Countdown to filming...
News & Updates
* We have secured amazing locations in the Youngstown and East Palestine, OH areas
* Full cast announced!
Cast & Creative
Jennifer Ruth
(Writer, Producer, Co-Director, role of JUSTINE)
Jennifer is an actor-filmmaker based in NYC and NE Ohio with a passion for stories centering on personal, spiritual and societal transformation. Her debut short, Lydia Rising, which she wrote, directed and co-starred in, screened at the Oregon Cinema Arts Film Festival and the Saint Louis Sci-Fi and Fantasy Film Festival, where it won Best Hair & Makeup. Previous acting credits include roles in independent film and in NY and regional theatre.
Adam Michael
(Co-Director, Producer)
Adam is an award-winning filmmaker whose works have been selected to over 50 different film festivals through the years. He has had a love and passion for films ever since he was a child which gave him the push to begin writing/directing films of his own. Adam founded his production company, Candid Life Entertainment, which he uses as a platform to make films with strong messages that are both entertaining and thought-provoking. Based in Youngstown, Ohio.
Faith Boardman
(Director of Photography)
Faith Boardman is an award winning editor, script supervisor, cinematographer and director based out of Indiana. She has experience on both short and feature films using her expertise and attention to detail to bring each project to life.
Thomas Kopache
(Actor, role of AL)
Thomas Kopache is recognizable to audiences for his work in features, television and on stage. Thomas has the distinction of being one of only a handful of actors to appear in a Star Trek feature and as well as five of the Star Trek television shows. Also recognizable to audiences from his portrayal of Assistant Secretary of State Bob Slatterly on The West Wing, Thomas’ other television credits include House of Cards, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Madame Secretary and Blacklist. Thomas’ feature film roles include Catch Me If You Can, Leaving Las Vegas and No Country for Old Men, for which he won a SAG Award for Best Ensemble. New York Theatre audience know his work on Broadway and most recently at the Public Theatre in Coriolanus at the Delacorte Theatre and in Coal Country. Thomas currently lives in New York City.
Anthony Dain
(Actor, role of RAY)
Born and raised in Minneapolis, MN, Anthony was introduced to the arts at a very early age. Upon moving to Columbus Ohio as an adolescent, he quickly found himself in the spotlight performing cosplay characters at festivals, conventions, and parties. Soon enough his cosplay evolved into a loving and healthy career of acting. Eventually his love for filmmaking led to writing, directing and producing.
Izzabelle Burns
(Actor, role of NOELLE)
Izzie is a 10 year old rising actress from NE Ohio. Her past accomplishments include several performances at various local theatres. Her most recent being a lead role in Finding Nemo Jr. where she starred as Nemo. When she isn’t acting she loves singing, dancing, horseback riding, and playing Minecraft.
Story
When someone leaves, are they really gone?
One morning, Justine awakens to find her longtime love, Ray, has vanished, leaving only a vague note. She sinks into a self-destructive storm of her own making, while her young daughter, Noelle, and Ray's father, Al, attempt to pick up the pieces.
But how can you make sense of a loss that you didn't see coming?
How do you move on and reconcile with the past, when it keeps lingering in the shadows?
You turn on the light.
As this fractured family struggles to become who they need to be to move forward, they learn that sometimes the best step forward is a step back. Or is it?
Ray is an exploration of darkness and light, shadow and sunrise, played out through the interactions of an ordinary family in an extraordinary time. We have all felt the sting of loss, betrayal, disappointment or abandonment. In a sense, what is more ordinary than those feelings? Yet surviving them requires us to become extraordinary, to draw upon reserves of strength that we didn't know we had, and most importantly, to forgive ourselves and each other as we stumble through the darkness together, searching for the light. While all along, the past breathes into us like a dream, a memory, a long lost love.
In this moody, evocative yet hopeful story, filmed in the lush fields and down-to-earth settings of rural Ohio, we hope to shine a light into the potential for healing which we all have inside us, even in the darkest of times. Ray is highly visual, exploratory, and dreamlike, with a twist that will make you question the conclusions you've been drawing.
Stay in the know!
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