FILM & TV WORK

trailer for the short film, "Use Me Up'. Directed by Dawn Alden, written by Tamar Kummel. Trailer by Katie Dillon of Beautiful Lady Productions. Film produced by Vicarious Films and Captain Purple Productions.

TRACES - A Film by Joseph Culp This film is based on the play “Traces of Memory” by American playwright Ann Wuehler. It tells the story of two women who meet by chance hitchhiking on a Nevada highway desperate to escape their troubled lives. Both volatile and nuanced, actors Shanti Parsons and Elizabeth Gilbert deliver breakout performances as women pushed to extremes by their unfortunate choices. Shot entirely on location in the Mojave Desert, the drama unfolds as a contest of wills between two women struggling against the terrible secrets that have changed their lives. The film explores themes of vulnerability, trust, violence and reconciliation. 2011 USA Running time: 18 minutes Logline: Two women meet hitchhiking in the Nevada desert with the secrets of their troubled pasts trailing close behind. Director: Joseph Culp Adapted from the play “Traces of Memory” written by Ann Wuehler Starring: Shanti Parsons and Elizabeth Gilbert Producers: Shanti Parsons, Jeff Christensen, Elizabeth Gilbert, Joseph Culp Production Company: Lone Spy Productions Director of Photography: Keyan Safyari Editor, Color Grading and Sound Mix: Hughes Hall Music: Janet Robin DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT "TRACES" is a story of desperation and recognition. Two women meet in a forbidding Nevada landscape, both trapped by their choices in life and perhaps trapped by the landscape itself. They may actually be trapped by the culture that conditioned them to make those choices. Now, desperate and running, they are both looking to get out by any means necessary. One woman seeks companionship, attachment and identification in her plight, the other is the staunch individual who cannot afford the luxury of compassion. There is a refusal to acknowledge a common bond that most women would hasten to share; namely, the world of men and their oppression within it. The "world of men" and the pressure of it, is the third unseen character in the piece. For me, the story is about the desperate measures these women have had to take, tragically, to escape this world that has crushed them, enslaved them, or allowed them to enslave themselves. They may never escape it. In fact, they are most likely doomed to the fates that their violent actions have brought upon them; the essence of tragedy. Their interaction is even an extension of role-playing brought about by the world of men and the twisted violence that is so often part of that world. The somewhat disassociated Ruth even says at one point in protest, "We're not men! We don't need to fight it out!", to which the streetwise Phoebe replies, “I think we do.” If the future for these women is dark and most likely damned, the only hope of salvation they have is the possibility of recognition that comes from sharing their secrets and knowing they hold a piece of each other in common. One woman insists on it, the other denies any connection, and it is this tension which perpetuates the drama. Through recognition there can be acknowledgement of the other's vulnerability that may bring the out the balm of compassion, which both wounded women crave. It is for this reason that I think the characters and their plight is sympathetic, even as their acts are most certainly reprehensible. Their reconciliation in the face of utter bleakness is our universal hope. We want it to happen, even though we should be morally opposed to it and that is a terrible irony, though surely, exquisitely, human. - Joseph Culp (Director)

Health care in the United States is broken. To fully understand how severe of a crisis were in, people from all over California told us about their experiences with a system in dire need of reform.