*****WINNER*****

*****HONORABLE MENTION*****

[Executive Director's Choice]
Pan African Film Festival

[Best In Grand Jury]
Pan African Film Festival

lavel e. berry, damon wofford, jeremy scroggins

 [executive producers]

&

pascal atuma [producer/writer/actor]

our country name, Nigeria

ime etuk [director]

Ime (pronounced "E-May"), is a talented director, producer, writer, actor. He's a first-generation Nigerian hailing from Portland who entered the film industry by beating out thousands of applicants to be accepted into the highly competitive DGA's Assistant Director's Training Program. He's worked on a wide variety of television shows in the past decade including "Sleeper Cell", "NCIS", "Judging Amy", "Arli$$", and "JAG." He's produced and directed several shorts and music videos.

                                                                                                                                                           He's gone on to have the rare opportunity to serve on the directing staff of quite a few Oscar-nominated films such as "Training Day", "The Man Who Wasn't There", and "Crash." He's also appeared as an actor as the Chop Shop Guy in "Crash." In a testament to his abilities to tell a story, the first script he received story credit on garnered the attention of two Oscar winning leading men.  The "Hurricane in the Rose Garden" is his second feature as a producer and his first as director.

 pieces of Nigerian culture

        to an American audience."  

kamafi adio [screenwriter/assoc.producer]

He trained and studied his craft by writing over twenty-five features and a handful of shorts.  He currently has several TV pilots, both live action and animated and is working on a graphic novel that's a cross between "Sin City" and "Memento" called "AWAKE: Fatal Insomnia.”  He's sold four features and optioned two; this is his first produced feature, he has produced shorts and music videos and a television pilot for FX Network. With a background in the history of science and advertising, this multi-talented writer combines his love of invention with his passion for story.

"...comically universal."  

tangi miller [co-producer]

In addition to being an accomplished actress, Tangi has produced two other films besides this one. "After School", an energetic drama about a grant writer and his girlfriend who uses a school-wide dance competition to save an after school program, and "Love...and other Four Letter Words", a comedy about a Chicago talk show host who fakes her own wedding to please her dying grandmother.

matt alcorn [director of photography]

Matthew Alcorn is a Los Angeles cinematographer, specializing in High Definition film making.  He is a graduate of the University of Florida and The Los Angeles Film School. Matt is a former broadcast editor, trained in part by Don Cambern ACE.  This editorial background paired with an eye for innovation has cemented a close collaborative relationship with his friend and film making partner, Director Ime Etuk and Private School Pictures, Inc.

dan o'brien [editor]

Dan graduated from USC in 1992, began editing commercials in 1996, and continued doing so through 2003.  During that time, he began editing short films for friends and colleagues.  In 2004, he jumped at the opportunity to assist the director, Randall Miller, in editing the independent film "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School" starring Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei and John Goodman, which was an official Sundance selection.  He then followed that film with another partnership with Miller in "Nobel Son", a yet to be released film starring Alan Rickman, Mary Steenburgen, Bill Pullman and Danny DeVito. "Hurricane In The Rose Garden" is Dan's latest theatrical effort, and he continues to edit commercials and promos - most recently the "Pros Vs. Joes" and "Bullrun" campaigns for SpikeTV.