Short

Anatasha Blakely is an Asian American writer, director, and actor who was born in Orem, Utah.

A diligent autodidact, Anatasha began her filmmaking journey as an 8 year old sneak: creeping movies from her eldest brother’s shelf and stifling her screams during the likes of Scream in order to avoid being caught watching rated R movies. After Alien, Pulp Fiction, Event Horizon and some awfully strange nightmares, she began to daydream and fish for her own ideas. She never stopped. Inch Thick, Knee Deep is one of those dreams.

She studied at Southern Utah University receiving a BFA in Classical Acting and is also an alumna of iO West, The School for Theatre Creators, and Clown Church LA.

Anatasha is part of a comedy duo, Buddy Puzzle, and a Los Angeles based improv ensemble called Stormchaser which hosts the podcast The Stormchaser Improv Podcast Show.

Ask her anything, she wants to talk shop.

Richard was born in Panama City, Republic of Panama. He grew up on the East Coast and attended Georgia State University in Atlanta Georgia. He received a BFA in photography with a minor in creative writing. Although his focus was photography Richard was always obsessed with movies and filmmaking. His graduating thesis project was a feature film he directed called “Point and Shoot”.
After graduating he moved to Los Angeles to further his film ambitions. There he became a Cinematographer and Director. He has worked for various outlets over the years including Nat Geo, Rolling Stone, Variety, and Disney to name a few. Richard produced his second feature film “Wannabe” which starred Adam Huss and was turned into a TV show with Marta Kauffman of “Friends, Grace and Frankie” as Show Runner. "Wannabe” was purchased and produced by Warner Brothers Television. He then created another television series “Andy and Chaz” which was produced by Tony Jonas of “Queer as Folk, Friends”. Most recently Richard has created a sequel to the first “Wannabe” film, again starring Adam Huss. And even more recently he directed ”Strangers in the Night” with frequent collaborator Adam Huss and Adam Bucci. “Strangers in the Night" is Richard’s first foray into the “Horror” genre. Richard sought to challenge his comedic directing background by doing what was for him a different kind of project. Since “Stranger’s”completion he has found himself falling in love with the “Horror Comedy” genre and looks forward to further exploring the horror realm.

Sean Bell began his screen career in 2005 as an editor for the Australian public broadcaster SBS. During his time there he learned to hone his editing craft and expand into the roles of directing and producing.
He put these skills to use to make his first experimental short films, on which he performed many roles including Director and cinematographer.

Over the coming years he worked for many other broadcasters and production companies in Australia, his job taking him to Britain, USA and South Africa, whilst still keeping his filmmaking passion alive. His short animation ‘The Despair of Shammy McSteen’ won Best Animation and Best Sound Design at Bryan Brown's Reel Deal Film Festival in 2008. His 2016 film 'F Meat' won Best Australian Short Film twice and premiered at the prestigious Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal.
His latest film 'The Junket' is a thriller twist on the many celebrity junket interviews he's filmed throughout his career.

Egyptian-born, Australian film director/writer/producer, Alex Proyas grew up in inner-city Sydney. A passion for film from an early age, his early shorts were acclaimed, including numerous outstanding short film awards and nominations at London, Melbourne, Cannes et al international film festivals.
He made his first feature, SPIRITS OF THE AIR; GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS in 1989 and in 1994 he completed THE CROW, starring Brandon Lee, which went on to major critical & commercial success and bone fide cult status. In 1998, DARK CITY, starring Rufus Sewell, Keifer Sutherland, Richard O’Brien, Jennifer Connelly and William Hurt, earned its place as a cult classic also.
In 2002 Proyas made GARAGE DAYS (2002) starring Kick Gurry, Pia Miranda and Maya Stange which was followed by I, ROBOT (2004) starring Will Smith, Proyas’ greatest commercial success to date. And in 2008 he completed KNOWING starring Nicolas Cage & Rose Byrne which became another major world- wide success for Proyas. And most recently GODS OF EGYPT (2016) starring Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush & Nikolaj Coster Waldau.
Proyas lives in Sydney with his wife and daughter and is currently planning his future projects and building a virtual production studio: HERETIC FOUNDATION.

Stephen Steelman is a director, editor, and producer known for his work as a music video director, having worked most recently on the videos for “Everyone” and “Basic Needs” from Korn’s Jonathan Davis.
Steelman was born in Las Vegas, NV, and moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to work as an actor. His film and commercial work helped him earn entry into SAG, but he eventually realized his calling was to work behind the camera. An internship with Marty Katz Productions (“Reindeer Games,” “Mr. Wrong”) and with popular improv group Mission IMPROVable introduced him to a different side of the industry, and he soon began his work as a music video director for up and coming artists including “Westfield Massacre” setting the stage for his work with Davis.
Steelman’s reputation as a collaborative creator opened the doors for his next opportunity, creating visual content for live shows, with his first project for System of a Down’s 2017 Summer World Tour. Since then he has created visual content and toured the world with artists including Kacey Musgraves, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Seven Lions, Deftones, Misfits, and Rise Against.
With his love for learning and exploring new technology in filmmaking, Steelman began creating shorts for VR, including “A Challenge” and “Racing for Pinks,” with the latter being accepted into Inception VR Fest and chosen as an official selection at the 2018 Hollyshorts Film Festival.
His most recent work is on the short film, “Juiced,” about a roommate pushed to the brink who goes where many cohabitants have wanted to go before. Starring Ian Gary (“Top Gun: Maverick”) as Donald, a computer programmer whose success at work comes full circle, forcing him to face his horrific act.
Steelman is the founder of Brigantine Films and currently resides in Los Angeles.

Eric Castro is a Latino American raised in the Pacific Northwest. Leaving school in 10th grade, he started a journey that brought him to Los Angeles. Eric built his skills of visual story telling with over a decade of lighting and cinema work in television and movies. A survivor of child abuse, racism and substance abuse, with an interest in Cultural Anthropology, Eric makes films that connect emotionally while speaking about the shared issues of modern humanity. Serial Dating was an idea inspired after a year of online dating, and seeing the vulnerabilities people feed on.