oscar winning Tsotsi, Traitor and
Rendition. His most recent scores include Pitch Perfect, Bless Me,
Ultima, John Carpenter’s The Ward and HBO’s 41, a portrait of George
H.W. Bush. His TV series work includes Don’t Trust The B— in
Apartment 23, Body of Proof andDaybreak. He has also written music
for many TV commercials for Apple, Toyota, Budweiser and American
Express. He has 3 albums out under the name ‘The Gravy Street’ which
has received airplay in Los Angeles.
J.J. Alani, Production Designer / Art Director/ Music
Consultant
See bio above
Neguine Sanani, Editor
Neguine holds a B.F.A. from the USC Film and Television department in
Filmic Writing, and an M.F.A. from AFI in Directing. As a director, she
preferred to write with the camera, sculpting the story both as she filmed,
and in the edit room. This talent led her to editing. Early on in her career
as an editor, she worked with directors Tamra Davis and George Huang
through the IFP program Project Involve, and soon after contributed to
the editing of several Lionsgate productions.
Neguine edited the IMAX film Hurricane on the Bayou, which
documents the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Other feature
film work includes The Grey, which won the American Jury Prize at the Santa Barbara Film Festival; and
Flip the Script and Love and Other 4-­Letter Words, both of which premiered on the B.E.T. Network. Her
film, Bloodworth, starring Kris Kristofferson, who wrote an original song for the film, had its theatrical
release May of 2011. Her latest film, The Ghost and the Whale, directed by Anthony and James Gaudioso will
hit the festival circuit in 2014.
Phillip J. Bartell, Editor
Phillip J. Bartell has worked with many established directors, serving as
additional editor on Curtis Hanson’s In Her Shoes, Bill Paxton’s The
Greatest Game Ever Played, and the Russo Brothers’ Steven Soderbergh
and George Clooney produced, Welcome to Collinwood. He edited the
2010 Sundance Award winner Undertow (Contracorriente), and has also
edited Robert Cary’s Ira & Abby and Save Me, Q. Allan Brocka’s Boy
Culture, Patrik Ian Polk’s TV series Noah’s Arc, and Tribeca Film
Festival winner, Spork. Feature documentary I Am Divine recently
premiered at South By Southwest, and feature film G.B.F. premiered at
this year's Tribeca Film Fest. Bartell has worked in editorial departments on films by Spike Jonze, Gus Van
Sant, Robert Altman, Sean Penn, Diane Keaton, Vadim Perelman, and Adam Shankman.
Cast
Francia Raisa (Shahrzad)
As a Gracie Award and La Femme Film Festival Rising Star
Award recipient, 2012 Teen Choice, IMAGEN and an ALMA
award nominee for her portrayal of ‘Adrian Lee’ on ABC
Family’s critically acclaimed series “The Secret Life of an
American Teenager,” Francia Raisa continues to prove
herself as a star on the rise. Francia was featured on the
August 2012 cover of Backstage magazine as one of Young
Hollywood’s top Latinos in American TV and Film, further
proving she is the one to watch.
Francia was born and raised in Southern California to
mother Virginia Almendarez of Mexico and father Maximo
Renan Almendarez Coello of Honduras, (one of the most
recognized radio personalities and #1 Latino DJs in Los
Angeles). At the age of five, Francia began taking dance
lessons to learn all styles from tap to jazz, acrobatics, hiphop and Polynesian. In addition to dance, she trained in
karate and ice-skating. Looking to expand her talents her junior year of high school, Francia decided to study
both acting and modeling. She started to get noticed, and soon began to model for print ads and national
commercials. A month into her senior year of high school, Francia booked her first lead role, starring
opposite Hayden Panettiere in Bring it On: All or Nothing.
Not long after wrapping Bring it On, Francia booked the lead female role of MGM’s TV movie for ABC Family
The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream, before ultimately landing her breakout role as ‘Adrian Lee,’ a series
regular ABC Family’s award-winning The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Created by Brenda Hampton
(7th Heaven), the program broke all records for an original series on the network, including taking the #1
spot in its time slot for cable TV when it premiered in summer of 2008. The show is one of the most popular
teen TV shows on air. Up next, Francia will be seen on an upcoming episode of The Mindy Project, and she
has been cast as a recurring player in The CW pilot The Company Town. Adding to an even more exciting
year, Francia will star as Tory Bell in the ABC Family movie Christmas Bounty, produced by Michael Luisi
(The Call) and WWE Studios. In addition to her success on television, the horror film Chastity Bites, in
which Francia stars, is set to release later this year.
Francia currently resides in Los Angeles and continues to stay true to her dancing roots with weekly
advanced classes at a dance studio in Hollywood. Francia strives to be a role model for all her female fans. In
her spare time, she works to raise awareness on important causes such as hunger, domestic violence, sex
trafficking and female empowerment.
Ryan Guzman (Sebastian)
Ryan Guzman was a model, MMA fighter and is now an
actor who has caught the notice of Hollywood. Guzman has
been seen in television commercials for Old Navy, Gillette,
Candies and the Oprah Winfrey Network. He has been a
successful print model in San Francisco signing with LOOK
Modeling Agency at the age of 18 and in Los Angeles, where
he joined the esteemed Wilhelmina Agency at age 22. He
has modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, Affliction and Reebok
among others.
Born in Texas and raised in his hometown of Sacramento,
Guzman never thought of becoming an actor, much less a
dancer. At the age of 7, he developed an interest in martial
arts and earned his first black belt in Tae Kwon Do by the
age of 10. This led him into the octagon as a MMA fighter in
Sacramento until his fighting license expired in 2010, while
also modeling. A gifted athlete, he was a sought-after
left-handed pitcher with a fastball clocked between 87-90
miles per hour. A shoulder injury ended this career dream
while Guzman was still a teenager.
He sought out a talent manager and after having signed with one started the audition process a few short
months later for Step Up Revolution and landed the male lead.
He followed with the indie film Beyond Paradise directed by J.J. Alani, and most recently There’s Always
Woodstock directed by Rita Merson and April Rain directed by Luciano Saber.
Lionsgate Summit Enternatinment cast Ryan to be the lead in number 5 of the Step-Up series of movies,
expected to be released in 3D in 2014.
He can be seen as “Jake” on the international hit ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars.
Daphne Zuniga (Elana)
Daphne Zuniga is beloved by generations of moviegoers for
her performances in such classic films as Mel Brooks’
Spaceballs, and The Sure Thing, in which she starred
opposite John Cusack. On television, she starred as Jo Beth
Reynolds on the hit series Melrose Place, played the
scheming Victoria Davis for five seasons on One Tree Hill,
and starred on the ABC Family series Beautiful People. Over
the past several years she has also starred in a number of
highly-rated movies for television, including On Strike for
Christmas, A Family Thanksgiving, and her latest, Gone
Missing. On stage, she starred in the world premiere of
Theresa Rebeck’s play The Scene, and will soon be seen in the
film version.
Outside of acting, she is deeply committed to environmental
issues,
and
was
Communications
a
Office
founding
(ECO),
member
an
of
Earth
organization
that
harnesses the power of the environmental movement and the entertainment community. In 2009, Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed her to the founding board of the the LA River Revitalization
Corporation. A native of Berkeley, CA, she recently completed work on the feature film A Remarkable Life
Misha Crosby (Ray)
Misha Crosby (born 28 January 1987) is a British actor based
in Hollywood, California.
Crosby was born and brought up in London. He was a music
scholar at school and lead a world premier on the violin at
the Wigmore Hall at 14 years old. He performed for the
National Youth Music Theatre and went on to train at Drama
Studio London.
He previously starred in the BBC television series Holby City
as Sam Strachan’s son Kieron, in Channel 4′s Hollyoaks and
has had various guest appearances in other TV shows. In
2011 he was cast as Ryan Harwell in the Warner Brothers
television series The Lying Game.
Film roles include, Abbas in the award winning British
feature film Life Goes On, and he stars in Beyond Paradise,
as the traumatized loner Ray, set for release in 2014.
Max Amini (Sean)
Max Amini was born in Tucson Arizona and was raised on
the East Coast. He graduated from UCLA’s school of Theater,
Film and Television in 2004. As an actor, Max has over 50
film and television credits including NBC’s Heroes, regular
appearances on Comedy Central’s Mind of Mencia, and a
leading role in the upcoming feature film Beyond Paradise.
Max began his standup comedy career in 2002 at the LA
Improv. In 2009 Max was chosen as one of the finalists for
NBC’s Diversity Showcase. Through an array of eccentric
impressions and novel story telling, Max expresses his
comedy by delivering a strong message about family ties,
cultural aspects, and social topics. What really sets Max
apart from most comedians is his ability to improvise and
create on the spot.
It’s not uncommon for an audience
member to sit through two Max Amini shows in one night
and find two totally different performances.
Max is now headlining his own shows and his international
tour is in places like Canada, England, Australia, Germany,
Dubai, Sweden, and Malaysia and have been well received.
Yareli Arizmendi (Parisa)
Award
winning
actress,
writer and producer,
Yareli
Arizmendi is best known for her tour de force performances as
“Rosaura” in Like Water for Chocolate and “Lila Rodriguez”
in A Day Without a Mexican which she co-wrote and
co-produced. Her recent films include Beyond Paradise
directed by J. Jonroy The Road directed by David De Leon
both presently in post-production, Mariachi Gringo directed
by Tom Gustafson, winner of the Guadalajara Film Festival
2012, América by Sonia Fritz with Eddie Olmos, Don’t Let Me
Drown by Cruz Angeles, Fast Food Nation by Rick Linklater
and Naco Es Chido by Sergio Arau which she co-produced as
well. She has starred in numerous American episodic shows
including House, Medium, 24, Six Feet Under, and Heroes
and has lent her voice to many products, public awareness
campaigns and audio books including The Alchemist,Like
Water for Chocolate, The Law of Love and Malinche.
Her work with Luis Valdez at Teatro Campesino and Teatro
de la Esperanza with Jose Luis Valenzuela helped shape the
socially conscious work to come. A partial list of those interviewed by her includes: Noam Chomsky, Jesse
Jackson, Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine) Junot Diaz (Pulitzer Prize winner – The Brief Life of Oscar
Wao), Lila Downs, Maria Hinojosa, Rigoberta Menchú, Amy Goodman (host of Democracy Now), and John
Perkins (Confessions of an Economic Hit Man). Yareli is presently working on a novel entitled The Story of
Y. A curious auto-biography which brings a bi-national, bi-cultural political and social reality into sharp
focus through the eyes of a young girl making sense of it. A Cuban-Mexican born in Mexico City, Yareli
received her BA in Political Science and her MFA in Theatre at the University of California, San Diego
Christopher Maleki (Hosain/Tehran flashback)
Christopher Maleki is a native of Glendale, California. He
started acting professionally at the young age of 12. He
always knew what he wanted to do. Christopher started
working continuously on Teen magazine phase and
several series. Then, on September 20th 1996, Christopher
was working on the TV show Sliders with fellow actor
Ken Steadman when tragedy struck. Ken was the driver of
a dune buggy with cameras mounted on; Christopher was
a passenger when the vehicle flipped over killing Ken and
seriously injuring Christopher. It was a life-changing
experience. Christopher decided to take a couple of years
off and see the world. Since his return, Christopher has
enjoyed much success taking roles on popular series such
as Beverly Hills 90210, Party of Five and recurring roles
on Santa Barbara, The Bold and the Beautiful, Pacific
Blue, and Days of Our Lives.
With many films and episodic TV under his belt,
Christopher signed on with the soap Passions, where he
played the lovable bad boy “Spike Lester”. While continuing his work on Passions, Christopher took notable
roles on hit prime time shows such as CSI:NY, and the feature film Mcbride: It’s Murder, Madam opposite
John Larroquette. The increase in film and television roles during this time allowed Christopher to prove his
diversity and talent as an actor. After several seasons on Passions, Christopher left to pursue other work,
which has included roles on the Starz series Crash and the CBS mega hit, CSI
Mel Fair (Dr. Richards)
Mel Fair has more than 25-years of award-winning experience
in the entertainment industry. He has appeared in numerous
feature films, including Beyond Paradise, Ragamuffin,
Johnny, The Ultimate Gift, Atlas Shrugged: Parts I, II & III as
well as J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg’s, Super 8, among
others. Mel has made guest appearances on more than 45
episodic and daytime television shows including, True Blood,
Body of Proof, Rizzoli & Isles, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY,
Desperate Housewives, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The
Defenders to name a few. Mel has also played recurring roles
on Justified, Weeds, Revenge, Scandal, Chuck, Big Love,
Dirty Sexy Money, The O.C., and many other hit shows on the
small screen.
In addition, Mel has lent his voice-over talents to numerous
video games, including Call of Duty: World at War,
Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, Shrek 2 as the
Magic Mirror, Everquest II and Tribes Vengeance, among
others. He has also been heard on television and radio spots
for Disney Live! Rockin Road Show, U.S. Cellular, Outback Steakhouse, Kawasaki, Polaris snowmobiles,
KFC, and Golden Corral Restaurants, as well as numerous other voice-over projects nationwide and around
the globe.
Kira Soltanovich (Kira/Standup comedian)
Born in the former Soviet Union, and raised by immigrant
parents in San Francisco, Kira Soltanovich has plenty to
laugh about. “Like most kids, my parents took me to
Disneyland… not for the rides, for the lines. They assumed
there’d be food at the end of them.”
A staple on the comedy scene, Kira has worked in the
entertainment world as a writer, actor and producer. Her first
television option was with New Line Television for the hybrid
comedy, Weren’t You Scott Baio? Her feature film What’s
Your Sign? was optioned with Terra Firma at Universal later
that year.
She’s written for Joan Rivers on the TV Land series How’d
You Get So Rich? and for such Disney stars as Selena Gomez,
Mitch Musso and Debby Ryan on the Disney show
PrankStars. Most recently, Kira sold a pilot to Disney called
Weekly Squeak, the network’s first clip style promotion show.
Kira is currently writing/producing two scripts for Moscow’s
Channel One.You can catch her on Showtime in the critically
acclaimed comedy special Hot Tamales Live, and in her own half hour comedy special for the Showtime
network called Here Comes Trouble.She’s been a recurring character for seven years on The Tonight Show
with Jay Leno as the voice of “The Photo Booth.”
A Series Regular on the Oxygen and nationally syndicated show, Girls Behaving Badly, she has also
appeared on such shows as PrankStars, Hell’s Kitchen, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Fresh Baked Videos on
Spike. And also, listen for Kira as the voice of “Carla”, in the animated series, Iggy Cool. You can catch her on
two FOX shows, Red Eye and Reality Binge as a correspondent.
She has shot several pilots this year for Comedy Central, The Food Network, Lifetime and VH1, including a
brand new Celebrity, Sports and Entertainment pilot called Box Seat with Dennis Rodman and Jose Conseco.
Kira has hosted shows on FOX, E!, and VH1. She headlines clubs and colleges, and tours the world
entertaining troops in USO shows.
Lastly, she has performed in a myriad of comedy competitions and festivals, including Last Comic Standing,
The Cape Town International Comedy Festival, Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots, and several times at the
prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.
Rome Shahdanloo (Zara/Tehran flashback)
Born in Tehran, Iran, Rome Shadanloo came to Los
Angeles at the age of 2. Growing up she lived in a world of
imagination which prompted her to pick up her first paint
brush at the age of 4. In High School she was deeply
inspired to pursue acting but decided to attend art school
instead. Rome made the difficult decision to leave art
school and finally pursue acting.
She got her first break on How I Met Your Mother and
has been working steadily since.Rome Shadanloo works
toward her artistic goals under the alias, RomeApple. She
has had several successful gallery shows and has found a
way to successfully combine both her passions.
In 2012, she was asked to make scary dolls that were used
in the psychological thriller The Cottage in which she also
had a supporting role. She continues to pursue great roles
which inspire her artistically, such as in Beyond Paradise.
Ali Olomi (Faraz/Tehran flashback)
Ali Olomi is an accomplished actor, independent film
maker and Union SAG/AFTRA member working in
Hollywood, CA. Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, he has lived
in Germany, India and San Diego, CA. He later moved to
Los Angeles to pursue his acting career. He has worked in
Hollywood feature films, independent films, student
Films, TV Series, commercials, voice over and ADR. He is
fluent in five languages: English, Dari, Farsi, Hindi and
German. His Lead Roles in short dramas have garnished
him praise at the Cannes International Film Festival,
Sundance Film Festival, Asian Film Festival, Berkshire
Film Festival, as well as other International film festivals.
He recently acted in InAPPropriate Comedy with Adrien
Brody, Rob Schneider, Michelle Rodriguez and Lindsay
Lohan released in theaters on March 22, 2013. Ali Olomi
has also been signed to another feature film releasing in
2014.
********