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AWARDS:
Festróia - Tróia International Film Festival (2000)
Won Prize of the City of Setúbal , Special Mention - John-Luke Montias

Florida Film Festival (2000)
Won Grand Jury Award, Best Narrative Feature - John-Luke Montias

Hamptons International Film Festival (1999)
Nominated for Golden Starfish Award, Best American Independent Film - John-Luke Montias

AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (1999)
Won Best New Director - John-Luke Montias
Won New Directions Award - John-Luke Montias, Michiel Pilgram

Torino International Festival of Young Cinema (1999)
Nominated for the Prize of the City of Torino, Best Film in the International Feature Film Competition - John-Luke Montias

VARIETY:
April 5, 1999 - April 11, 1999
SECTION: FILM REVIEWS; Pg. 38 SANTA BARBARA
LENGTH: 687 words
HEADLINE: BOBBY G. CAN'T SWIM
BYLINE: LAEL LOEWENSTEIN
BODY: (DRAMA)
A CineBlast! production. Produced by Michael Pilgram. Executive producers, Gill Holland, Kevin Chinoy.
Directed, written by John-Luke Montias. Camera (Lab-Link color), George Gibson; editor, Michael Pilgram; sound, Andrew Reuland; assistant director, Pilgram. Reviewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival, March 6, 1999. Running time:
89 MIN.
Bobby Grace ..... John-Luke Montias
Lucy ..... Susan Mitchell
Coco ..... Vincent Vega
Popeet ..... Norman Middleton
Mike ..... Paul Maged
Andy ..... Andrew Rien
Gina ..... Donna Sonkin
Tim ..... Michael Gnat
Alex ..... Gene Ruffini
Tony Zino ..... Anthony Castle
Astro ..... Steve Hienze
Dollar Bill ..... Rick Poli

Bobby G. Can't Swim" reminds you what a great independent film can accomplish. Gutsy, unconventional, bursting with raw urban energy, this surprisingly suspenseful drama portrays New York Hell's Kitchen residents whose lives are governed by the immutable circumstances of their tawdry existence. Pic heralds the arrival of a bold new talent in actor-writer-director John-Luke Montias. While further festival appearances will generate attention and laurels, it's just a matter of time before the film is snatched up by a savvy distributor, ideally one who can give it the special handling it deserves.
Bobby Grace ( Montias) is a small-time coke dealer with a good heart. His days consist of casual encounters with an array of lowlife neighborhood characters: his Puerto Rican prostitute girlfriend, Lucy (Susan Mitchell), a local blind man who supports himself selling found objects (Norman Middleton)
and Bobby's high-strung drug supplier (Vincent Vega). They're all dirt-poor and
trapped in dead-end lives, but determined to make a buck any way they can. Despite the apparent misery of their Hell's Kitchen milieu, the characters remain stoically optimistic. Even Bobby, constantly trying to evade a pair of undercover cops determined to nail him, lives by his wits and maintains his sense of humor.
When a Gotham yuppie approaches Bobby to buy a kilo of cocaine, it looks as if his rough days may be over. Planning to skim some cash off the top, he'll make a tidy profit and perhaps leave the business. But the client is skittish and the plan goes awry, forcing Bobby to produce the merchandise before receiving the cash. Events snowball disastrously, and suddenly what Bobby had envisioned as the opportunity of a lifetime begins to look like the biggest mistake he has ever made. Still, Montias has some surprises in store that propel the second half of the film at a compelling pace.
Montias takes a considerably long time to set up things by introducing characters and locales and subtly inserting plants that will pay off later. That exposition, though never plodding, could stand to lose a few minutes. Still, the second half is well worth the wait. At the 46-minute mark, the pieces of the puzzle that Montias seems to have tossed out haphazardly begin to come together with remarkable precision, and the action accelerates as if infused with spontaneous energy.
Despite fate's forceful presence here, the film is more informed by a capricious vitality than by a noir nihilism. George Gibson's edgy, hand-held camerawork and unusual choices --- like opening a scene with a detailed close-up rather than an establishing shot --- reinforce the whimsical spirit of Montias' vision. In that way, and because of the vigor and charisma of his performance, this film recalls the early work of another Jean-Luc. It would be fruitless and premature to push comparisons to Godard's "Breathless," but if nothing else, "Bobby G." teems with a similar kind of urban vibrancy and an upbeat, impulsive energy despite the bleak circumstances imposed on its characters.
Paradoxically, "Bobby G. Can't Swim" invites superlatives precisely because it seems such an unlikely candidate for high praise. But this inconspicuous little indie is a remarkably accomplished first film. Full of contradictions, it's a picture whose apparent simplicity belies its intricate plotting and whose seeming ordinariness gives way to a work of striking originality.

Orlando Sentinel
BY: Jay Boyar , Orlando Sentinel , Friday, May 4, 2001 , Metro, Page: 28
REVIEW
'Bobby G. Can't Swim"
Type: REVIEW

`BOBBY G.' CAPTURES MOODS OF LIFE ON FRAYED URBAN FRINGE
It has taken a good 11 months, but Bobby G. is back.
Bobby G. is the main character in Bobby G. Can't Swim, the small, spiffy film that won the grand jury prize for best narrative feature at last year's Florida Film Festival.
Enzian Theater has at last arranged for it to return, beginning today. If you miss it this time around, you have only yourself to blame.
A sometimes-funny, sometimes-tragic, sometimes-both-at-once slice of low-end urban life, it chronicles two days in the wasteful existence of Bobby, a likable small-time pusher who gets in over his head.
John-Luke Montias, who has the title role, is a bit of a one-man band: Not only does he appear in nearly every scene, he also wrote and directed this low-budget wonder.
If Montias had only directed the film, he still would have come off as very talented. As director, writer and star, he's clearly a phenomenon.
What makes his film so remarkable is the way it captures, with unerring accuracy, the shifting moods and rhythms of life on the frayed urban fringe.
For me, it brings to mind snatches of Taxi Driver, Mean Streets and, in its scorched-earth humor, the New York section of Stranger Than Paradise. Watching Bobby G. Can't Swim is like a day trip to a part of a city that none of the tour books brags about.
Every shot is like a postcard from the Underclass Urban Collection.
Bobby deals small amounts of cocaine, but he still seems like a pretty good egg.
Tall, youngish and athletic-looking, with a high forehead and droopy eyes, the guy's a bit of a babe magnet in his part of town. Lucy, his hooker girlfriend, is always getting into fights with Gina, another prostitute, who hops onto his lap whenever it's free.
But, really, just about every woman in this film seems hot for Bobby's bones.
When he's not snuggling up to someone, he's striding around Hell's Kitchen in his T-shirt and slacks, with a crucifix around his neck. Bobby sells $20 bags to regular customers, stopping off for a beer or a baseball game or just to kibitz with the local street people.
A soft touch, Bobby accepts a '50s-era Strike-O-Matic bowling ball from one desperate customer as payment. Later, he chuckles quietly when a friend offers Gina a dollar to expose her derriere, and Gina, a slightly classier act, holds out for two.
Early in the film, a couple of cops stop and search Bobby, forcing him to drop his drawers, undies included, right there on the street. After the cops leave, Bobby's friends laugh at him, the way you might chuckle at a buddy who'd spilled coffee down his pants.
Such casual indignities are just part of the life they've all chosen -- like the smell of urine in the street or the constant sound of the traffic.
What ups the ante for Bobby is a chance to clear a quick 15 grand or so by selling a kilo of cocaine to a friend of a friend. There are huge risks -- to his life and his soul -- involved in such a transaction.
For the moment, however, all Bobby sees are the dollar signs.
The supporting cast of unknowns is terrific. Susan Mitchell, who plays Lucy, offers a poignant portrait of a woman in her 30s who yearns to pack in her rotten life and return to her mother's home in Puerto Rico.
Donna Sonkin, as the other hooker, is memorably whacked-out. And Norman Middleton, as a blind street vendor with a strangely high voice and a chipper perspective, also sticks in the mind, as does Vincent Vega as Bobby's cranky connection.
But, of course, the film hinges on the performance of Montias himself, a tour de force that ranges from high-spirited humor to utter desolation.
You feel Bobby's lows all the more powerfully because Montias makes him so sympathetic. Bobby's style is both working class and entrepreneurial, a poor man's cross between Seinfeld's Kramer and The Honeymooner's Norton, only real and deeper.
That crucifix dangling from his neck is a sign of the soul that he hopes not to lose.

Reprinted by permission of The Orlando Sentinetal. Review © THE ORLANDO SENTINEL and may not be republished without permission.

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN LUKE
BY VICTORIA HORSFORD

What do you call Bobby G.? What genre?
I simply call Bobby G. a street-movie. I think that gives an idea of what it's about. Yeah, it's kind of film-noir, it's kind of comedy, it's kind of gangster flick; but in my mind street-movie can encompass all of those.

When did you know acting, writing, directing would be you life's work?
I started out as an actor, but realized I wasn't satisfied with the "waiting for the phone to ring" part. I then started writing; and when I had my first script, thought, "shoot...I wanna direct this too...". There was a certain point before I shot Bobby G. where I thought to myself "If I don't make this movie I'll die...". I had no choice in the matter. Still don't.

Name some of your favorite films.
Besides the ones I named already, I like. "The Last Detail" "The French Connection", "Fear Eats The Soul", "The Laws of Gravity", "Superfly", "Last Picture Show", "Reservoir Dogs".

Your DP shoots the noirish film in bright, luscious colors which makes your story, the setting, your characters not as dark as they should be.
The film by day is pure sunshine. I thought it important to include a lot of color and brightness in the story, because it deals with a lot of dark stuff and I didn't want to depress the hell out of people. Also, we shot with no money, and if you are in that situation, you want to make a lot of your scenes exterior-day. The light is free.

Bobby G. has been a festival favorite. Name some of the festivals and what they achieved toward film completion and subsequent distribution.
When we finished shooting the movie, we still needed a lot of money to finish it, which we didn't have. I sent a rough-cut to Gill Holland, who had produced the Sundance Winner "Hurricane Streets". He agreed to help me try to raise finishing funds. However, most of his usual investors passed because of the dark nature of the story. Many months went by. We finally got a huge break when The Santa Barbara Film Festival, headed by Renee Missel, agreed to let us screen as a work in progress. While there, the film was reviewed by Variety. It was a very nice review. The next day the phone was ringing off the hook. We had the completion money shortly thereafter. One of the companies that helped us finish, Gabriel Film Group, was about to start a distribution-division. At a certain point, they decided to acquire the film for distribution. Some of the festivals we've been to: San Sebastian (Spain), Los Angeles AFI (which we won), Florida (won), Hamptons, Saint Louis, Cleveland, Hawaii, Cairo, Troia (Portugal, Special Jury Award), Cognac(France), Torino(Italy).

You got lots of wonderful performances from your actors. How did you cast it?
I cast the movie myself, through the actors' newspaper "Backstage". I got thousands of submissions. At a certain point, the Post Office wouldn't deliver to my apartment anymore. They would just leave a little yellow slip in my box saying that I had mail to pick up at the nearest branch. I would come home with duffel-bags full of pictures and resumes. I would then go through every submission. Exhausting. We finally called a number of people in. We put them on tape, and then I would go home and watch everything. Being on the other side of the audition process was very eye opening; I have always had great respect for actors, but watching them come in one after the other and make themselves vulnerable was really moving. There's so much courage involved. On a funny note, some of the characters in my movie are based on people I knew in Hell's Kitchen when I was bartending there. I actually asked some of them to come in and read for those parts without telling them that they were based on them. None of these people were actors, but I thought it would be simple enough for them to act like themselves. Strangely enough, none of them could. Give them a script, and put them in front of the audition camera and they would freeze. Oh well. That was another thing that made me realize how hard it is to act and act well.

What appeal did Hell's Kitchen have for you?
I've always been drawn to that area for some reason. It's an interesting mix of people and things. The neighborhood has really changed over the past five years, but it still has a unique feel to it. When I walk around there I feel hope and I feel sadness. That typifies New York for me. You get a sense that a lot of stuff has "gone down" there.

The Latin music is so deftly embroidered into the story. It is original, or culled from the labels discography?
Actually a friend of mine played me a bunch of Latin music when I told him I wanted to use some in the film. When I told him which tunes I liked (the Latin tunes are all from one singer), he told me he knew the guy well. I called up the performer and then we called his record label to make a deal.

What is your training or background in acting or directing?
I studied acting at NYU. When I realized I wanted to direct, I went back to NYU and took a two-month intensive course.

What was your pre-Bobby G. life like?
I was a bartender for years while trying to get acting work when I could. If you want to be a writer, bartending is a good way to get material. You hear crazy dialogue all night, whether you want to or not. You see every kind of character in the book. First sober; then drunk. I didn't set out to be a bartender in order to find characters, but after a number of years, I realized that some of these people and the situations they talked about made such an impression on me that I had to do something with it.

How did you raise moneys for Bobby G.?
The bar I worked at in Hell's Kitchen was populated with all kinds of characters; Regular Joe's, hookers, dealers, pimps, union officials, you name it. The characters that filled the place were an inspiration for the story. When some of the regulars heard I was trying to raise money to shoot this flick, they pitched in to help me. None of them knew anything about the film industry, and I told them they might never see their money back. But the idea a lot of them went into it with was "I've blown money on dumber things". They helped me because they had good hearts and believed in me. I was very touched by that. I also got money from some fellow-bartenders and used money of my own. That got it in the can. After that, my sources were tapped out. We went for almost a year with no way to finish the movie. Then the Santa Barbara festival screened us as a work in progress, Variety reviewed it, and everything changed. We got the money to finish shortly thereafter.

What's your next film and what's it about?
One is called "Cherry Pie" and deals with the Hell's Kitchen Irish mob in 1981; another is called "Perfect Pitch" and deals with a car sales-pitch competition. I'm talking to producers about both. Whichever one goes first; I'm ready.

PRESS RELEASE:

presents

Bobby G Can't Swim

A film by John-Luke Montias

A cine' BLAST! PRODUCTION
85 minutes

PRELIMINARY PRODUCTION NOTES
DOMESTIC SALES: GABRIEL FILM GROUP
J.D. MATONTI
TRIBECA FILM CENTER
375 GREENWICH STREET
5th FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10013
(T) 212-941-2002 (F) 212-941-2439
[email protected]

Bobby G. Can'tSwim

Winner!
Grand Jury Prize Florida Film Festival 2000

"Bobby G. Can’t Swim is the kind of movie that comes along only occasionally. One so unconventional, gutsy and perfectly executed it takes your breath away."

Winner!
The New Directions Prize and Best New Director Prize
13th Annual AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival

8th St. Louis International Film Festival
"Superlative writing, direction and acting by John-Luke Montias, a real triple crown winner in this effort."

BOBBY G. CAN'TSWIM

Bobby G. Iives life on the edge in this real, raw New York street drama. Bobby is a small-time coke dealer, always on the hustle but rarely succesful. He lives in Hell's Kitchen with his Puerto Rican girlfriend Lucy, who makes ends meet as a prostitute. A typical day finds bobby selling $20 bags to neigbourhood locals and passing cars.

A yuppie kid looking to score a kilo of coke approaches him to broker a deal and Bobby sees the opportunity of a lifetime to make some real money. His rough days may just be over. With the tidy profit he could even leave the business. Playing out of his league, Bobby arranges to get the kilo from Astro, a fearsome, high-level drug dealer. Though Lucy announces that sheÕs decided to go back to Puerto Rico and pleads with him to make a fresh start too, Bobby is sticking to his deal and isnÕt going anywhere now, convinced he'll be "...livin' large in a matter a'days."

On deal day the client gets nervous and the plan goes awry with Bobby turning over the merchandise without being able to hold on to the cash. He now fears for his life unless he can come up with the money, fast, to pay back Astro. Seized with panic Bobby seeks out an acquaintance, Dollar Bill, who puts him in touch with a mobfigure who needs somebody "whacked" and is willing to pay big bucks for it too. Though Bobby has never fired a gun in his life, he carries out the execution. the act plunges him into a state of shock and torment verging on madness.

In the ensuing hours, Bobby, his mind in a daze, will find redemption in a bizarre journey involving a homeless woman, the Hudson River, and a blind street-peddler named Popeet. He will also learn, that what fate may give, she is just as free to take away.

About the Characters

John-Luke Montias plays the part of Bobby G., a lost soul in Hells Kitchen, treading the sidewalks looking for the one big break that will finance his escape from a desperate existence in an unforgiving city. Constantly moving between the roles of hero and villain, Bobby bends the rules and breaks the laws as a means to his own end, but reaches out a helping hand to the lonely and destitute along the way. The question is whether Bobby will "sink or swim" when he gets in over his head in the seedy underworld of drugs and murder.

Lucy, played by Susan Mitchell, is Bobby's hooker girlfriend. Although she once aspired to be an actress, Lucy has fallen prey to drugs and prostitution Frustrated by the lowly life she and Bobby have to suffer through, Lucy forces her wayward boyfriend to choose between her and a new start in Puerto Rico, or his life in New York City and the big break which may never come.

Vincent Vega plays Coco, a small time dealer happy to supply Bobby with insignificant amounts of coke. He is reluctantly drawn into BobbyÕs plan to sell a Kilo in exchange for a cut of the profits. When BobbyÕs plan goes awry, Coco has to choose between his loyalty towards his friend or the safety of himself and his family.

Norman Middleton plays Popeet, a blind street vendor who survives by selling objects he finds on the street. Always exuding hope in the face of adversity, Popeet unwittingly inspires Bobby on his journey to redemption.

Mike, Andy and Tim, played by Paul Maged, Andrew Rein and Michael Gnat, are the out of town yuppies who come to Bobby looking to buy a kilo of coke. Bobby believes this will be his big break if he can clinch the deal but the buyers are strangers to the rules of drugs, money and New York City.

Donna Sonkin plays Gina, Lucy's sparring partner and a fellow prostitute, who is constantly vying for Bobby's affection.

The Making of Bobby G.

Can't Swim Bobby G. Can't Swim is John-Luke Montian' first feature film. Originally from New Haven, CT, Montias moved to New York to study acting at New York University. After graduating, he won roles in various New York Theater productions and also became interested in writing. Like most actors in New York, Montias held down a survival-job to make ends meet while waiting for his break.

Montias was working as a bartender in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan when he came up with the idea of writing the screenplay for Bobby G. Can't Swim. "I worked in a place that was chock-full of seedy characters. As I was usually working by myself, I inevitably got to know them. Most of the characters in Bobby G. are based on people I either met, or heard about. Sometimes people who made money doing bad things would try to make up for it by doing something good. The theme of redemption has always fascinated me."

Rather than spend time shopping the script around to various production companies, he decided to get things rolling himself. "I wrote the script so that the movie could be shot for nothing, making the story more dependent on the actorsÕ performances than on exploding helicopters or car crashes. I didnÕt feel like spending years pitching this project to every producer and his brother. I knew I could shoot this movie, and I knew I could do it myself."

He then went about raising money from friends and acquaintances. "I told everybody I approached that itÕs a risky investment, and to not give me money unless they can afford to lose it. Strangely enough, the few people who I know with disposable income didn't invest. Most of the money came from hard-working people who invested because they believed in me, or they believed in the project."

About The Film Makers

John-Luke Montias (Writer/Director/Star)
John-Luke Montias studied acting at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. As a writer, his plays Happy Birthday Johnny Red, The Roof, Oedy and Jo have been performed at various venues in NYC. Besides "Bobby G.", Montias' recent acting credits include Home Sweet Hoboken, Shooting Vegetarians, and Mole. On TV he guest-starred on NBC's Law and Order and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. His film projects in development include Cherry Pie, a story about the Irish-American mob in Hell's Kitchen circa 1981, and Perfect Pitch, a comedy about a car sales-pitch competition.

Michael Pilgram (Producer/Assistant Director/Editor)
Pilgram has been working on Bobby G. from the beginning. He handled everything from hiring the crew, to buying the film stock, to making sure the shoot stayed on schedule. He even jumped in front of the camera when an actor who was supposed to play a small role failed to show up.
Pilgram has been working on independent films for more than a decade. He recently edited the dialogue for Stephen Earnhart’s Mule Skinner Blues, a documentary that premiered in May at the Doubletake Film Festival. Earlier, he worked as an editor on The Escape Artist, a feature by Michael Lawrence; associate editor, sound editor and post-production producer for Debra Eisenstadt’s Daydream Believer, the winner of the best dramatic feature award at Slamdance 2001; and associate editor of Tom Zuber’s Lansdown, which won the best first feature award at the Cinequest Film Festival 2001. Pilgram also edited Kill By Inches, a film by Diane Doniol-Valcroze & Arthur Flam, and served as the assistant editor on Peter Cohen’s Drunks, a Shooting Gallery feature that starred Richard Lewis.
Pilgram grew up in Leiden, The Netherlands, and later studied photography and filmmaking at the Arts Academy in The Hague. His career as an editor started while he was working as a gaffer, when the editor drafted him to serve as an editing assistant.

Gill Holland (Producer)
Nominated for the Spirit Award for Producer of the Year 1998, GillÕs producing credits include, in addition to Bobby G Can't swim Morgan J. Freeman's triple Sundance award-winning Hurricane Streets (MGM); his follow-up Desert Blue (Samuel Goldwyn), starring Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Brendan Sexton III, Sara Gilbert, and the then-unknown Kate Hudson; Rob Tregenza's Inside/Out (Cannes 1997); Tom GilroyÕs award-winning Spring Forward (starring Ned Beatty and on many critic's top tenlists for 2000); and Tim Kirkman's Spirit Award and Emmy nominated documentary Dear Jesse (Cowboy Booking). Other films include Kirkman's follow-up The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, Jamie Yerkes Spin the Bottle, Kipp and Adam Marcus's Let it Snow (AFI winner starring Bernedette Peters), Mikey Jackson's Shooting Vegetarians (with French star Elodie Bouchez), Arthur Flam and Diane Doniol-Valcroze's Kill by Inches and Tim McCann's Revolution #9. He is half-Norwegian, half North Carolinian reformed lawyer and adjunct professor at NYU Graduate Film School. He was on the jury at Sundance in 1999 and was the Executive Producer of IFC's The Greg the Bunny Show (coming to Fox this fall). Gill worked for three years at the French Film Office after a brief stint at October Films (now USA Films).

J.D. Matonti (Executive Producer)
Matonti has a multifaceted background in all aspects of filmmaking.Matonti has always taken a cost-effective approach to physical production, successfully directing and producing feature films (CassianÕs Kids), music videos (Deborah GibsonÕs Only Words), documentaries (The Rise and fall of the Etruscans) and TV commercials (Dominos Pizza, LenderÕs Bagels, Burger King). Recent feature films that Matonti has also executive produced Wedding Band (Dom Deluise, Deborah Gibson) and Loose Women (Charlie Sheen).
Matonti founded Matonti Films and has served as President since the company was established in New York City at Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Film Center in 1995. In 1998 Matonti founded the Gabriel Film Group, a full-service distribution entity. Matonti and the Gabriel Film Group recently acquired North American Distribution rights to The Simian Line (Lynn Redgrave, Harry Connick Jr., William Hurt) Graduating from Syracuse University, Matonti received a dual degree: a Bachelor of Science in Television, Radio, and Film from the S.I Newhouse School and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Crouse-Hinds School of Management.

Chris Matonti (Executive Producer)
While attending graduate studies at New York medical College, Chris worked with J.D. Matonti on various projects. He handled music for CassianÕs Kids. With the success in film production and foreseeing the rapid growth in independent film in New York, Chris Matonti helped establish Matonti Films in the Tribeca Film Center. He produced Loose Women, where he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of film-making, including raising the necessary financing to bring the project from script to screen. In addition, he produced a 21-song soundtrack, which included such musicians as Hootie and the Blowfish and Luscious Jackson. He also Executive Produced Wedding Band. Matonti helped strategically launch Gabriel Film Group. Matonti received a B.A. from Bucknell University with a degree in Art History/Studio Art and Biology. He is an active member of the Independent Feature Project. He is a supporter of the Tribeca Partnerships.

Adriana Chiesa (Executive Producer)
The owner and President of Adriana Chiesa Enterprises, Chiesa is among the most established distributors in the world, with over 25 years of experience. Industry peers most recently recognized her expertise when she received the prestigious European Exporter of the Year Award at MIFED 1999. Before forming her own company, Chiesa spent 17 years at Medusa Distribution where she acquired, for European distribution such films as Dead Ringers, Amadeus, Ran and the first two Rambo films. Adriana's offices are located in Rome, where she resides with her husband, Carlo DiPalma; one of the most respected Cinematographers in the world.

Julia Coppola (Executive Producer)
As Chairman of Matonti Films, Julia Coppola served as financing partner and Executive Producer of Wedding Band, starring Deborah Gibson and Dom DeLuise. She also strategized marketing and publicity for Loose Women, with Charlie Sheen and Giancarlo Esposito. Coppola acted as casting Director and the cornerstone of production for Cassian's Kids, an urban drama (which was positioned for the 1995 Cannes Film Festival and the Independants Showcase of the 1997 Berlin film festival). Coppola is presently Executive Producing several independent films and is heading up distribution with foreign co-distribution partner Adriana Chiesa Di Palma (Adriana Chiesa Enterprises). Coppola is a member of Women in Film and received a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Notre Dame.