Product Description
-------------------
Rochel is an Orthodox Jew, and Nasira a Muslim of Syrian origin.
They are both young teachers at a public school in Brooklyn. They
also have something else in common - they are going through the
process of getting "arranged marriages" through their respective
religious and traditional customs. With both family pressure on
the one hand, and the rejection of traditional values by the
outside world on the other, Rochel and Nasira will have to rely
on each other and their friendship to pull through this difficult
time of their lives, striving to be strong women in charge of
their own happiness, while keeping their deep religious and
cultural convictions. Winner - Audience Award - Berkshire Int'l
Film Festival; Winner - Best Narrative Feature - Brooklyn Int'l
Film Festival.
Review
------
Winner - Best Feature Film - Brooklyn Int'l Film Festival
Official Selection - SXSW Film Festival
Winner - Audience Award - Washington Jewish Film Festival
Official Selection - Miami Jewish Film Festival
Official Selection - Berkshire Int'l Film Festival
Official Selection - Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
Official Selection - San Diego Jewish Film Festival
Official Selection - Fort Lauderdale Int'l Film Festival
Official Selection - Maine Jewish Film Festival
Official Selection - Toronto Jewish Film Festival
Official Selection - Grand Rapids Jewish Film Festival ----
A lovely little gem of a film, beautifully and perfectly
cast... I cant remember the last time I screened a similarly
low-budget film that pulled all the pieces together so well.
--Mary Glucksman, Film Critic
Writer-director Stefan Schaefer's modest, surprisingly winning
indie drama [has] a sense of intimacy that serves it well. --New
York Magazine
Arranged offers a touching and often hilarious look at two women
Rochel (Lister-Jones) and Nasiria (Benhamou), who should be
recognized as two of the best female characters and performances
in recent years... Arranged is a must-see in this globalized
world. ---Alex Navissi, The Daily Texan
Arranged offers a touching and often hilarious look at two women
Rochel (Lister-Jones) and Nasiria (Benhamou), who should be
recognized as two of the best female characters and performances
in recent years... Arranged is a must-see in this globalized
world. ---Alex Navissi, The Daily Texan
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About the Actor
---------------
Zoe Lister-Jones grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the only child
of two artists. She graduated with honors from NYU Tisch School
of the Arts, where she studied at the Atlantic Theatre Company
Acting School. Lister-Jones wrote and starred in her critically
accled one-woman show entitled Codependence is a Four Letter
Word, which premiered at NY's P.S. 122, in November 2004.
Additionally, she has completed her first screenplay, entitled
Dolly, which is in the midst of pre-production. For a number of
years, she toured the city with the glam rock art band, Maxi
Geil, playing at venues such as Joe's Pub, Luxx, and Galapagos,
for which she was heralded by Culture Bunker Magazine as Olivia
Newton-John on glue.
Francis Benhamou was born in Uruguay and raised in Miami. Her
film credits include Lead roles in Arranged and Noah Buschel's
Neal Cassady. She played the title character in Lucia which won
BEST SHORT FILM in the 2006 Charlotte Film Festival. Other
credits include: The ESPN mini-series Bronx Is Burning. She gets
her exotic looks from her Eastern European mother, and Moroccan
her. She attended New York University, graduating with a minor
in Acting and studied Meisner Technique with Maggie Flanigan.
About the Director
------------------
Diane Crespo was born and raised in Queens. Drawn to the
dramatic arts at a young age, she received a B.A. in theatre from
Roger Williams College, and studied at the graduate level at the
London School of Dramatic Arts. Following a brief stint in L.A.,
where she worked at Canon and New World Pictures, she returned to
New York to work in theatre. She met Stefan working off-off
Broadway, where she directed a series of one-act plays he had
written. They went on to form the production company Cicala
Filmworks, where their initial focus was creating short
documentaries for clients such as the Guggenheim Museum, the NYC
Department of Education, and Roundabout Theatre. As the company
grew, she also produced and directed numerous music videos and
commercials for clients such as Ben Folds Five, 1-800 Flowers,
Virgin Records and 97.9 La Mega. Documentary credits include:
CONTESTED STREETS, TAKING A RISK IN EDUCATION, a two-part film on
educational reform; and RISE TO THE CHALLENGE, a three-part
documentary on successful parenting created for the College
Board.
Stefan Schaefer was born in Boston, spent his childhood in
Sussex, England, and his adolescent years in Detroit and New
York. He graduated from Wesleyan University with degrees in
political theory and theater. Following a year and a half in
Germany - where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar and worked as a
journalist - he returned to New York and founded Cicala Filmworks
with Diane Crespo. Over the past ten years he has written,
directed and produced feature films, documentaries, music videos
and TV commercials. CONFESS, his debut narrative feature,
premiered at the 2005 Hamptons International Film Festival, where
Stefan won the Best Screenwriter award. In 2006 he directed and
produced the one-hour television documentary CONTESTED STREETS,
which looks at what New York City can learn from London, Paris
and Copenhagen in terms of organizing its streets and public
spaces. The film will be broadcast nationally via FreeSpeechTV in
2007. In April-May 2007 he was on location in Iceland, where THE
HIGHER FORCE, a feature he co-wrote, co-produced and acted in,
was helmed by Olaf Johannesson. The film stars, among others,
Michael Imperioli from the SOPRANOS.
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