LA VOZ DE LOS SILENCIADOS THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS A film by Maximón Monihan SYNOPSIS "Chaplin meets Eraserhead” in this magical-neo-realist, modern day silent film. LA VOZ DE LOS SILENCIADOS takes us inside the mind and heartbreak of Olga, a deaf teenager brought from Latin America to New York City, under the false promise of attending a “Christian Sign Language School”. Upon arrival we enter a world of immigrant trafficking, and life is turned upside-down as she's enslaved by an international criminal ring. Forced to beg on the subway, Olga uses courage, cunning, and even humor, to face an unimaginable nightmare-on-loop that ravages the audience. Based on a real case broken by the NYPD. DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT For years I had been noticing deaf people on the subway selling I read about this in the newspapers and became obsessed with trinkets. In a New York overloaded with in-your-face, aggressive telling this story to the public. The news came and went in one busy panhandling as performance art, my interactions with the deaf week– people moved on, I didn’t. I kept coming back to the story, trinket-peddlers were eye-raising moments. The person would put consumed with sharing what I believe is the perfect allegory for the trinket down next to you, and trust that by the time they human greed. A decade later, the film is finally in front of you. returned from the other end of the train, you had read the card– the one that said, “I am deaf. Selling this for $1 to pay for my education. I wanted to make something challenging and cinematically unique. Please help. God bless you.” By then, you would have decided Of course silent films are the oldest form. But I wanted to do a whether to offer a dollar, or ignore them. Unlike other panhandlers, modern silent, not a pastiche or homage to the golden era, and not the trinket sellers did not look people in the eye, and consciously as a gimmick to signify deafness. LA VOZ is a fully integrated silent made it a point to avoid invading anyone’s personal space. movie, with a vibratory, low frequency sound design that puts the audience into Olga’s headspace. Telling this story, in her language, In 1997, the NYPD uncovered what was really going on behind this was the driving force behind LA VOZ. illicit operation, and it became public knowledge that the trinket peddlers were slaves to an international crime syndicate. They had been lured to the US under false pretenses, and forced to do this demoralizing, repetitive work. They were all indeed deaf, but that was the only part of their routine that was factual. Modern day slavery, taking place in the largest city of the 'land of the free'– right in front of us, and nobody recognized it. DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Maximón Monihan (1969, Washington) was raised in Seattle’s Central District. He was a regular installment in the city’s street kid/punk scene that served as the foundation for the classic documentary film "Streetwise" (in which he made an appearance). By the late-80s, he was sponsored by the legendary H-Street skateboard team and was featured in, and worked on, numerous landmark skate films, most notably "Shackle Me Not" and "Hokus Pokus". It was during this time Monihan earned a degree in Philosophy and Cultural Studies from University of California, Santa Cruz while concomitantly traveling throughout Europe, Asia, Central America and Africa as a professional skateboarder. Studying abroad meant that, while not skateboarding, he worked as a roaming research assistant for his renowned academic mentors, Professors Angela Davis, Akasha Hull, David Anthony, and Herman Gray. By the mid-90s he relocated to Brooklyn and stopped skating professionally to instead make skate films for his former sponsors. He also began working as a film critic for Pseudo.com, the first ever online TV network. In 2005, Monihan launched his own production company, Bricolagista!, and has shot a number of short films, online TV series and music videos for artists ranging from Prince Paul, Jean Grae, Talib Kweli, Thunderheist, Greg Nice and Kool Keith to Dead Kids, I.R.O.K., MC Paul Barman and Negroes On Ice. Monihan still lives in Brooklyn. LA VOZ DE LOS SILENCIADOS is his first feature film. FILMOGRAPHY La Voz De Los Silenciados (2013) CAST CREW Janeva Adena Calderón Zentz as Olga Writer, Director: Maximón Monihan Ricky Powell as Henchman #1 Producer: Sheena Matheiken Pamela Guthrie as Boss Lady Cinematographers: Miana Juanita Grafals and José Galleta Kevin Tamayo as Sad Boy Lighting Director: Jesus H. Garrett III Señor Muerto as Henchman #2 Assistant Director: Andrés Prokopenko TOC as Henchman #3 Art Director: Janeva Adena Calderón Zentz Vicente Carache as Olga's Brother Editor: Miguel Sobo Gillian McKenzie as 'Christian' Woman Sound Design: Miguel Coffman Gerardo Masis as 'Christian' Man Make-Up, Hair & Osvaldo Maciel as Young Man with a Crush Special Effects: Señor Muerto Title Design: José 'Pepe' Newton Visual Effects: Marcelo Z, Erica Perez, Danilo De Gloria, Gap Yossanun Sangpattharamatee, Rico Drake Production Assistants: Nicolita 'LeeLee' Monihan, Sancho Denton, Yoshiko Mori, Héctor 'Flaco' Concepción, Deniella Rosa Musical Supervisor: Phofo Location Manager: Samuel Rohn Casting: Kristiano Sorge, Aldofo 'Rony' Mejia Production Company: Bricolagista! CAST BIOS JANEVA ADENA CALDERÓN ZENTZ AS OLGA PAMELA GUTHRIE AS BOSS LADY RICKY POWELL AS HENCHMAN #1 Janeva has been called 'the Guatemalan Pamela Guthrie, originally from Great Britain, Born and raised in New York City, Ricky Powell Shelley Duvall' for her striking features and is an actor living and working in New York is a legendary photographer who specializes scene stealing presence. She is a graduate City. Besides performing in La Voz, she has in the environmental portrait. Though Powell of The Cooper Union in NYC where she been in episodes of The Sopranos, 30 Rock initially rose to fame because of his studied Fine Arts and currently works in Los and Law and Order SVU. On weekends, relationship with the Beastie Boys, he is Angeles as a visual artist and performer for Pamela runs marathons. well-known for his intimate photographs that film and television. The role of 'Olga' was have been featured in The New York Times, Janeva's very first time acting on camera. The New York Post, The Daily News, The Village Voice, TIME, Newsweek, VIBE, The Source, Rolling Stone, and more. He is also an all-around personality and a living, breathing hip-hop version of Oscar Madison. CAST BIOS T.O.C. AS HENCHMAN #2 MR.DEAD AS HENCHMAN #3 KEVIN TAMAYO AS SAD BOY T.O.C. is a DJ, Music Producer, truck driver Mr. Dead (aka Señor Muerto) is an Kevin Tamayo is a student from Brooklyn, and BBQ connoisseur. La Voz is his first role internationally acclaimed Hip Hop MC who New York. He also works with his father's as an actor, although he did appear on has toured the world with Prince Paul, construction company where he is an Prince Paul's legendary "Ill-Out Show" on Handsome Boy Modeling School and his own incredible drywall installer. He spends his Sirius Satellite Radio, however playing group, Metabolics. He is also an summers in Mexico visiting his grandmother, himself. Currently he is performing as 'The accomplished character actor and special bird-watching and enjoying the outdoors. La Bartender' on Prince Paul's "All-Purpose effects make-up artist (numerous Troma Voz is his first time acting. He has since lost a Show", a variety show produced by Scion. films, music videos, The Chris Elliot Show, lot of weight. He once met Lucy Liu on the street in etc.). Mr. Dead's greatest claim to fame is Manhattan. probably knowing more about Tom Savini than even Tom Savini knows about Tom Savini. He also collects snakes and old video game consoles. PRODUCTION STILLS / HIGH RES PHOTOS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST FESTIVALS & AWARDS MUMBAI ST. PETERSBURG POLAND THESSALONIKI CRITICS JURY AWARD BEST DIRECTOR BEST FEATURE FILM OFFICIAL SELECTION WORLD PREMIERE BEST SOUND DESIGN GOLDEN GOAT EUROPEAN PREMIERE MAMI 2013 SPB BEGINNING 2014 ALE KINO 2014 TIFF 2014 GÖTEBORG ISTANBUL GLASGOW CLUJ OFFICIAL SELECTION IN COMPETITION OFFICIAL SELECTION IN COMPETITION GIFF 2014 IKSV 2014 GFF 2014 TIFF 2014 GALWAY ZLIN KERALA SINGAPORE IN COMPETITION OFFICIAL SELECTION OFFICIAL SELECTION OFFICIAL SELECTION FLEADH26 ZFF 2014 IFFK 2013 SGIFF 2014 PRESS QUOTES Monihan´s no-budget debut feature wields Janeva Calderón Zentz with her big, big eyes and exceptional aptitude on formal and stylistic her clown-like fragility brings to the screen a mix levels. Voice of the Voiceless is a revelation. of Charlot and Giulietta Massina. ~ Twitch Film ~ Transilvania IFF This film is a knockout. It shows my city in a way It's like Chaplin meets Eraserhead. Go. I had never seen before. ~ GQ Magazine ~ Abel Ferrera A monumental debut. A film that shows rather than tells, Voice of the ~ Berlin Film Journal Voiceless opens our eyes to an unknown world and speaks volumes. A black and white masterpiece. ~ TV Bomb Glasgow ~ The Irish Times I’ve never identified with a protagonist so much A wonderful film, a ‘golpe’ as you say in Spanish. because of a filming technique. And Janeva is magnificent. ~ Alan Travers ~ Mahamet-Saleh Haroun TECHNICAL INFORMATION COUNTRIES OF PRODUCTION GUATEMALA / USA RUNNING TIME 1:20:33 (80 min) CAMERA Panasonic AG-HVX200P (Stock Lens) SCREENING FORMATS DCP HD CAM BluRay DVD (PAL & NTSC) SOUND 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital LTRT ASPECT RATIO 1.78:1 PRINT DETAILS Black & White / Color 24 FPS SUBTITLES English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Turkish CONTACT NORTH AMERICA REST OF THE WORLD WEB BRICOLAGISTA! PRODUCTIONS PASCALE RAMONDA OFFICIAL WEBSITE 223 15th street, suit 4 91 rue de Ménilmontant LVDLS.com Brooklyn, NY 11215, USA 75020 Paris, France bricolagista.com pascaleramonda.com FACEBOOK facebook.com/LaVozDeLosSilenciados CONTACT CONTACT Sheena Matheiken / Producer Pascale Ramonda / Festival Agent BLOG [email protected] [email protected] LVDLS.tumblr.com +1 718.788.8002 +33 6 62 01 32 41 © 2014 BRICOLAGISTA! PRODUCTIONS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.