Screening followed by Q&A with America Ferrera and Ryan Piers Williams.
Moderated by Greg Takoudes, filmmaker
SYNOPSIS
Writer/Director Ryan Piers Williams stars alongside America Ferrera, Melonie Diaz, Jon Paul Phillips, Amber Tamblyn, Dree Hemingway, David Harbour, Academy Award nominee Common, Maria Dizzia and Adam Rappin in a character-driven drama centered around four restless New Yorkers and their shifting sexual and romantic relationships as they search for a sense of intimacy and self-identity.
As Mark (Williams), Silvia (Ferrera), Jen (Diaz) and Jake (Phillips) navigate through their emotionally-arrested states, X/Y reveals the honest and wanton desire we all have to connect with someone and what is at stake when that connection fades.
PANELIST BIOS
AMERICA FERRERA (Producer, Actor)
America Ferrera is perhaps best known for her fearless portrayal of “Betty Suarez” on ABC's hit comedy Ugly Betty. This breakthrough role earned Ferrera an Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as ALMA and Imagen Awards.
Ferrera currently stars in Diego Luna’s biopic, Cesar Chavez, which centers on the civil-rights activist and labor organizer, Cesar Chavez. Portraying his wife, Helen Chavez, Ferrera stars opposite Michael Peña and alongside an impressive cast including Rosario Dawson, John Malkovich and Gabriel Mann. The film premiered at this year’s SXSW Festival. Ferrera will also lend her vocal talents to DreamWorks’ highly anticipated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2,which will be released on June 13.
In October 2012, Ferrera was seen in the four-hour television series for PBS and international broadcast, the Half The Sky project. The series, which was shot in 10 underprivileged countries, delivers audiences with an intimate and dramatic portrayal of the women and young girls in the world that live under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. Ferrera joined reporter Nicholas Kristof, and actresses Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde, in an inspiring program that captivates the struggling and empowering stories of females fighting for change.
In tandem with her work on the Half The Sky series, Ferrera served as ambassador on a campaign called, “America4America” joining Voto Latino, the leading non-partisan national youth empowerment organization. The campaign aimed to reach people across the country by using online content to engage in conversations with the actress and discusses issues related to voter ID laws, education and immigration.
Other feature film work includes David Ayer’s crime thriller, End of Watch co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, Michael Peña; Todd Berger’s comedy It’s a Disaster opposite Julia Stiles and David Cross; Fox Searchlights’ Our Family Wedding, Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon and Warner Bros.' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, the sequel to the 2005 original. She also starred in the bilingual independent film Towards Darkness, which she executive produced, and Fox Searchlight’s independent film Under The Same Moon.
Ferrera first secured her place as one of Hollywood's most vibrant young talents with her starring role in the Patricia Cardoso film Real Women Have Curves. Her performance earned her a Sundance Jury Award for Best Actress, an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance, and a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance for a Leading Young Actress.
RYAN PIERS WILLIAMS (Writer, Director, Producer, Actor)
Ryan Piers Williams is an American filmmaker with over 20 years of experience in the industry. Born and raised in El Paso, TX, he started making films at the age of twelve and found a love for theatre while in high school. Williams went on to attend the University of Texas at Austin where he studied Radio, Television and Film and ultimately graduated from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. Upon graduation, Williams began working for Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney on several productions including Ocean’s 12, Ocean’s 13, Goodnight and Good Luck, and The Good German while continuing to develop his own projects.
In 2010, Williams premiered his first feature film, The Dry Land, which he wrote and directed, at the Sundance Film Festival in the Dramatic Competition. The Dry Land follows a U.S. soldier returning home from war as he struggles to reconcile his experiences abroad with the life and family he left in Texas. The film was produced by Heather Rae (Frozen River) and stars Ryan O’nan, Golden Globe winner America Ferrera, Academy Award winner Melissa Leo, Wilmer Valderrama, Jason Ritter and Diego Klattenhoff. With support from the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Army, Williams created an outreach program that took the film on an educational tour to Army bases around the country to educate soldiers and communities on the effects of PTSD. Additionally, Williams traveled to Iraq with the USO to visit soldiers fighting the war. The Dry Land won several awards including the Grand Jury Prize at the Dallas International Film Festival, the Best International Feature Award at the 64th Edinburgh International Film Festival, a Voice Award, and was released theatrically and digitally.
Following the success of The Dry Land, in 2012, Williams produced the feature film Kilimanjaro, a comedy about a man who decides to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro after the end of his latest relationship. Written and directed by Walter Strafford, Kilimanjaro stars Brian Geraghty, Alexia Rasmussen, Abigail Spencer, Chris Marquette and Jim Gaffigan. Kilimanjaro premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival and was released later that year.
Most recently, Williams wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the lead role in his second feature film, X/Y, alongside America Ferrera, Melonie Diaz, Jon Paul Phillips, Common, Amber Tamblyn, and Dree Hemingway. .X/Y,a drama that looks at the complicated love lives and interactions of a group of friends in New York, premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and will be theatrically and digitally released in March 2015.
In addition to filmmaking and painting, Williams spends much of his free time cycling through which he raises money for charities such as the National MS Society.
MODERATOR BIO
Greg Takoudes
Greg Takoudes is the director, producer, and co-writer of Up With Me, a feature film that premiered at South-by-Southwest and won the Special Jury Award. Up With Me played at over a dozen film festivals in America and Europe, winning several awards. The film was distributed by the Independent Film Channel (IFC). Greg’s second directorial feature, The Jonestown Defense, screened as a rough cut at the Sarasota Film Festival, where the film was shot, and is currently in post-production. Greg is currently prepping his third feature film, The Limit of Wooded Country, an epic story of three brothers in Alaska, which will be shot in the summer of 2015.
Greg’s debut novel, When We Wuz Famous, was published in March 2013 by Henry Holt and Co, to very strong reviews. He recently completed his second novel. Greg also teaches film and screenwriting at The New School in Manhattan. Prior to becoming a filmmaker and writer, Greg worked for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer as a member of the creative team at Imagine Entertainment in Los Angeles. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, an executive editor at Phaidon Press, and their two children.
