Harold Becker, DIRECTOR
Harold Becker studied art at Pratt Institute. He then went on to a successful career as a photographer in New York City. His first feature THE RAGMAN'S DAUGHTER based on an Alan Silitoe novel won the Giovanni Award at the Venice Film Festival. His next film THE ONION FIELD, a powerful crime drama, established him as a master of that form, as well as introducing James Woods Franklyn Seales and Ted Danson. His next feature TAPS, a military drama introduced Sean Penn and Tom Cruise in memorable debuts. Another milestone in Harold Becker's career was SEA OF LOVE an erotic film noir thriller starring Al Pacino. MALICE a medical thriller again illustrated Becker's mastery of the thriller genre with outstanding performances by Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman. Teaming up again with Pacino in CITY HALL, Becker created a political thriller about power and corruption in high places. Other credits include THE BLACK MARBLE, VISION QUEST, THE BOOST, MERCURY RISING with Bruce Willis, and DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE with John Travolta and Vince Vaughn.
Joyce Carol Oates, NOVEL AUTHOR
Writer of "Rape: A Love Story"
A distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton University, she received the PEN/Malamud Award for "a lifetime of literary achievement." To date, she has published 37 novels and novellas, including a series of experimental suspense novels under the pseudonym Rosamond Smith. She has also published 23 volumes of short stories, seven volumes of poetry, four volumes of plays and many volumes of short stories; as well nonfiction works on literary subjects ranging from the poetry of Emily Dickinson, the fiction of Dostoyevsky and James Joyce, to studies of the gothic and horror genres.
Michael Mendelsohn, PRODUCER
As the Chairman and CEO of Patriot Pictures, LLC, Mr. Mendelsohn currently manages senior and mezzanine debt portfolios for banks and financial institutions specializing in entertainment. Mr. Mendelsohn has arranged production financing for/or produced over 298 films. Most recently he is producing “VENGEANCE: A LOVE STORY” directed by Harold Becker and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Heather Graham, Abigail Breslin, and Dianne Wiest. Mendelsohn recently completed "ALL'S FAIRE IN LOVE..." directed by Scott Marshall and starring Christina Ricci, Owen Benjamin, Ann Margret, Matthew Lillard, Louise Griffith, Nadine Velazquez Chris Wylde and Cedric the Entertainer. He Executive Produced "LORD OF WAR", written and directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Nicolas Cage and Ethan Hawke and "MATERIAL GIRLS", starring Hilary Duff and Anjelica Huston, directed by Martha Coolidge, and “SAND AND SORROW” Executive Produced by Mendelsohn and George Clooney, aired by HBO. Mr. Mendelsohn has also arranged financing for such films as Beacon Pictures and Wolfgang Peterson's "AIR FORCE ONE", Lakeshore Entertainment produced "THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES", the Wachowski Brothers'"THE MATRIX", Icon Pictures produced "WHAT WOMEN WANT" and Quentin Tarantino's "RESERVOIR DOGS".