As a school teacher for over twenty years, I have had the pleasure of knowing many talented young people among my students.  One young lady, Katharina Rivilis, was a student in my English class at Las Cruces High School and I learned she was visiting New Mexico as a foreign exchange student from Germany.  She was also a student of the theatre who performed in an astonishing production of Phillip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread a one act play from David Ives' acclaimed  All in the Timing with my daughter, Hillary, who is an artist/museum curator in New York City.  I say it was astonishing because of the complex nature of the play.  It employs the comic reordering of words that must have been challenging to the two actresses and especially for Katharina because English is not her native tongue. 

Years later, Katharina Rivilis is a now a talented writer, director, and actress.  She was born in 1985 in St. Petersburg.  I learned that as a child she performed on the stages of professional theatre companies all over Europe.  Between the years 2003-2007, she studied acting at the renouned University of Film and Television at Potsdam-Babelsberg in Germany.  Since then, she has been acting in film and television productions such as Operation Valkyrie directed by Jo Baier and My Life - Marcel Reich Ranicki  directed by Dror Zahavi.

Still a very young woman, Katharina is already an acclaimed director.  Her last short film The Girl with the Red Hair recently premiered in the official selection of the Human Rights Film Festival in Barcelona. 

Currently, Katharina is the writer, director, and actress in a new project before she begins formal studies at the German and Television Academy Berlin.

JOEL & JEANNE

Siblings Joel (Dejan Bucin) and Jeanne (Katharina Rivilis) are connected in a most peculiar intimate way. Their illicit relationship is put to a crucial test when they meet the charismatic Manuel at a wedding party.  Manuel (Samuel Theis) is an uninvited guest and turns out to be a professional wedding crasher.

Joel and Jeanne are both fascinated by and attracted to him. The three flee from the party and drift through the night experiencing Manuel's main pursuit as a "biography thief."  The stranger finds an intriguing way to manipulate the siblings while they hope to find in him a relief of their own impossible love.

Joel & Jeanne is a film that explores the fear of loneliness and isolation.   It is the story of two people who feel like they don't fit into the society surrounding them because they are unable to face their deepest desires.

Cinematographer Benjamin Bayer

Benjamin Bayer has been working on films since the age of 17. Now, 17 years later, he has honed his skills with a technical education at various film schools in Europe and has worked as a cinematographer on numerous film projects. The possibility of new challenges, like creating a dense atmosphere for Joel & Jeanne triggered his interest when he read the script for the first time.