A short film that deals with the self-silencing that occurs in the aftermath of a traumatic assault.  

Cast 

Dominique Denny

“Natalie”

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Dominique Denny is a Los Angeles based 18 TPY actress/model. She was born in Elgin, IL but raised in San Bruno, CA. She’s always had a love and passion for the arts but specifically acting.

Her credits include the films Cult From the Same Cloth, MVP, and BLONSH. She trained with Howard Fine, David Coury, and Beverly Hills Playhouse.

Moe Irvin

“Roger”

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Moe Irvin is a Southern California native. He is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio, and a member of the Road Theatre Co. Of his many guest star credits he is best known for his recurring role on GREY’S ANATOMY as Nurse Tyler Christian. He can also be seen, most recently, in recurring guest star roles as SANTOS on the FX’s SNOWFALL , recurring guest star role on the Amazon Studios series THEM: COVENANT, supporting role in the upcoming Netflix film, The Good Nurse with Jessica Chastain and Eddy Redmayne, and upcoming Guest star roles on Amazon Studios’ Hunters and CBS’ FBI International.

Under his UNDERBELLY FILMWORKS banner, Moe is also as the writer/director of the short film, STANFORD & SON, which was nominated for best short film at the Pan African Film Festival 2015. He is currently in post production for his upcoming short film, Mad Chicken; a dark comedy that he also wrote and directed.

Emiah Reilly

“Monet”

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Emiah Reilly is a New York native whose love for acting began when she was 5 years old. Emiah has performed in various plays and featured in several theater festivals across the country, including the World Famous Apollo Theatre and DC’s Black Theatre Festival. After high School, she moved to LA to pursue her
higher learning from AMDA College & Conservatory for The Performing Arts. She recently graduated from AMDA with a BFA in Acting and is now working professionally as an actress in Hollywood.

She has recently wrapped up three projects which are currently in post-production, including a guest star role on a Daytime Emmy award nominated show. Emiah has an innate and passionate desire to work on projects that captivates the audience through laughter, pain, and joy.

Matthew ‘Mdot” Finley

“Nigel”

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Matthew ‘Mdot’ Finley is a true vocalist that plays five instruments. He was nominated and performed at the 2010 Movie Guide awards, won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Family TV Movie* Co-stars in Disney Channel’s “CAMP ROCK 2” aired in 160 countries.

His single “FIRE” peaked at #3 on Disney Radio countdown * Disney’s Camp Rock 2 Soundtrack, recorded and performs on 4 songs * Toured with The Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato and Camp Rock 2 on the North and South American tour * Performed live ABC’s Good Morning America Summer Concert Series in Central Park.

Kayla Manuel

“Claudia”

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Kayla Manuel, actor and artist from Inglewood, CA, received her bachelors in Theatre Performance with an emphasis in Acting from Cal State Long Beach. She starred in Justice Delayed, an award winning short film uncovering the effects of police brutality.

Kayla has booked commercials such as Super Bowl XLIX for Dove Men Care and recently, Instacart. With mentorship from Debbie Allen and Alvin Ailey throughout her career, Kayla is a powerhouse artist represented by Egg Hunt Entertainment and The Savage Agency.

Frank Gerrish

“Bartender”

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Frank Gerrish has appeared in over 150 feature films, documentaries, television series and made-for-TV movies; in over 500 commercials, voice-overs, industrials and print; and in over 90 stage productions. Recent TV/Film work includes appearances on FOX’s 911, Greys Anatomy and Single Parents for ABC, and a recurring role in Julia Robert’s Amazon series Homecoming.

Frank holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Theatre from Penn State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island.

Our Award-Winning Filmmakers

Writer / Director / Producer

Phyllis Toben Bancroft

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With enthusiasm, gravitas and a vision backed by determination, Phyllis is committed to visual storytelling and it has paid off with work that exhibits keen intuitive insights and elicited spirited, moving performances from notable actors. Supervising Director for the Emmy-nominated web-series, “Send Me,” creator/producer of SPENTwinner of the BET Lens on Talent for Best Film and director of the award-winning short film BURNED, Phyllis’ filmmaking is preceded by having directed 30+ plays at some of the country’s most reputable theaters, including the Smithsonian’s African-American Museum, the Hartford Stage Company and Playwright’s Horizons.

A strong proponent of advancing women’s creativity, as an alumnus, she also founded the Bancroft Scholarship for Women of Color at the A.F.I. Conservatory.

Screenwriter & Intimacy Coordinator

Nikki Syreeta

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Nikki Syreeta is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter, logline specialist, professional script reader and consultant harboring a frighteningly active imagination with an affinity for unique characters and subtext.

Nikki is the founder of Breaking Loglines®, a logline crafting service that helps the logline challenged. Nikki is currently an associate producer on a short film, Good Times at Mike Kelso’s, which is in development, earning her certification as an Intimacy Coordinator with Centuary Co., and her next projects are an action/ drama feature and a character-driven web series.

Cinematographer

Zach Fritz

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Zach Bio

Line Producer

Swisyzinna Moore

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Swisyzinna considers herself an actors’ director. This can be seen by watching her 2-time pre-Emmy nominated series, “Stepford SideChix” in which she has directed every episode. She made her directing debut in the late 90’s with the hit stage play, “Dreamgirls.”

Between now and then she has had the opportunity to direct a myriad of projects from shorts film, music videos, zoom commercials and demo reels. Swisyzinna is looking forward to directing her first feature film.

She is currently working on completing her MFA in directing to broaden her technical knowledge and skill of her beloved craft.

Angele Cooper

1st Assistant Director 

Angele Cooper

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Angele’s experiences have driven her to write and direct stories that give a voice to the voiceless, represent the misrepresented, and bring visibility to the invisible. She has spoken on various panels including SXSW “Bridging Diversity in FIlm & Television and in 2020, she was a finalist in The American Film Institute Directing Women Workshop and Sundance Episodic Labs.

In 2022, her recent short film Fever will be premiering in the BFI LGBTQ London Film Festival. She also has a web-series which recently got into Outfest called Ms.Manage and will air on a streaming platform called BlackOak TV.

Marilia Mautino

Production Coordinator

Marilia Mautino

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Marilia is a Production Coordinator and assistant based in L.A. She is originally from Brazil and has been working in the industry for more than 8 years. She is very passionate about the entertainment industry and loves new challenges.

“Working on this project was very special to me and I learned a lot from our director Phyllis Bancroft, I am looking forward to working again with her in the future.”

Danielle Lopez

Production Designer

Danielle Lopez

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A native of Southern California, Danielle has been working as a production designer and in art departments since 2010. Starting out as a stop-motion animator in high school developed her love for movies and in creating visual worlds for her characters to live in.

Once she began to crew on live-action film sets she found her passion for creating these worlds on a much larger scale. An alum of the CSSSA program at CalArts and Concept Design Academy in Pasadena, she got her start on the student films of New York Film Academy students and over the years has worked her way into feature films, music videos, commercials, and streaming series.

Costume Designer

Janel Laws

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An innovative and captivating fashion connoisseur, Janel Laws was born on the beautiful island of St. Ann, Jamaica. Steeped in a country engulfed by rich heritage and diversity, her unique sense of street culture matched with a keen eye for couture flourishes from a deep understanding of traditional and unconventional style.

Laws’ entry into the world of high fashion began as an aspiring model. Her travels and experiences translated to styling, eventually interning with the PRB Showroom. Currently, Janel consults as a stylist for Koziak Productions.

Lynarion Hubbard Spellman

Editor

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After receiving her B.S., with a double major in Video/Film and Computer Science from the University of Miami, Lynarion moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Film Institute Conservatory’s editing program.

Upon graduation she edited on various projects, including shorts, television shows and features. More recently, Lynarion has worked on projects such as TRANSPARENT (Amazon), THE POLKA KING (Netflix Features) CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND (The CW), LITTLE AMERICA (Apple TV+) and INSECURE (HBO).

Lynarion recently won an Emmy for “Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series” for her recent work on season 4 of Insecure.

Casting Director

Dea Vise

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Dea has been casting feature films and television for 20 years. She started in commercials and music video casting in 1999 and ended up doing almost entirely theatrical projects. She co-cast the theatre-released films “God’s Not Dead,” “The Case for Christ,” and “Do You Believe?” and many more with her former partner Billy DaMota, now retired. See Dea Vise at imdb.com for a full list of features and television shows.

Dea is working on her doctoral dissertation in Psychology and holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology as well as a Bachelor of Arts and an Associate of Arts in Acting. Dea is from Texas and gets the job done. Hook ’em, Horns!

Creative Consultant

Kimby Caplan

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Kimby Caplan is an award-winning filmmaker whose work as a Cinematographer and Director has taken her far from the mountains of her childhood.

Between lensing the social political commentary, HOW JACK BECAME BLACK, to traipsing about Eastern Europe following in the footsteps of an escapee from Communist Czechoslovakia, in the documentary Red Star, to roaming the streets of Old Havana in Cuba, followed by soldiers, for the documentary Cubamerican,  shooting avocados and artichokes for HBO’s Sesame Street, Caplan’s latest visual contributions have considerable variety and purpose.

Christa Duggan

Composer

Christa Duggan

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Christa Duggan is a composer based in Los Angeles, CA. Christa received her Bachelor’s degree in Composition from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and was one of the first students to graduate with Berklee College of Music’s newly-launched screen scoring minor. She then received her Masters of Music in Screen Scoring from USC Thornton.

As a film composer, she has composed for a variety of short films and is passionate about the collaborative process rooted in film scoring. Christa has also served as the Vice President of Operations for the woman-owned production music library, Mpath LLC, where she is also a featured composer.

Producer Sandra Evers-Manly

Our Producer Sandra Evers-Manly is a noted corporate executive, community activist and patron to African-American artists. She has been making a difference in diverse communities across the nation or more than 25 years. Sandra and Films with a Purpose most recent project was “Ferguson Rises,” which won the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival and can now be viewed on PBS.org.

Films With a Purpose