Pamela Guest
PAMELA GUEST Director, Writer, Producer, Actor, Casting Director
Pamela Guest has acted opposite Gena Rowlands, Cathy Moriarty, Nick Nolte, Martin Landau, Barbra Streisand, James Woods, Mickey Rourke, Ed Asner, Mickey Rooney, Tony Curtis and Rob Schneider. John Cassavetes directed her in the play “The Third Day Comes” and deemed Pamela “THE actress of her generation.”
Pamela is an Artios Award-nominated Casting Director, she worked with filmmakers David Lynch on “Blue Velvet”, Paul Schrader on “Patty”, Christopher Monger on “Waiting for the Light”, Mike Figgis on “Stormy Monday” and Donald Cammell on all his US films (including Marlon Brando’s only screenplay “Jericho”) discovering talent Julia Roberts, Natasha Richardson, Sean Bean and Pete Berg along the way.
She has been a credentialed guest of the Cannes Film Festival as both an actress and Casting Director and Filmmaker. In 2016, she was awarded Best Actress for her performance in indie film “Cleopatra Backstage” at the Best Actors, Accolade and IndieFEST film festivals. Her first short film script “the first of many” won the 2016 Van Gogh award at the Amsterdam Film Festival. Encouraged by the win, she co-produced and directed with daughter Elizabeth Guest this short film based on that screenplay. She also executive produced her daughter’s web-series “Guest Appearances” (and played the role of Stella) which won the 2016 Scripted Digital Series competition at the Austin Film Festival, among several other awards.
She produces the Senior Showcase in Los Angeles for the University of Michigan Department of Theatre and Drama and gives workshops in the U-M Department of Film, TV and Media and at the Traverse City Film Festival. She is a member of the TV Academy, Casting Society of America, Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, serving on the National and LA Local Board of Directors as well as the Sexual Harassment Workgroup. She is the TIME’S UP liaison to SAG-AFTRA, a member of Women In Film, and a Lifetime Member of the Actors’ and the Directors’ Units of the Actors Studio. Pam is an Ambassador for the national nonprofit organization PAVE: Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment. www.ShatteringTheSilence,org
Meet the team
ELIZABETH GUEST is PAMELA Director, Producer, Actor
Elizabeth Guest grew up in Los Angeles going to film screenings and listening to filmmakers speak about their films. At first she just wanted to act. It wasn't until she came down with a terrible but perhaps serendipitous bout of mono in high school that she fell in love with every aspect of making movies. She received her BA in Cinematic Arts from the University of Southern California where she enjoyed watching movies, writing about them, making them, and frequenting the cinema school's personal Coffee Bean. Comedy was always part of her upbringing - her Dad never failing to fake trip to get a laugh.
She studied at Second City as a teen and after USC went on to study sketch and improv at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade where she has been a performer/writer and now is launching into standup comedy and a one-woman show. She can be seen in the new feature film “Sid Is Dead” and on Funny or Die in “Nice Girls". She recently won the grand jury prize at the Austin and Nashville film festivals for a web series she wrote/directed/stars in called "Guest Appearances"
(http://guestappearanceswebseries.com)
She is very happy to have recently co-directed the short "the first of many" with her Mom/best-friend who she loves more than coffee (which is saying a lot!).
LAWRENCE MICHAEL LEVINE is PATRICK
Lawrence Michael Levine wrote, produced and stars in ALWAYS SHINE (Tribeca '16).
Lawrence's past films as a writer, director, and actor include WILD CANARIES (SXSW '14) distributed by IFC Films, GABI AND THE ROOF IN JULY.
He also produced and starred in Sophia Takal's GREEN and produced Jay DiPietro's PETER AND VANDY (Sundance '09). Levine acted in V/H/S 2, Joe Swanberg's THE ZONE and Onur Tukel's RICHARD'S WEDDING.
KRISTIN SLAYSMAN is SUE
Kristin Slaysman is a Los Angeles-based producer, actor and director. Her shorts have played at acclaimed festivals all over the US and garnered industry press.
As an actor, her feature film work has premiered at the Berlinale, Sundance & SXSW film festivals, among others, and her television appearances include:
Masters of Sex, American Horror Story and The Last Tycoon for Amazon. She is a graduate of Northwestern University. Latest projects: Zach Clark's Little Sister and Josh Crockett's Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks, which she also produced.
JESSE RIKIN Composer
Jesse Rifkin is a musician, composer, and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. His work has received acclaim from Pitchfork, NPR, The New Yorker, and The Village Voice.
He recently scored a cellphone commercial which was pulled from air at the last second because the phones in question started exploding in peoples’ hands.
CARMEN EMMI Cinematographer
Carmen hails from Syracuse, New York where he comes from a long line of farmers. He attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts as a Film/Television Production major.
At USC, Carmen received the Thomas B. Bush Memorial Scholarship for Cinematography and the Edward Small Directing Award.
ARIELLE ZAKOWSKI Editor
Arielle Zakowski is an editor based in Los Angeles. She has edited an abundance of commercials, as well as dozens of short films, tv shows, title sequences, music videos - you name it. She edited the main title sequence for Netflix’s “Daredevil” which was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Main Title design. The feature film she co-edited, “Night Owls,” premiered in narrative competition at SXSW in 2015, and “Wannabe,” a short film she cut, premiered in the 2016 Tribeca narrative shorts competition. She met Liz in college at USC and has been a friend and fan of hers ever since. It has been a humbling experience working with Pam & Liz on this film, and she hopes people find courage and strength in its story.