UGGS FOR GAZA is the story of Mitch, a Midwesterner, new to Los Angeles, who tells a lie at a party to impress a hot girl. Plagued by guilt and anxiety, Mitch seeks to make the lie real and in doing so, changes his life forever. The film is based on a short story by Gordon Haber and will be published in The Normal School (http://thenormalschool.com/) in April of this year.
While Uggs for Gaza makes fun of the culture of help – the perceived needs of people in trouble versus their actual needs -- I’m actually very interested in the way that these endeavors, however misguided, transform us. Mitch becomes a more actualized, less isolated person. And that’s worthwhile. Now, how do we get our good intentions to match the needs of the people in crisis?
This film marks playwright and screenwriter Brooke Berman's directorial debut.
Creative Team:
Brooke Berman (director, writer)
Originally trained as an actor and solo performer in the experimental theater, Brooke began performing her monologues on the Lower East Side of Manhattan before receiving formal training in playwriting from the Juilliard School. Her play Hunting and Gathering, which premiered at Primary Stages, directed by Leigh Silverman, was named one of the Ten Best of 2008 by New York Magazine. No Place Like Home, published by Random House, was released in June, 2010 and named both “Highbrow” and “Brilliant” by New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix. The book made Elle.com’s “Top Ten Summer Reads” and was featured in Los Angeles Magazine’s summer reading roundup.
Brooke's plays have been produced and developed across the US at theaters including: Primary Stages, The Second Stage, Steppenwolf, The Play Company, Soho Rep, Williamstown Theater Festival, Naked Angels, MCC, WET, SPF, New Dramatists, New Georges, The Hourglass Group and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. In the UK, her work has been developed at The Royal Court Theatre, The National Theatre Studio and Pentabus. Plays include: Hunting and Gathering (Primary Stages); Smashing (The Play Company, The O’Neill); Until We Find Each Other (Steppenwolf, The O’Neill); The Triple Happiness (Second Stage), Sam and Lucy (SPF, Cleveland Playhouse), A Perfect Couple (WET), Out of the Water (Cape Cod Theater Project, ARS Nova), Casual Encounters (New Dramatists Creativity Fund) and others. Her plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing, Playscripts, Backstage Books and Smith & Kraus.
She is the recipient of a Berilla Kerr Award, a Helen Merrill Award, two Francesca Primus Awards, two LeCompte du Nuoy awards and a commissioning grant from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. She was a playwright in residence at New Dramatists, where she served on the Board of Directors. She has received support for her work from the MacDowell Colony and the Corporation of Yaddo.
Brooke attended Barnard College and The Juilliard School. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, PEN, the MCC Playwrights Coalition and an alumna of New Dramatists.
More information: www.brookeberman.net
Gordon Haber (author of short story)
Gordon Haber writes about religion and culture. His fiction, criticism and journalism has appeared in The Jewish Daily Forward, Religion Dispatches and Killing the Buddha. His awards include a Fulbright fellowship to Poland and a residency at the MacDowell Colony. He teaches at American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He is at work on a novel about the Jewish messiah.
This film, written and directed by Brooke Berman is produced by The Angelino Heights Ladies Association. It is an entirely female-powered film, the goal of which is to create great work on a shoestring budget.
Sarah Platt (producer)
Sarah Platt has almost a decade of experience as a filmmaker. Among her motion picture credits are Source Code, Untraceable, Blood & Chocolate and Norman.
As a development and production executive at The Koch Company, Platt learned the ropes around a film set from her mentor, Hawk Koch. The two now work closely together, both in developing projects and in implementing production plans on set.
In the course of her work, Platt has been fortunate enough to work with a multitude of directors including Warren Beatty, Gregory Hoblit and Duncan Jones. However, her true passion as a filmmaker is in working with up-and-coming talent to develop their voices for the screen and their story and characters for the page.
Apart from motion pictures, Platt most recently produced an experimental film that plays behind Parsifal, which opened at The Metropolitan Opera in 2013. She was a producer onFunny In Love, a web series supported by FreeMantle and an Event Producer for the projectUS of Anderson. She is a founding member of the Angelino Heights Ladies Association.
Amber Benson (producer)
Amber Benson is a writer, director and actor. She currently writes the CALLIOPE REAPER-JONES series for Ace/Roc and her middle grade book, AMONG THE GHOSTS, came out in paperback this past fall from Simon and Schuster. She co-directed the Slamdance feature, DRONES and (co-wrote) and directed the BBC animated series, THE GHOSTS OF ALBION. Her acting work includes the Steven Soderbergh film, KING OF THE HILL, and the indie feature, RACE YOU TO THE BOTTOM, for which she won the Best Actress Award at Outfest. She spent three years as Tara Maclay on the television series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.
Dani Barkat Turner (Danielle Barkat) (producer)
Dani Barkat Turner has been working in the film industry since 2004. She has experience as a costume, makeup and production designer. Her work has been seen at The LA Opera, The Washington National Opera, the LA premiere of Red Dog Howls and assorted independent films including Paranormal Activity 2, The Ledge and Flypaper. She is a founding member of the Angelino Heights Ladies Association and has a BFA in film from Cal Arts.
Cast includes Brian Slaten, Kat Foster, Yvonne Woods, Jason Antoon, Sasha Eden, Zibby Allen, Rick Gradone and others.
