THE FILM MAKERS
RIAD GALAYINI is a photographer – actor – filmmaker. She is a Fellow of Film Independent’s Directors Lab and Project Involve, a program dedicated to increasing cultural diversity in the film industry. She is the producer-director of three award winning short films: Nude Descending (Taos Talking Pictures George Melies Award, Universal Studios, American Cinematheque and Hypnotic Directors Series, Anthology Film Archives) the festival favorite, Parking, directed by James Morrison (New Directors/New Films at the Museum of Modern Art, Slamdance – Audience Award,
Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, Florida Film Festival – 3rd place Narrative, Sundance Channel) and her most recent, Crossing, (FIND Cinema Lounge, Vail Film Festival, Method Fest, Malibu International Film Festival, New Filmmakers Anthology Film Archives, Salento Film Festival) was the recipient of the Gold Medal for Excellence at the 2006 Park City Film Music Festival, Grand Prize Winner in the 2006 Chicks with Flicks Film Festival in Manhattan, Best Story at the Big Mountain Film Festival New Zealand, Second Place Best Narrative Urban Mediamakers, nominee for the Best Narrative at the Miami Short Film Festival, Best Fiction Film at the New York Short Film Festival, second place at the Johnstown Film Festival and winner for Best Direction at the Festival Du Cinema de Paris.
As an actor she has worked with directors Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes, and Ridley Scott. She has performed at regional theatres, including the Mark Taper Forum and the Salt Lake Acting Company.
She has directed television commercials, plays and staged readings in Los Angeles for the Ensemble Studio, The Stella Adler, The Hudson and The Tiffany theatres, and her photographs have been published in national magazines. She is developing two feature films, The Last Nail and Far Across Yonder (FIND Directors Lab, IFP Market Emerging Narrative Award Finalist, Script Pimp Competition Finalist, Winner Century City Screenplay Competition) written by her husband and partner, James Morrison. She is currently producing and directing, Showing Up, a documentary celebrating the actors audition process.
Born to a Cuban American mother and a Lebanese father, Riad was raised in a little yellow house in Miami, Florida where tempers often flew and dinners were always phenomenal.
JAMES MORRISON is currently filming his fourth season as Bill Buchanan on 24. His film credits include AMERICAN GUN, JARHEAD, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, WILDERNESS SURVIVAL FOR GIRLS and THE ONE. In addition to the American Playhouse production of Ibsen's AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, his numerous network television appearances include THE WEST WING, COLD CASE, THE X FILES, FRASIER, MILLENNIUM and SIX FEET UNDER.
Also an award winning filmmaker and playwright, Morrison and his wife, director Riad Galayini, formed Fireweed Films in 1995. Together they’ve produced PARKING, James’s first film as writer and director, which has screened at twenty film festivals world wide including New York’s New Directors/New Films at the MoMA, Slamdance (audience choice award for best short), South By Southwest Festival, Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, Montreal World Festival. PARKING aired on cable’s Sundance Channel. for eighteen months. He co-wrote and co-produced NUDE DESCENDING, directed by Riad, which received The George Melies Award at the Taos Talking Picture Festival and received Special Recognition from Universal Studio’s Alfred Hitchcock International Director Series presented by the American Cinematheque. CROSSING, produced, directed and written by Riad, and starring James, is now making the rounds at festivals and has won numerous awards.
Morrison’s plays have been developed and/or produced by The Sundance Institute, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival and many others.