cast crew

After working for so many years in film helping other people make their dreams come true, it was finally time to focus on my own dream. So I began writing Acts of Worship. Over and over and over, for the next six years. All that time, I was trying to raise money, trying to get the project off the ground. I can remember four years ago, sitting in my office breaking down the script and making a shooting schedule, pretending that the film was going into production soon. I met Nadia Leonelli when I helped cast Hurricane Streets. She had been supportive over the years, showing up at a formal reading of Acts of Worship, always encouraging me to keep going. Eventually she formed Manifesto Films, with partner Fredrik Sundwall, and they came on as producers. That’s when things finally began to happen and I knew Acts of Worship was real. With the help of casting director Susan Shopmaker, I met Michael Hyatt, who came in to audition for the smaller role of a prostitute. After asking her to read for one of the leads, Digna, I saw that she would bring a strength and a caring that was necessary to draw the other character of Alix to her. I saw about 100 people for the role of Alix. It was clear to me after one audition that Ana Reeder was Alix. It turned out that she and Michael Hyatt had gone to NYU Grad school together and knew each other very well. The fact that they already had this built-in connection cemented my choice — so much so that we