project: The House is Black

“The House is Black” is a multi-media performance and film project, inspired by the works and life of the great Iranian feminist, modernist poet and film maker of the 1950’s,

Description
The House is Black” is Sussan Deyhim’s media-film-performance project, inspired by the works of Forugh Farrokhzad one of Iran’s most influential feminist poets and film makers of the 20th Century.

This project seeks to shed light on the importance of progressive Iranian contemporary arts through the vision of two of Iran’s most avant-garde female artists, Forugh Farrokhzad and Sussan Deyhim.

Sussan Deyhim has created a series of non-linier poetic tableaux inspired by the poems of Forugh Farrokhzad. The audience travels through a visual, sonic and theatrical journey into the heart of Fraough’s prophetic vision where her most intimate; soulful and provocative moments leap of the page and onto the stage. Her message is as poetically and politically relevant today for the women of Iran and the world as it was fifty years ago when she died tragically at the age of thirty two.

An original score composed by Deyhim and the Golden Globe winning composer Richard Horowitz, featuring brilliant special guests, creates a cinematic musical landscape for the piece. The composition will include influences routed in Persian and Western contemporary classical music, jazz and electronic music with an elaborate sound design component.

Archival images and scenes from Forugh’s documentary The House is Black and Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1965 interview with Forugh, along with Deyhim’s original film and visual projections, will create the backdrop and provide a window into the life of Iran’s most controversial poet and filmmaker.

This highly anticipated 45 min preview, will take place on Jan 19th through a residency program at CAP/UCLA at Freud Hall.

The project has been supported by a generous grant from Farhang Foundation (www.farhang.org) and generous supporters of “The House is Black” Indiegogo project.

CREDITS:

Film and visual concept and direction: Sussan Deyhim
Stage direction: Jon Kellem & Sussan Deyhim
Dramaturgy: Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak
Music: Richard Horowitz, Sussan Deyhim and very special guests
Produced by: Simon Edery and The House Is Black LLC
Lighting Design: Anne Militello
Cinematographer: Jefferson Miller and Snehal Patel
Movement and Choreography: Madeleine Dahm
Technical director: Jason H. Thompson
Costumes: Ann Closs-Farley
Translatores: Amin Banani and Sholeh Wolpé

Cast on Stage:
Sussan Deyhim and Drea Sobke
Very special guest appearance by: Choreographer and Performer Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam

Cast on film:
Sussan Deyhim, Shima Khaki, Maribel Mayorg and Raydel Caceres
Very special appearance by Hoori Sadler
Cast on Stage:
Sussan Deyhim and guests (tba)
Very special guest appearance by: Choreographer and Performer Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam

Cast on film:
Sussan Deyhim, Shima Khaki, Maribel Mayorg and Raydel Caceres
Very special appearance by Hoori Sadler

This project seeks to shed light on the history of Iranian contemporary arts through the vision of two of Iran’s most avant-garde female artists, Forugh Farrokhzad and Sussan Deyhim.

The final piece will take the form of a 75-minute stage and film performance piece in which Forugh’s poems will be woven into an original musical score by Deyhim, combining Persian and Western contemporary classical influences with jazz, blues, and electronic music.

The initial performance previews of the piece will take place on January 19th, 2014, at the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, in Freud Hall.

Much gratitude to:

Afsoon, Nazzy Beglari and Maestro Abbas for donating their beautiful art to this project. For more info please contact: info@sussandeyhim.com.

From the Artist:

For me, the most inspiring aspect of this project is the opportunity to introduce the great work and sensibility of an Iranian female icon to the international community. Many Iranian intellectuals consider Forugh a cultural godmother of modernist literature in Iran, but she died so young (at the age of 32) that I also think of her as our cultural daughter. A rebel with a cause. Farough spoke with awe-inspiring rawness and maturity. She was an existentialist, feminist provocateur. She was Iran’s Simone de Beauvoir, Frida Kahlo, Maya Deren and Patty Smith all rolled into one. Her work has given me the inspiration to continue my own artistic journey during my 30 years in exile from Iran.

Her poetry is the narrative for this project and through it I am able to express some of my deepest feelings and visions about Iran both metaphorically and literally.

Across the piece’s abstract conceptual landscape, I will lead the audience through each tableau in a series of unique interpretations of the various characters from Forugh’s poems, transporting them on an evocative journey to Iran of the 1950’s and back in the present where we need to embrace the universality and humanity of her message more than ever. The score and the sound design is inspired by the poetic and emotional content of each poem to create a moving song cycle within an ambient atmosphere. With the enormous pressure currently placed on Iranian artists and intellectuals –especially women—Forugh’s fight for freedom of artistic and ideological expression remains the central issue of our time 50 years after her death.

Biography:

Forugh Farrokhzad

was no doubt the Godmother of Iranian modern poetry and film and a radical feminist whose horizon truly transcended feminism to reach a universal humanistic outcry, which is relevant to this day both inside and outside of Iran. Her nuanced polyphonic poetry takes us through a shockingly wide spectrum of ideas and visions. She is Iran’s Sylvia Plath.
More information about Forugh can be found here: Forughfarrokhzad.org

Sussan Deyhim

– Director, Composer, Conceiver and Performer
SUSSAN DEYHIM is an Iranian composer, vocalist, performance artist and activist. She is internationally known for creating a unique sonicand vocal language imbued with a sense of ritual and the unknown. She was part of the national ballet company in Iran from the age of thirteen and she traveled all across Iran studying with master folk musicians and dancers. In1976 she joined The Bejart Ballet in Europe after receiving a scholarship to attend Bejarts’ performance art school Mudra where she was trained in many of the great world, dance, music and theater traditions as well as in classical ballet. Her music remains true to the spirit of her ancient heritage while pointing to the future with a very personal and poetic dramatic sensibility. In 1980, she moved to New York embarking on a multifaceted career encompassing music, theatre, dance, media and film. She created/starred in ground breakingmedia operas at La Mama in the ’80s including Azax/ Attra and The Ghost of Ibn Sabah.

Sussan’s wide-ranging collaborations with leading artistsfrom across the spectrum of contemporary art have included, Ornette Coleman, Bobby McFerrin, Peter Gabriel, Bill Laswell, Richard Horowitz, Rufus Wainwright, Marius De Vries, Hal Winer, Micky Hart, Branford Marsalis, Jerry Garcia, Will Calhoun, Karsh Kale, Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc, Skip McDonald, Jah Wobble, Talvin Singh, Adrian Sherwood, and The Blue Man Group and with prominent female visual artists Shirin Neshat, Sophie Calle and Lita Albuquerque.

Her composition Windfall/Beshno Az Ney was recently used by U2 throughout the US and Europe. “U2s360 tour” in one of the largest scale tock tours to this day. Beshno Az Ney isan intro to U2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday” a moving number in solidarity with Iran’s Green movement.Sussan has performed with international orchestras such asthe Polish Radio Orchestra and the Krakow Philharmonic and has received commissions as a composer from international ensembles such as Bang On A Can.She has performed her music at Lincoln Center Summer Festival, Carnegie Recital Hall, Albert Hall, The Old Vic, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royce Hall and many other major venues. 

Deyhim’s solo recordings include:
Madman of God: Divine Love Songs of the Persian Sufi Masters, Shy Angels (with Bill Laswell) for the visionary label Crammed Discs.

Her recordings with Richard Horowitz include:
Majoun (for Sony Classical), Desert Equations (releasedon Crammed Discs), A Gift of Love (for Deepak Choprawithnarration by Martin Sheen, Robert Thurman, Rosa Parks, Madonna, Goldie Hawn, and Debra Winger).With composer and director Heiner Goebbels, Deyhim recorded Shadows (for ECM), based on writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Heiner Mueller. She was also a featured soloist on Hal Wilner’s tribute to Kurt Weill, Lost in the Stars.
Her label Venus Rising Records has released 5 new album of her works on film, multi media and recent collaborations. 

Film/Television
ARGO Directed by Ben Affleck - Music: Alexabdre Desplat - Golden Globe and Oscar Nomination for best score 2012
The Last Temptation of Christ  – Music: Peter Gabriel
The Kite Runner  - Music by Alberto Iglesias
Any Given Sunday  - Music: Richard Horowitz
Tobruk  - Music in collaboration with Richard Horowitz, winner of Czech Lion Award in 2009.
The Stoning of Soraya  - Music: John Debney
Unfaithful  - Music: Jan Kaczmarek
Sleeper Cell  - Music:Paul Haslinger (Golden Globe winning Showtime series)
The Rise of the Argonauts  - Music: Tyler Bates 

Sussan has been a frequent participant at human itarian events and benefits, including a performance at the gathering of the spiritual leaders of the world at the UN General Assembly in 2001; the first Gathering of Female Spiritual Leaders in Geneva at the United Nations and the Royal Hope Gala, Royal Albert Hall, London,England with Placido Domingo, The Royal Ballet and many others, for medical aid to Iraqi children. In 2009 she performed in a sold out concert at the UN General Assembly organized by Pakistan’s biggest rock musician and activist, Salman Ahmad to raise funds for misplaced children in Pakistan with other participants such as, Jeff Skol, Bobby Sager, and Gavin Rossdale.

Performance Links NY Times:
“The New York Times said that her “thrilling music…sounds in theear long after you’ve left the show.”  – LA Times

“Sussan Deyhim is one of Iran’s most potentvoices in exile for the simple reason that she possesses a marvelously potentvoice. She wails and coos and ululates, the sound of the soul in translation.”  – Bobby McFerrin

“Sussan Deyhim is a fascinating original voice inmusic and the arts. Her rich and complex vocals are warm, beautifully sung, andalways surprising.”
“Sussan Deyhim creates thrilling music that sounds inthe ear long after you’ve left the show.”  – The New York Times

The House is Black

COLLABORATORS:

Jon Kellam – Co-director
Kellam is presently co-Artistic director and co-founder of Zoo District Theatre (LA), a resident director, member, and former director of education at The Actors’ Gang, a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre LA, and served as director of the GET LIT PLAYERS (LA) in 2012.

Ahmad Karimi Kakkak – Literary Advisor and Translator
Ahmad Karimi Hakkak was Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Washington for nineteen years. He is currently a professor and founding director of the Roshan Center for Persian Studies[2] in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures[3] at the University of Maryland. Karimi-Hakkak has written nineteen books and over one hundred major scholarly articles. A specialist in modern Persian literature, his works have been translated into French, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Greek, Arabic, Japanese, and Persian. Other translators TBA soon…

Simon Edery– Producer
Simon Edery is a versatile and successful Producer affiliated and voting member at the Directors Guild of America (DGA), The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, (BAFTA) and the Producer Guild of America (PGA). Simon Edery has realized over 10 feature films, and multi-screen performances. These work have appeared on major networks and or as theatrical releases, in museums and film festivals worldwide such as the San Francisco Modern Art Museum, the Berlin Film Festival, Germany. Sundance Film Festival, USA. Venice Film Festival, Italy. Golden Horse Awards, Taipei, Taiwan. Hof Film Festival, Germany. New York International Film Festival, USA. Amsterdam Film Festival, Holland. Cinematheque de Paris, France. Dauville Film Festival, France, and various galleries.

 The House Is Black, LLC – Producer
THIB LLC is Sussan Deyhim’s production company designated to producing THIB Media project since Oct 2011.

Richard Horowitz – Co-Composer
Richard Horowitz is internationally known for creating a unique sonic language that fuses together his roots in classical, jazz and electronic music with the intensity of the trance music he first experienced in Morocco at the age of nineteen. He plays keyboards, percussion and the ney an obliquely blown reed flute – one of the oldest and most human sounding wind instruments. Since the late sixties his compositions have been inspired by the ritual drama of ancient music and by the shadings, motifs and overtones of instruments and voices from the oldest cultures. He has worked with tribal, classical and popular musicians from North Africa to Indonesia and has collaborated with Sussan Deyhim since the early eighties. His tracks are translations that morph ancient sources into the resonance of full spectrum surround-sound.

Anne Militello – Lighting Designer
is a world renowned theatrical lighting designer and fine artist with a career spanning all aspects of creating with light.Recent work includes the LA Opera production of “Dulce Rosa” conducted by Placido Domingo, and a large-scale light-art piece for the World Financial Center in NYC entitled “Light Cycles,” which was chosen “Pick of the Week” during the month of January by Time Out New York.
Among many awards, she received the prestigious OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design for Off Broadway Theatre. She has designed the touring concert productions of Tom Waits, Robert Plant, Leonard Cohen, and Lou Reed, among others. Her work in theatre includes collaborations with Sam Shepard, Mabou Mines and David Lynch. She has lit concerts for Sussan Deyhim at Carnegie Hall, La Mama ETC and the Broad Stage.

JASON H. THOMPSON – Projection Designer
Has worked on over 50 Productions as a Projection Designer around the world. Select credits include The Great Immensity and This Beautiful City for the Civilians, The Broadway musical Baby It’s You!, Venice at the Public Theatre, Remember Me an international touring show with Parsons Dance Company, Cage Songbooks a 45 minute selection of Cage Compositions performed at Carnegie Hall, SF Symphony, and New World Symphony in Miami, Crescent City Opera a new experimental opera directed by Yuval Sharon, Bad Apples a new musical about Abu Ghraib, and Val Kilmer’s one-man show Citizen Twain. He has designed the video for Stars on Ice for the last six years, and has worked with the Scott Hamilton Cares Foundation for the last two years. He’s received an LA Ovation Award, Jesse Award Nomination, LADCC Nomination, and LA Weekly Theatre Award Nomination for his work. In addition to his professional career, he has taught as an adjunct professor at Cal Arts and UCLA. He is a member of USA Local 829. jasonhthompsondesign.com

Madeleine Dahm – Choreography and Movement
A director and choreographer from Britain, Dahmis a founding member of the British Association of Choreographers, the recipient of a ‘City of London Performing Award’ and a ‘Theatre Guild Award ’for directing. Dahm studied dance under Martha Graham, and dramatic theatre at The Old Vicand Royal Court in London. Dahm was a professional dancer for seventeen years, performing in international concert dance for the Royal Sadlers Wells Theatre, the National Theatre, and Covent Garden among others. Her critically acclaimed work as a director and expressionistic choreographer has been presented in London, New York, Los Angeles, and across Europe.

Anne Closs-Farley – Costume Designer
Ann Closs-Farley Recent Credits include Rabbit Hole, Fast Company, Broadway Bound, Annapurna, American Misfits, Coney Island Christmas, Eric Idle’s What About Dick?, The Pee-wee Herman Show (on Broadway), Disney’s Toy Story: The Musical, An Evening Without Monty Python, Gronholm Method, Beat Goes On, Cabaret of Souls, Margo Veil, Around The World in 80 Days. She has received multiple Ovation Awards and the Center Theatre Group’s Richard E. Sherwood Award for Emerging Artists. She is a long-time member of the Evidence Room and The Actors’ Gang theatre Companies. Closs-Farley also styles the World Poker Tour, Kaiser Permanente Theatricals, and is has just completed an art project for CTG Education for Peter and The Star Catchers.annclossfarley.com

Literary Team:

Amin Banani was born in Tehran on September 23, 1926, the first of six siblings.
He received his elementary education at the Zoroastrian School and attained the first rank in the all-Tehran final exams for the sixth grade. He completed the first three years of high school at the Alborz School and in 1943 in the midst of the Second World War he came to the United States on board a U.S. troopship, arriving in February 1944. Due to the more advanced curriculum of the Persian schools at the time, he was able to graduate from high school by June of 1944 as the valedictorian of his class. In September 1944 he was admitted to Stanford University and he graduated in 1947 with a major in history. He obtained his M.A. from Columbia University in 1949 and returned to Stanford for his Ph.D. He passed his oral exams with great distinction in October 1950, and then he left for Europe for a number of years and returned to finish his dissertation and receive his degree in 1959.

His academic career began with teaching history at the Overseas Program of the University of Maryland in Athens, Greece in 1956-58. Then he taught for one year as an Instructor at Stanford University in 1958-59; two years as an Assistant Professor of Humanities at Reed College, 1959-61; two years as Research Fellow and Assistant Professor at Harvard University in 1961-63. In September 1963 he was invited to UCLA by Professor Gustave von Grunebaum to start the program of Persian studies. From the start his teaching was not narrowly focused but covered both history and literature. This broad encompassing of Persian cultural history was reflected in his research and scholarship… From his first book, The Modernization of Iran, published in 1961, to his latest contribution to the volume published by the Danish Academy of Sciences in 2008 entitled Religious Texts in Iranian Languages he concerned himself with vital aspects of a living and continuing cultural tradition. Some of the more significant writings of Amin Banani are chapters entitled “Ferdowsi and the Art of Tragic Epic” in Islam and its Cultural Divergence (1971); “The Conversion of a Self-Conscious Elite” in Individualism and Conformity in Classical Islam (1977); “Ahmad Kasravi and Purification of Persian: A Study in Nationalist Motivation” in Nation and Ideology (1982); and “Rumi, The Poet” in Mysticism and Poetry in Islam (1988). His collaborative translation with Jascha Kessler of the poetry of Forough Farrokhzad published in 1982 under the title Bride of Acacias was reviewed as the best translation of Persian poetry into English since Fitzgerald’s translation of Omar Khayyam. The same collaborative effort in 2005 yielded a beautiful volume of translation of the poems of Tahereh, the nineteenth century heroine of the Babi movement who sounded the clarion call of emancipation of women and equality of rights of men and women, entitled, Tahereh: A Portrait in Poetry.

In the course of more than thirty years of teaching at UCLA he laid the foundation of a broad and integrated program of Iranian Studies culminating in establishment of the first Undergraduate Major in Iranian Studies at any American university. His graduate teaching yielded a number of outstanding scholars who have occupied tenure positions at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the University of Oxford, the University of Virginia, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley. Association of North America, the Executive Council of the Society for Amin Banani served on the Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Iranian Studies and Vice President of the American Association of Iranian Studies.
Unlike some academicians who seek their fulfillment exclusively in their academic career, Amin Banani from the beginning led a rich life of service in the Baha’i community world-wide. In 1948 he served as a Baha’i Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Lake Success, New York. In 1949 he was a Baha’i delegate to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1955 he was sent to Geneva to plead at the United Nations for relief of the grievous violations of the human rights of the Baha’is in Iran. In 1956 he was appointed to a permanent international committee for defense of the Baha’is of Iran. He was elected to the Baha’i Assemblies of Palo Alto, California; Athens, Greece; Portland, Oregon; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Santa Monica, California. He taught at the Baha’i Summer Schools in the United States, England, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. From 1980 to 2006 he served as the Deputy Trustee of a global Baha’i philanthropic fund. Amin Banani was a passionate lover of music both eastern and western, and found much of his spiritual fulfillment in enjoyment of that art.

He passed away on Sunday, July 28, 2013 in Santa Monica and is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica. He is survived by his wife Sheila Wolcott, daughters Susanne and Laila, two sons-in-law Shidan and Mehran Taslimi, two grandchildren Ruha and Abdi, and his brother Hosni.

Sholeh Wolpé is a poet, writer and literary translator. Her recent awards include the 2013 Midwest Book Award for Forbidden: Poems from Iran and It’s Exiles, and the 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation prize for Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad. Sholeh’s eight publications include three collections of poetry, three anthologies and two books of translations. Her most recent book of poems, Keeping Time with Blue Hyacinths,was released last March by the University of Arkansas Press. Sholeh’s co-translation of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself into Persian was recently released by the University of Iowa’s International Program. Website: sholehwolpe.com

Windup Doll

CAST:

Sussan Deyhim
Shima Khaki
Maribel Mayorg was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico were she finished high school before moving with her family to United States of America. She studied Theater Arts at Cypress College in Orange County were she participated in several theater plays such as “Batboy and El Fanstasma de la Opera”, soon after college, Mayorga moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career and to continue her education. Inspired by directors and producers she was working with, Mayorga decided to enroll at a film workshop at the NY Academy, right after, she started working at Big Sky Motion Pictures as a producer in Film financing and Production promoting while attending auditions. Mayorga hosted the first MMA TV show named “Guerreros del MMA” in Spanish through Galavision and continue to appear in both English and Spanish TV shows as “Entourage, Lente Loco, Fujitivos de la Ley” and several independent and feature films as “Lucky Dog, Lady’z Night Out, Pravo’s Girl, and The Dahlia Knights” Besides being an actor, Mayorga continues her education to expand her horizons as an Actor, Inventor and Entrepreneur.

Raydel Caceres born in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba, Raydel began studying dance at the age of 8 under Mabel Carillo at the Professional School of Arts Raul Sanchez in his city of birth. He continued his training at the National School of Ballet (E.N.A.) in Havana, Cuba, under the tutelage of Marta Ulloa and Ramona de Saa Belo.

Very special guest appearance on stage: Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam Dancer, Choreographer and Theater Artist Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam is a dancer, choreographer and theater actor based in Paris. He specializes in folklore and mystical dances, with a deep interest in Indian, Indonesian and Flamenco techniques. Shahrokh was a member of the renowned Theatre du Soleil, playing leading roles in Ariane Mnouchkine’s Raydel Caceres

Very special guest appearance on screen: Hoori Sadler

Victory Got an ID with Name and Number

Musical Team:

John Beasley
Grammy-nominated Beasley, the one-time keyboardist for Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Queen Latifah, Steely Dan, Dianne Reeves and even one stint with James Brown, seems to be heard and seen everywhere. He is Music Director for the Thelonious Monk Institute producing the International Jazz Day gala concerts, recently worked on the James Bond “Skyfall” movies. He was heard in our favorite TV shows growing up, like Cheers, Family Ties, and Fame, and continues to work in TV on singing competitions such as Music Director or Lead Arranger for American Idol, The Tonight Show, Duets, and an upcoming ABC show “Sing Your Face Off.” In between shows, he can be found on stage with a wide range of artists from Stanley Clarke, Carly Simon, Sussan Deyhim, and Chaka Khan.

Greg Ellis
Is a drummer/composer/producer based in Los Angeles. He is known internationally through his work with artists such as Zakir Hussain, KODO, Mickey Hart, Juno Reactor and his own projects Vas and Rhythm Pharm. Ellis can also be heard on over 75 film scores including ‘Argo’, ‘300′, Iron Man and ‘The Matrix Trilogy’.

Ken Rosser
Guitarist, has worked with Smokey Robinson, The Bobby Bradford Mo’tet, Alphonse Mouzon, The Grand Mothers, Prince Diabate, Samite, Nels Cline (Wilco), Kevin Breit, David Torn, David Pritchard, John Stowell, Page Hamilton (Helmet), Mike Einziger (Incubus), Tim Brady, Glenn Branca and John Cage. Ken’s stage, film and television credits include Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage, Lars and the Real Girl, Always Patsy Cline, Firefly, and Spamalot.

Alan Kushan
Studied music composition in Zurich, Kölnand Berlin as well as Canada and USA; he also studied with Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Karlheinz Stockhausen and other master musicians. Not satisfied with the range and capacity of his chosen musical instrument, Alan decided to apply his skills as an instrument-maker to expand the range of his instrument by adding elements from the modern piano, the harp and the guitar.

Mehdi Bagheri
Composer, Kamanche and Setar player. Mehdi was born in Kermanshahin in 1980, and started his musical endeavors by learning to play the Tonbak by Ramin Tafazoli. He then started learning other instruments in order to familiarize himself even further with Iranian music and composing. These included the Setar and Kamanche; he finally chose Kamanche as his main instrument. Mehdi learned to play the Kamancheh from Maestro Ardashir Kamkar, and studied drama at the university as well.

Jon Ossman
A native of New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley, Jon began playing String Bass at age 11 in the school band. On his thirteenth birthday He was given an Electric Bass and by 14 Jon was working with local bar bands and playing club dates and casuals with a local Salsa band. At age 17 Jon moved to New York City to steep Himself in the study of North Indian Classical Music and the Sitar. While keeping with His studies Jon continuned playing bass with various groups when in 1982 He joined Richard Lloyd (Television). Through the years Jon has gone on to perform and record with a number of exceptional artist and players. Credits would include; Chis Botti, Marc Cohn, Paula Cole, John Hall, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Dominic Miller, Sting. Jon lives in Los Angeles. He Can be seen performing locally with The Michael White Quintet Unit 2, and touring nationally with Marc Cohn this summer and fall.

MAETAR
If Miles Davis, George Clinton, Jimi Hendrix, Fela Kuti and Duke Ellington made a musical chlid in the Sinai desert, it might sound like MAETAR. Hailing from Israel, brothers Hagai (Trumpet/Shells/Flutes/Ram’s Horn) & Itai (Bass/Sound Design/Percussion) created MAETAR as a way to fuse their love of soul, jazz, classical lyricism and sacred tribal music from around the world, both as an expression of peace/cross cultural collaboration, and booty shaking. They are joined by the renowned drummer/world percussionist, Richard Fultineer and continue to collaborate with stellar musicians the world over.

Andrew Silagy:
Audio Engineering and Programming.
Andrew Silagy makes music and sound for films and mixed media. In his short time since graduating the California Institute of the Arts, Silagy has lent his talents to a bevy of Industry leaders in varied creative practices. Managing a rejection and embrace of subjective creative and cultural idioms, he creates work through technological-intensive processes, which can be seen as an obsessive realization practice. Reaching a consensus between 19th century Romantic sensibilities and post-modern process, he makes work that is deeply visceral and contemplative. His work can be heard in feature films, video games, television, orchestras, multimedia stadium tours, mobile apps, and on the dramatic stage.

Flash:
Recoding Engineer, Mixing and Live sound.

Visual Team:

Jefferson Miller: Cinematographer
For over 25 years Jefferson Miller has been an award-winning director and cinematographer. In 2003, the film “Twin Towers”, with Miller as director of photography, won the Academy Award for best short documentary. From television features to commercials and music videos, his camera and directing skills have been showcased at such venues as Sundance, the Margaret Mead, Aspen and Woodstock film festivals. Miller has also filmed projects for National Geographic, PBS Frontline, American Masters, the BBC, History Channel, Discovery Channel and the Smithsonian. Miller’s camera work has taken him throughout the United States and much of the world, including the Caribbean, the highlands of South America, the jungles of Myanmar and the interiors of China, Korea, Japan and greater Europe.

Snehal Patel: Cinematographer
Snehal Patel is a visual director and cinematographer with a keen eye for technology. His first production experience was at the age of seventeen as the host, director and producer of his own cable show. A decade later Snehal attended film school in Chicago, after which he lived in India and worked in the Bollywood film industry for almost five years before returning State-side to settle in Los Angeles.

Louis Iacoviello: Editor
Louis Iacoviello is an actor and filmmaker currently living in Los Angeles.
He attended film school at Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts in Orlando Florida, where he graduated as Valedictorian and began working as an Avid editor shortly after. In 1995 he produced the music video for Rainfall by A Flock of Seagulls. In 2013 he co produced the feature film Raze, an official selection at Tribeca Midnight which is being distributed theatrically by IFC Midnight January 2014. He also co produced the feature film Night of the Alien, directed by Vaughn Verdie in 2010. As writer/director, he was a finalist in the YouTube-Fox Searchlight Project Direct Contest with his film Plumbing in 2007. In 2009 his short Talk Is Cheap was an official selection at The LA Comedy Shorts Festival, The Chicago Shorts Festival and Just For Laughs in Montreal. His digital comedy shorts have been on Comedy Central, Attack of the Show, Just for Laughs TV and Revverlive, as well as all over the web. His acting credits include several independent films and network television shows, with appearances on NCIS, CSI Miami, ER, Heroes and Hannah Montana. He also starred in the film The Legacy by writer/director Mike Doto, which won Best Comic Related Film a Comic Con. Louis is thrilled to be working on This House Is Black, editing along side Sussan and Snehal.

Kamran Souresrafil – 3D Animation
In 1990, he started exploring 3d animation and different 3d soft ware systems (soft image – maya – Cinema 4d) in order to create images and sounds. In 1995, he began working with various music bands. He has been working for 18 years in Industrial and electro-metal music as well as image synthesizing. In 1990, he started exploring 3d animation and different 3d soft ware systems (soft image – maya – Cinema 4d) in order to create images and sounds. In 1995, he began working with various music bands. He has been working for 18 years in Industrial and electro-metal music as well as image synthesizing.

Siamak Nasiri Ziba – Filmmaker, Photographer, editor of the original demo material
He has made 16 short films and some of them were selected in various festivals including international Cracow Film Festival in 2004, as the only experimental film chosen to be shown. His Video Art in 2007 was shown at the Ellipse Arts Center in Virginia. In the field of Photography, one of his pictures was chosen in Iran photo biennial (2007). In 2009, his Art works were presented in the Phantom Gallery, Los Angeles. He has worked with Sussan Deyhim since the last three years as an editor, cinematographer and photographer.

Makeup Artist:

TBA

Assistance Director:

Cindy Bonaparte

Research Team:

Nasser Saffarian
Seifollah Samadian
Morassaa Anvar
As a former dancer with Pars National Ballet in Iran and Los Angeles, Morassaa Anvar has always had a deep appreciation for performing arts. Born in Sanaa, Yemen and raised in Teheran Iran, her current passion lies in her work in human rights as a researcher at the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, working to promote human rights and democracy in Iran. She holds BA in Public Relations and communications from Mass Communication Faculty in Iran and resides in the USA with her husband and 2 children.

Advisors:

Nasser Saffarian
Seifollah Samadian
Morassaa Anvar

Angel Supporters:

Much Gratitude to all of our Indiegogo supporters!