ABOUT RUNOFF
The beauty of the land cannot mask the brutality of a farm town. As harvest draws near, Betty confronts a terrifying new reality and will go to desperate lengths to save her family when they are threatened from their land.
Shot entirely on working farms, the film takes us into the underbelly of agriculture, a world not often seen onscreen. RUNOFF stars Joanne Kelly (“Warehouse 13,” “Hostages”), Neal Huff (Meek’s Cutoff, The Grand Budapest Hotel, HBO’s “The Wire”), Alex Shaffer (Win Win, The Lifeguard) and Tom Bower (Crazy Heart, Nixon, Out of the Furnace, Die Hard 2).
DIRECTOR/WRITER
KIMBERLY LEVIN is a filmmaker and former biochemist. Her narrative feature Runoff was lauded as “Riveting…Inexorably powerful” (Variety), “Tense, moody…an Impressive directorial debut” (The New York Times), and “As an experience, it’s amazing.” (RogerEbert.com). Its theatrical distribution has so far included thirteen cities across the United States.
She is an Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) fellow and a USinProgress fellow. Levin is also an award-winning playwright and director who has worked On and Off Broadway. Levin has developed projects with the Weinstein Company, Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil and Tribeca Films. Currently, she is one of twenty directors selected for Fox Studio’s Global Directors Initiative. Her original scientific research on small peptide chains known as phytochelatins is published in a widely used chemistry textbook.
CAST
JOANNE KELLY “Betty”
Joanne Kelly grew up in Bay d’Espoir, a small fishing village in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. She has co-starred on the SyFy channel’s most successful show, Warehouse 13. Kelly has twice been nominated for The Gemini, the Canadian Screen Award.
NEAL HUFF “Frank”
Neal Huff can be most recently seen in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Other film work includes Meek’s Cutoff, Moonrise Kingdom, The Wedding Banquet, The Good Shepherd, Michael Clayton. He has appeared on Broadway in revivals of The Tempest and The Lion in Winter and the Tony Award-winning Take Me Out. Huff also played Michael Steintorf on HBO’s original dramatic hit series, The Wire.
ALEX SHAFFER “Finley”
A former wrestler, Alex Shaffer made his acting debut starring alongside Paul Giamatti in the indie hit, Win Win. Shaffer appeared on thte Sundance 2013 Verge List following his role in The Lifeguard with Kristen Bell.
TOM BOWER “Scratch”
Tom Bower was cast in his first feature film role by the legendary indie director John Cassavetes. His career spans five decades including roles in Into the Furnace, Crazy Heart, Pollack, The Laramie Project and Nixon. Bower is also an award-winning stage actor
KIVLIGHAN DE MONTEBELLO “Sam”
Runoff marks Kivlighan De Montebello’s feature debut. After filming, he garnered praise for his opera debut in David et Jonathas at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). He has recently become a member of the American Ballet School at Lincoln Center. Kivlighan is the grandson of Philippe De Montebello the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
DARLENE HUNT “Paula”
Darlene Hunt is the creator of the hit show, The Big C starring Oscar-nominated actress Laura Linney. Hunt has appeared in I Heart Huckabees, Hung and Parks and Recreation.
JOSEPH MELENDEZ “Paco”
Joseph Melendez has appeared on Prison Break, Blue Bloods and Elementary. His film roles include Fast Five, The Brave One and We Need to Talk About Kevin. Melendez is the recipient of the Vivian Robinson Audelco award for Outstanding Performance.
CREW
PRODUCER: KURT PITZER is an author, journalist and producer. His book, Eating with the Enemy is being developed with Tribeca Productions. He also wrote The Bomb in My Garden which chronicles his efforts in Baghdad to help a nuclear scientist escape to the United States. This book is being developed for the big screen with Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil. He is the recipient of the Lange-Taylor Prize for documentary work in the Balkans and is the author of many magazine and newspaper articles published in The Boston Globe, The Times of London, The Los Angeles Times and outlets around the world.
CINEMATOGRAPHER: HERMES MARCO is an award-winning Catalan cinematographer whose films (Toastmaster, Desierto Sur, Our Boys) have played festivals all over the world. Marco is currently shooting a feature documentary with director Paul Haggis. Marco also serves as the pedagogical director of Ciné Institute, Haiti’s only film school.
EDITOR: FRANCESC SITGES-SARDÀ is a Catalan editor based in Brooklyn, NY, who has received triple awards from the Málaga Spanish Film Festival and was nominated for an Emmy in 2013. He works with Harbor Picture Company and production companies all over the world.
EDITOR: MICHAEL TAYLOR is a veteran of the indie film scene.As an editor his films include Ira Sach’s Love Is Strange, Hateship Loveshipstarring Kristin Wiig, The Comedy and Freakonomics. Taylor’s career began as a script supervisor on films including Eat Drink Man Woman, Happiness, Monster’s Ball and American Splendor.
COMPOSERS: DANNY BENSI and SAUNDER JURRIAANS recently won a Genie, the Canadian Screen Award, for their original score forEnemy starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Their other credits include Martha Marcy May Marlene, Simon Killer, Magic Magic, Bluebird and the Wolfpack.
SOUND EDITOR: PAUL HSU of C5 Studios has designed and mixed sound for films including Oscar nominated Foxcatcher, Life of Pi, Frances Ha, Red Hook Summer, and Robot & Frank
COLOR: NAT JENCKS of Outlier Post specializes in Color and VFX work for feature films. His past projects range from large studio features to small Indie films and include work for directors Steven Soderbergh, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Todd Haynes, and Barry Levinson.
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: EMILIE RITZMANN was born in Tokyo, grew up in Japan and completed her MFA in production design from American Film Institute. She has worked in genres ranging from period pieces, horror, comedy, musical and drama. Her credits include Le Jeu des Soldats.
COSTUME DESIGNER: CARISA KELLY has collaborated with many Tony and Oscar winning actors, designers and directors. Her work has appeared internationally, including at Tribeca, Madrid, Dallas and Austin film festivals.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: PETER ASKIN is a director and producer known for Smithereens, Company Man, Trumbo, and the most recently the Stephen King adaptation, A Good Marriage, starring Kristen Connolly, Joan Allen, and Stephen Lang. He directed the original stage production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: WILL BATTERSBY is the producer of award-winning narrative and documentary films including The War Within andTrumbo. Will is currently in post-production on the documentary The Canal, produced in partnership with Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci. Other film credits include: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble and Diggers, and most recently the Stephen King adaptation, A Good Marriage, starring Kristen Connolly, Joan Allen, and Stephen Lang.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: JULIA CHASMAN is a veteran producer with more than a dozen films to her credit, including Quills, starring Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet; Antitrust; and Spike Lee’s 25th Hour. For many years, she also ran Industry Entertainment.