- Notes provided by New Line Cinema. -

Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard and Meryl Streep head an all-star ensemble cast in Rendition, a compelling thriller from director Gavin Hood (director of the Academy Award®-winning film, Tsotsi) which takes a provocative look at the complex political issues surrounding the U.S. government's policy of "extraordinary rendition" - abducting foreign nationals deemed a threat to national security for detention and interrogation in secret overseas prisons.

Spanning two continents, Rendition tracks the lives of Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal), a CIA analyst based in North Africa who is forced to question his assignment after he witnesses the brutal and unorthodox interrogation of an Egyptian-American by secret North African police; Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally), the Egyptian-American chemical engineer whose family emigrated to the States when he was a boy, and who is now suspected of a terrorist act; his pregnant wife Isabella El-Ibrahimi (Reese Witherspoon), who does everything in her power to find her missing husband, who has seemingly disappeared during a flight from Cape Town, South Africa to Washington, DC, by enlisting the help of a politically-connected college friend; Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard), an aide to Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin), who uncovers the troubling fact that Anwar has been shipped off, on the orders of the CIA's head of terrorism; Corrinne Whitman (Meryl Streep) to a third world country for interrogation; and Abasi Fawal (Igal Naor), the head of the secret prison who has personal problems of his own with a rebellious daughter Fatima (Zineb Oukach) and her Islamic fundamentalist boyfriend Khalid (Moa Khouas).

Rendition boldly explores the gray area between left and right and right and wrong and finds no easy answers. Director Gavin Hood, whose film Tsotsi became the first film from South Africa to win an Academy Award®, makes his American motion picture debut directing screenwriter Kelley Sane's multi-layered story.

New Line Cinema presents in association with Level 1 Entertainment an Anonymous Content Production -- Rendition. The outstanding ensemble cast features Academy Award® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, Academy Award® winner Reese Witherspoon, Academy Award® winner Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard, Omar Metwally, Igal Naor and Academy Award® winner Meryl Streep, as well as Moa Khouas and Zineb Oukach.

The film is produced by Steve Golin (Babel) and Marcus Viscidi (The Last Kiss). The executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Keith Goldberg, David Kanter, Keith Redmon, Michael Sugar, Edward Milstein, Bill Todman, Jr. and Paul Schwake. The co-producer is Mark Martin.

The production team includes Oscar®-winning director of photography Dion Beebe (Memoirs of a Geisha), production designer Barry Robison (Hildalgo), costume designer Michael Wilkinson (Babel), editor Megan Gill (Tsotsi) and composers Paul Hepker and Mark Kilian.

Rendition was filmed in Los Angeles and Washington DC, Marrakech, Morocco and Cape Town, South Africa.

New Line Cinema will release Rendition (the film is not yet rated by the M.P.A.A.) in theaters nationwide on October 19th, 2007.

The film will have its world premiere on September 7th, 2007 at the 32nd Annual Toronto International Film Festival.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Screenwriter Kelley Sane first decided to write Rendition after a lively debate with his friend, Mark Martin, about the American government's little-known policy of "extraordinary rendition," which allows for the abduction of foreign nationals, deemed to be a threat to national security, for detention and interrogation in secret overseas prisons.

Sane remembers, "Mark Martin, who is a co-producer on the movie, and I were talking about the potential for abuse, and how it seemed to not follow the lines of the American ideal. Mark suggested that I write a script. I had to think about it because watching someone getting picked up and tortured doesn't necessarily seem that cinematically interesting. On deeper thought, what really struck me was the fact that if someone disappeared, their family would have no idea what happened. Thousands of people disappear in this country every year, for various reasons, and I could imagine the heartache of not knowing where a loved one is"

Producer Steve Golin first saw the script in its early stages. "David Kanter and Keith Redman, who work with me at Anonymous Content, had found the script along with Mark Martin, who was working with my company at the time," says Golin. "We worked on it for about a year. It really was a team effort. The thing that impressed me about the script was that it avoided being too preachy and that it really tried to explore "extraordinary rendition" and what the effects are on the individual people.

"I think it basically shows two sides to the story," adds Golin. "I think a large majority of us are willing to accept that if there is imminent danger that will affect the lives of thousands of people, one likely way to get information out of someone who holds it is through forcible coercion. On the other hand, the United States government has, over its history, in cases of war and emergencies, abandoned civil liberties. I think by exploring this issue we are letting it be known that there is a reason for the Geneva Convention and that there are laws to uphold, because, in the long run, that's what makes society work. And I think by abandoning those things we are going down a dark path."

When it came time to look for a director, Golin immediately thought of Gavin Hood, who won an Oscar® for Best Foreign Film for directing 2005's Tsotsi, a compelling drama which traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader in the Johannesburg township of Soweto who ends up caring for a baby accidentally kidnapped during a car-jacking.

"Gavin is from South Africa, so he has dealt with a lot of very interesting political situations," says Golin. "He's grown up in a political environment, more so than a lot of Americans. I thought he would be very sensitive to the material. He has had friends taken away who disappeared without a trace. I thought this material would be something he would have an affinity for and connect with."

Hood happened to be looking for a special piece of material for his follow-up to Tsotsi and his move into American filmmaking.

"When I am looking for a project I really believe a great film does two things," says Hood. "First of all it entertains you and keeps you excited and thrilled to be in your seat. But I also believe great films leave you with something to talk about afterwards. These are the films where you go out afterwards and have a really good discussion, debate, even an argument with your friends or your partner. That was what was so great about reading the screenplay for Rendition. It was a real page-turner and a good thriller that had me wondering `what's going to happen next?' But at the same time it was raising profound and difficult questions that don't have easy answers. I remember finishing the script and just sitting for days wondering `what do I think about this?' It was an exciting story but it also left me with a lot to think about."

Producer Bill Todman, Jr. was happy to have Hood on board as director, "Gavin brings an innate ability to tell a story without having to use any devices. Tsotsi was all subtitled. And you could literally turn off the volume and follow the story. He was a natural choice as a director, as he has this ability to weave all these intricate stories together."

One of the first challenges facing the filmmakers was in tackling the script's multi-layered storylines. Hood explains, "You have to keep everything in balance and let every storyline arc sufficiently because essentially you are making four or five short films and weaving them together. One of the challenges I found exciting was how to get the maximum emotional impact, the maximum plot and story impact in the least amount of time so that you keep your audience moving. That is a tremendous challenge from a storytelling point of view and very exciting because there is no room for fat."

Jake Gyllenhaal, who portrays CIA analyst Douglas Freeman, adds, "This production was unlike any other I've worked on. The Morocco shoot felt like its own separate movie, when in actuality it was just a small piece of a larger picture. I think when we finally see the film it will be exhilarating to see how Gavin has woven the different pieces together."

Hood and screenwriter Kelley Sane teamed up for further work on the script prior to the start of production. "When I initially read Kelley's script, I thought it was structurally brilliant. He has this tremendous twist that happens at the end of the film that really catches you by surprise. All the characters are beautifully drawn in terms of coming from different angles of the story. So my work with Kelley was not about trying to create the story, since he'd already done that beautifully. It was a matter of finding rhythm and pace, which is a director's job, and to find the emotional arcs of these stories and whether we were in balance within the story. And, then, of course, to ask about the balance from almost a legal point of view. Are we making the argument for the necessity for torture and the other argument against torture? Are these arguments balanced in the film? Because the one thing Kelley and I didn't want to do was to tell the audience what to think."

With screenplay in hand, the filmmakers set out to find the ensemble cast that would bring these characters to life, ultimately bringing together some of the screen's most accomplished actors.

For the role of Isabella El-Ibrahimi, whose must seek answers to her husband's unexplained disappearance, the filmmakers pursued Reese Witherspoon, who won an Academy Award for her role as June Carter Cash in 2006's Walk the Line.

"Obviously Reese is a real all-American girl next door," says producer Steve Golin. "I think she is someone everyone can relate to...if this scenario can happen to Reese, it can happen to anyone."

For her part, Witherspoon was instantly attracted to the material. "I liked the idea that the different story lines all lead to similar situations, but not in the way we have seen in other recent films that have multiple interwoven stories. The interesting element to me was that each person's story is about isolation. It isn't about connection. It's about how we are singular in the world."

"I was also drawn to the role of Isabella because I have a lot of curiosity about what it must be like to be living as part of a Muslim family in America. We have a lot of ideas about certain religions, and a lot of fear has been propagated. I was interested in dispelling some of that fear."

"Reese is incredibly disciplined and is always completely prepared," says director Gavin Hood. "She knows exactly where she is going. The only thing that was difficult for us was that it was my first experience working with an actress of her caliber and her fame -- so
I'd never before experienced the sight of the paparazzi all over the place!"

Witherspoon researched her role by meeting with Muslim Americans. "I also found communities on the internet and read books," she adds. "It's fascinating to me that in this country we have so many different kinds of people and as many different religions. It's part of the real beauty of America that people are allowed to practice religion without prejudice. But, then again, since 9/11, it has clearly been a more difficult situation for some families."

Jake Gyllenhaal, an Oscar® nominee for his role in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, signed on to portray CIA analyst Douglas Freeman. "Jake plays a young man whose sense of right and wrong turns upside down when he finds himself thrown into an extraordinary situation," says producer Steve Golin.

Gavin Hood adds, "Jake had a very difficult role because Douglas in a way is the moral compass to the film. He's an observer, much like the audience. He is the one character whose opinion on the question of rendition is ambivalent. You don't know which way he is going to go or quite what he's feeling as the events of the film unfold around him. Jake did a brilliant job of knowing that his role as an actor was to say and do very little, yet absorb and emotionally reflect a great deal."

Gyllenhaal was attracted to a role that was so different from anything he'd previously done. "Douglas gets to be in the middle of the action, both emotionally and physically, with no real outlet -- and I found that kind of tension very exciting as an actor," he says. "I think many people in my generation are searching for something - their identity, who they are, what they want to do with their lives. This is where Douglas finds himself. When we first meet Douglas he has resigned himself to a sort of apathy, but he is quickly faced with a haunting reality that shakes him and forces him to face his own humanity. It makes him look into himself and find that thing he was searching for. At the end of the movie, he finds himself where he least expected it-which is ultimately tremendously rewarding for him and also for me as an actor."

Actor Omar Metwally joined the cast to portray the key role of Anwar El-Ibrahimi, who is suspected of being a terrorist, abducted and taken to a secret overseas prison.

"Omar is a highly intelligent, very emotionally in-tune young actor," says Gavin Hood. "He had a role that in many ways was tougher than some of the other actors because he spent a lot of time in scenes by himself. I'm very fortunate to have an actor of Omar's ability in the role."

"There are several scenes where Anwar is alone," says Metwally. "I think those scenes are very important because torture is an isolating experience. It was one of the things that drew me to this character. It's such an incredible role, it's one that I think actors dream about playing because he is a man who's just pushed to or is experiencing the outer edge of human existence."

Two-time Academy Award®-winner Meryl Streep portrays Corrine Whitman, head of counter terrorism for the CIA. Gavin Hood relished the opportunity to work with the legendary actress.

"Possibly the greatest privilege on this movie was to work with Meryl, and I know it sounds sort of sycophantic to say, but it is true," he says. "She is an icon and I can only say she is a consummate professional and so kind to everyone and completely disciplined. When you are ready, she is ready."

Reese Witherspoon adds, "Working with Meryl -- Wow! I've been lucky enough to meet her socially, so I knew she was a doll. She is honestly the nicest person, so lovely and gifted, but also a wonderful mother and completely down to earth."

Rounding out the international cast are American born Peter Sarsgaard and Alan Arkin
(a recent Oscar® winner for Little Miss Sunshine); Israeli actor Igal Naor; Moroccan actress Zineb Oukach; and Algerian actor Moa Khouas.
The topic of "extraordinary rendition" was a daily topic of discussion on the set -- from the actors to the filmmakers to the international crew. It remained a hot button issue that fueled a lot of differing opinions.
"My reaction when I first learned of `extraordinary rendition' was pretty much disbelief that it was happening," says Reese Witherspoon. It just doesn't seem altogether American, to detain people without due process, and without the opportunity to be charged with a crime and to go through a proper trial. And that there is no legal recourse for people who have endured this type of torture is shocking. I am really proud to be part of a project that is bringing this practice to the public's attention."
"At the same time," Witherspoon adds, "it's a very complicated issue. I'm an actor. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have the responsibility for maintaining national security. There are always two sides of every coin, and I hope this movie shows both sides of this issue."
"I think one of the dilemmas for us in the West, and in particular here in America, is we find torture unpalatable," says Gavin Hood. "We don't do that. But the attitude is, `hey, if it's gotta be done, just don't tell me about it.' And that's where you get the concept of outsourcing the torture...'well, these countries do it anyway, so let them do it.' That's a moral cop-out. Just because you are removed from it doesn't mean you are not involved. The other question is, does torture work? It's apparent to enormous numbers of military lawyers, FBI agents, CIA agents...not just myself. It's apparent to a great number of people actually involved in the process that it frequently results in poor intelligence. The information you get is often bad because the person you are getting it from is terrified and wants whatever you are doing to them to stop. They will say what you want to hear so you will stop torturing them."
Executive producer Bill Todman, Jr. feels that "If a person is rendered and our government let's that person go and they go to New York and blow up another building, is that right or wrong? If a government renders somebody and treats them and interrogates them in ways we would never do in the United States, and they are innocent . . .is that right or wrong? I am not sure if I have a firm perspective about it"
"In terms of survival of this country, and fighting for everything that we started out with, I do think the way we deal with things will have to change somewhat," says Peter Sarsgaard. "It's just by how much. And if by compromising what we do, do we become a country that we don't want to be? Is it important to sacrifice one man for the benefit of 7,000. I think it `s wrong but it is a compelling argument. Rendition is something that our government could decide not to do anymore. But even if rendition goes away, there will be something else, some other way. We will be living with this for a long time."
Igal Naor says, "I'm living in a country, Israel, which is talking and arguing about this question all the time because we are in a kind of war, and we have to do things that normally you can't go on living after them. I was a soldier, my son was a soldier and my daughters are soldiers. And, well, I can say this -- when you have to defend your life, or when you are in charge of the lives of innocent citizens, then sometimes you have to do things which are not so nice and not so human. This is a big question and I don't know if I really have an answer. I know I resist many answers I see in the world, as with the idea of rendition and more than a few things that are done in my country. Everyone has to check himself and determine how human they can stay when forced to defend themselves, or their family, or their country cruelly."
One of the key challenges for the filmmakers during pre-production was finding the ideal director of photography, one who was both technically brilliant and able to collaborate with Gavin Hood in visually piecing together a complex number of storylines. The filmmakers found that combination in Academy Award® winner Dion Beebe.
"When I met with Dion Beebe I was immediately convinced that I'd found a great collaborator," says Hood. "Apart from the fact that he is completely unflappable, he has a superb eye and a deep understanding of story above all else."
Producer Bill Todman, Jr. agrees, "Dion is the best D.P working today. He is this incredibly calm, easygoing but organized person. His work has such intensity and his ability to light and tell a story is amazing.
Once aboard the project, Beebe found his collaboration with Gavin Hood instantly gratifying. "We had a very accelerated period of pre-production -- six weeks at the most. We were forced to find common ground quickly, to find that language as filmmakers. It has been a lot of fun. Gavin is a very passionate and talented filmmaker and it was great to collaborate with him."
Early on, Hood and Beebe had to decide how they would differentiate the world of Washington, DC from the world of North Africa. Hood explains, "I have a background in still photography and I tend to favor well-composed and somewhat static shots, so I can be a little hesitant of camera movement. Dion was tremendously helpful in freeing me of this fear, while at the same time understanding my need at times to just be still and allow the audience to watch an actor closely."
Beebe adds, "We didn't want to get tricky with different styles because we constantly intercut. So the difference tends more towards how we compose, how we employ movement in the camera."
Hood agrees, "Washington DC is seen as this rather formal world that is classically composed, structurally quite static in many ways. Vertical and horizontal lines. The Moroccan locations are full of arches and curves which allowed us organically to be much more fluid and chaotic."
Beebe concurs, "In Morocco, there are these particles in the air wherever you go, there is a feel, you feel more light shafting through windows, so we really embraced that. Washington, DC is cleaner, a bit cooler, it is a bit more composed, the camera becomes more static."
When initially scouting Washington, DC, the filmmakers thought it looked too conventional. Beebe initially wanted to hide all the monuments in the shots. Hood recalls, "We started driving around and looking at monuments from positions where you couldn't actually see them and then we went into one building and saw the Capitol Building through a glass window, a modern building with a glass façade, vertical columns and glass plates. It had this sense of old Washington with its values that stood up for so long and a new Washington trying to impose itself on the old."
Another challenge for the filmmakers was to find a location to film the scenes that take place in a third world country. The country, undisclosed in the film, could have been anywhere in the Middle East or North Africa. In this post 9-11 world, finding locations in that part of the world is a tall order. One of the safest countries for an American film shoot is Morocco.
"When I read the script, I knew we would end up shooting it in Morocco," says producer Steve Golin. "Two years ago, we shot Babel in Morocco, and it's a very film friendly environment. The King and Royal family are fantastically supportive of filming here."
Gavin Hood agrees, "One of the other reasons for shooting in Morocco, apart from its visceral energy, is that it has a tremendously long history of making films. So the film crews and the people that work in film are extremely knowledgeable."
The city of Marrakech in Morocco provided not only a safe filming locale, but also a distinct visual look.
"When we scouted Marrakech I was amazed, just in terms of its color palette, its energy, this ancient city with these wonderful alleys. You can plant your camera almost anywhere and get a great shot. It's just cinematically a dream," says Hood.
Morocco also has a long history of beautiful artisan work, from rugs to lamps, mosaic tiles to ceramics.
Hood explains, "I think the Moroccan lifestyle and certainly in Marrakech, is very tactile and people make things. They do metal work and wood work, so that the people who work on the film, whether it be in set construction or props, wardrobe or the A.D department, they all have an artisan's sense, they understand a beautifully visual world."
Shooting in Morocco was not without it's challenges, as executive producer Marcus Viscidi explains. "First of all, getting to Marrakech from L.A. takes about 18 hours. So if you want anything, you have to make sure you have it before you leave. Any film that involves weapons, special effects or pyrotechnics, you have to get that material in way ahead of time. It all has to be checked through customs and in this post 9/11 world getting weapons anywhere in the world is difficult, but getting them into countries in the Middle East or Africa is even more difficult. In Morocco, you have to plan months ahead and get approval from the King. You have to have a list and not vary from that list. So, if you decide at the last minute that you really need 50 guns instead of 40, you are not going to get those 10 extra guns."
Filming on location in Morocco also involved shooting with not only an American and Moroccan crew, but truly an international crew. Rendition employed crew members from countries as diverse an South Africa, Great Britain, Italy, Israel, Egypt, Algeria, Australia and Sudan.
"I think it is wonderful when you walk on the set and you have South Africans, and Moroccans, Americans and Brits," says Jake Gyllenhaal. "There is a real open heart here. I think that comes from Gavin Hood. I think every set Ive been on is defined by the director."
"Shooting in Morocco with an international cast and crew was an amazing experience," adds cast member Igal Naor. "For me, as an Israeli, to feel free, and to feel comfortable, to not be afraid of anyone or anything...I felt as if I was in London or Paris. It was great. I met so many Muslims who became good friends and after two weeks, we said to ourselves, `How can we be together? How can we have fun?' Look how close we are. Judiaism and Islam are so much the same. And it's is something that makes me very happy. I have many Arab and Palestinian friends in Israel, too. Why can't it always be like that?"
Gavin Hood adds, "One of the fun things about this movie was the fact that we had crew made up from people all over the world working on a film that is essentially about the struggle of different cultures in this very stressful modern time. The debates among the crew members about the issues at hand were wonderful because I watched people grow and come to understand each other and enjoy being with each other. I hope this film reminds us that we are all just people with emotional issues and needs. I get so frustrated the way people want to talk about how people are different, yet we don't talk enough about the ways in which we are the same."

ABOUT THE CAST

Jake Gyllenhaal (Douglas Freeman)
Academy Award®-nominated Jake Gyllenhaal has established himself as one of the most promising actors of his generation. His poignant and diverse performances have garnered the attention of audiences and critics alike.

Winner of the 2006 Best Supporting Actor awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the National Board of Review, Gyllenhaal also earned Oscar and SAG nominations for his poignant performance as 'Jack Twist' in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain.

Gyllenhaal was most recently seen starring in David Fincher's Zodiac opposite Robert Downey, Jr. and Mark Ruffalo. Based on a true story, the critically-lauded film follows a San Francisco Chronicle Cartoonist (Gyllenhaal) who begins tracking the mystery of The Zodiac, a serial killer who terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s and 70s.

Other film credits include Sam Mendes' Jarhead, opposite Jamie Foxx and Peter Sarsgard, John Madden's Proof, opposite Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow, Miguel Areta's The Good Girl, opposite Jennifer Aniston and John C. Reilly, Brad Silberling's Moonlight Mile, opposite Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon, Nicole Holofcener's Lovely and Amazing, opposite Catherine Keener, Richard Kelly's cult hit Donnie Darko (which earned him and Best Actor nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards) and Joe Johnston's October Sky, opposite Chris Cooper and Laura Dern.

On stage Gyllenhaal starred in Kenneth Lonergan's revival of "This is Our Youth," opposite Anna Paquin and Hayden Christensen. The show garnered Gyllenhaal with the Evening Standard Theater Award for "Outstanding Newcomer."

Reese Witherspoon (Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi)
Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon is one of Hollywood's most sought after and respected actresses. Witherspoon grew up in Tennessee, and returned to her roots to play June Carter Cash in the musical bio-pic, Walk the Line. Her extraordinary performance earned her the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the New York Film Critics Award and many other honors.

Her next project is the family comedy, Four Christmases, with Vince Vaughn, slated for a holiday release in 2008. She has also just signed on as Global Ambassador for cosmetics giant, Avon, and will serve as the Honorary Chair of the Avon Foundation, the largest corporate supporter of women's causes in the world.

At the age of 14, Witherspoon was hoping to be an extra in Robert Mulligan's coming-of-age drama, The Man in the Moon, and unexpectedly landed the lead. She followed with dramatic adventure, A Far Off Place, and Diane Keaton's critically acclaimed Lifetime feature, "Wildflower."

In 1995, Witherspoon starred opposite Mark Wahlberg in the pulpy thriller, Fear, and received rave reviews for her performance in the independent feature, Freeway, a wildly conceived modern version of "Little Red Riding Hood" produced by Oliver Stone, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and aired to record-breaking numbers on HBO.

Witherspoon worked with Paul Newman, Gene Hackman and Susan Sarandon in Robert Benton's dramatic thriller, Twilight, and then further displayed her gift for comedy in Pleasantville, written and directed by Gary Ross, in which she and Tobey Maguire played modern-day siblings who find themselves trapped in the wholesome world of a 1950's sitcom.

In 1999, Witherspoon starred in Alexander Payne's brilliantly reviewed satire, Election, and received the "Best Actress" Award from the National Society of Film Critics as well as a Golden Globe Nomination. She followed with Legally Blonde, a surprise hit, in which her endearing performance as "Elle Woods" -- Sorority Queen, fashionista and aspiring attorney -- captured the hearts of women everywhere.

Witherspoon followed with Sweet Home Alabama, the largest ever female driven romantic comedy opening at the time, and began to find her voice as a producer working on Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, in which Elle Woods takes on Washington politics in defense of her beloved Chihuahua, "Bruiser."

Witherspoon's production company, Type A Films, went on to develop and produce the upcoming Penelope, a modern fable starring Christina Ricci and James McAvoy, and has a slate of other projects in the works.

Most recently, Witherspoon starred as a spirit who refuses to accept her death in the romantic comedy, Just Like Heaven, and as one of the most indelible characters in English literature, the social climbing "Becky Sharpe," in Mira Nair's revisionist take on the Thackery novel, Vanity Fair.

Alan Arkin (Senator Hawkins)
Alan Arkin recently won an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. He has long been recognized as an actor of great talent and versatility on stage, screen and television. Born in New York, Alan launched his career with Chicago's Second City improvisational revue. This led to his first part on Broadway, the lead in Carl Reiner's play "Enter Laughing," for which he won a Tony Award.

After becoming a successful actor and director on Broadway, Arkin received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actor for his first feature film, Norman Jewison's The Russians Are Coming, The Russian Are Coming. He received a second Oscar® nomination and the New York Critic's Award for his performance in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Some of his many other films have included Wait Until Dark, Catch-22, the original version of The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Mother Night and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing. He has written and directed two short films, T.G.I.F. and People Soup. The first opened the 1967 New York Film Festival and the latter received an Oscar® nomination.
Arkin starred in the highly acclaimed A&E television series "100 Centre Street," written and directed by Sidney Lumet. Other television appearances include his Emmy-nominated performances in "Pentagon Papers" for the FX Network and "Escape from Sobibor." He guest starred as the father of his real-life son, Adam Arkin, on "Chicago Hope," which earned him yet another Emmy nomination. He was seen in HBO's "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" with Antonio Banderas for director Bruce Beresford, as well as in Steven Soderbergh's episode of the anthology film Eros. Arkin most recently starred in Firewall with Harrison Ford and Santa Clause 3 with Tim Allen, and voiced a character in Jerry Seinfeld's upcoming animated Bee Movie.
When not occupied as an actor or director, Arkin is likely to devote his time to music or writing. He has written six books, all published by Harper/Collins, the latest a children's book entitled Cassie Loves Beethoven, published by Hyperion. An earlier work, The Lemming Condition, has sold steadily for twenty years, and was honored by The Book Sellers of America by being placed in the White House Library.
Peter Sarsgaard (Alan Smith)
Golden Globe nominee Peter Sarsgaard is an actor noted for his range and ability to access what is behind the often complicated facades of the characters he plays.
Sarsgaard was most recently seen in the Paramount Vantage film Year of the Dog, co-starring Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly and Laura Dern. Written and directed by Mike White, the film is a dramedy about a happy-go-lucky secretary whose life changes in unexpected ways after her dog dies.
He recently completed production on two films: Elegy, starring opposite Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz for director Isabel Coixet. The film is based on Phillip Roth's novel The Dying Animal; and In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead, starring opposite Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman, directed by Bertrand Tavernier and based on the James Lee Burke novel. Peter plays a larger-than-life actor who uncovers a long-hidden crime while shooting a film in the Louisiana bayou.
Last fall, he completed production on the film The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, based on Michael Chabon's 1988 debut novel. Adapted and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, the story, which marked Chabon's (Wonder Boys) literary launch, chronicles the last summer of Art Bechstein's youth and revolves around his eccentric circle of friends. Sienna Miller, Nick Nolte and Jon Foster also star.
In fall 2005, Sarsgaard was seen in Universal Pictures' Jarhead. Directed by Sam Mendes and also starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx, the film is an adaptation of Anthony Swofford's best-selling Gulf War memoir. He also starred opposite Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott in the psychological thriller The Dying Gaul for writer/director Craig Lucas.
During summer 2005, Sarsgaard starred in the Disney/Imagine Entertainment-produced thriller Flightplan, co-starring Jodie Foster. Directed by Robert Schwentke, the film earned over $220 million dollars worldwide.
In 2004, Sarsgaard co-starred to much critical acclaim in the biopic Kinsey, written and directed by Bill Condon, and starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney. Sarsgaard played Kinsey's young protege and earned both a Critics' Choice Award nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his supporting role. Sarsgaard also co-starred in Zach Braff's independent hit Garden State for Fox Searchlight.
Peter received an official stamp of critical approval for his portrayal of New Republic editor Charles Lane in Billy Ray's "Shattered Glass." For his performance, Sarsgaard garnered awards from the Boston, San Francisco, St Louis, Toronto and National Society of Film Critics, as well as Golden Globe and Spirit Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.
He first received wide acclaim for his role as Teena Brandon's friend, then tormenter and rapist in Kimberly Pierce's' Boys Don't Cry. Starring opposite Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny, Sarsgaard received critical praise for his searing portrayal of the violent ex-con ill-equipped to deal with a startling discovery.
Other roles include Kathryn Bigelow's submarine thriller, K-19: The Widowmaker opposite Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, and Iain Softley's Skeleton Key with Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands.
Sarsgaard attended the Actors' Studio Program at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, after which he was cast in Horton Foote's "Laura Dennis" at the Signature Theatre Company Off-Broadway.
Meryl Streep (Corrinne Whitman)
A two-time Academy Award winner and recipient of a record-breaking fourteen Oscar nominations, Meryl Streep has portrayed an astonishing array of roles in a career that has cut its own unique path from the theatre through film and television.

Streep can next be seen staring opposite Robert Redford and Tom Cruise in Lions for Lambs, which Redford also directs and is currently in production on Mamma Mia, a film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical based on the songs of ABBA. The film also stars Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Christine Baranski.

Streep made her film debut in 1977's Julia opposite Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. In her second screen role, she starred opposite Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter which earned Streep her first Academy Award nomination. The following year, she won an Academy Award for her role opposite Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer. She then received her third Academy nom for The French Lieutenant's Woman and later went on to win the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Sophie's Choice, where she starred alongside Peter MacNicol and Kevin Kline.

Other early film credits include Streep's Oscar nominated performances in Mike Nichol's Silkwood; Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa; Ironweed, directed by Hector Babenco and Fred Schepisi's A Cry in the Dark, which also won her the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, The New York Film Critics Circle, and an AFI award. She also appeared in Falling in Love with Robert De Niro, Mike Nichols' Heartburn and Woody Allen's Manhattan.

In the 1990's Streep took on a variety of roles including She Devil and Postcards from the Edge, for which she received Golden Globe nominations and an Oscar nom for the latter; Defending Your Life with Albert Brooks; Death Becomes Her opposite Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis; The House of the Spirits; The River Wild; Clint Eastwood's screen adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County which won her a SAG Award and Golden Globe and Oscar nominations; Marvin's Room with Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio, which earned her another Golden Globe nomination; Barbet Schroeder's Before and After; One True Thing opposite Renee Zellweger for which Streep received SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations as well as the Golden Camera Award at the Berlin Film Festival; Dancing in Lughnasa and Wes Craven's Music of the Heart which earned Streep her twelfth Academy Award Nomination.

In 2003, Streep's work in The Hours won her SAG and Golden Globe nominations. That same year, her performance in Spike Jonze's Adaptation won her a Golden Globe for Supporting Actress and BAFTA and Oscar nominations. Streep's other recent works include The Manchurian Candidate; Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events; Prime with Uma Thurman; Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion; Evening and The Devil Wears Prada, which earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress as well as Academy Award, SAG and BAFTA nominations.

In theater, Streep appeared in the 1976 Broadway double-bill of "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" and "A Memory of Two Mondays," the former which won her the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Theater World Award and a Tony nomination. Other theater credits include "Secret Service;" "The Cherry Orchard;" the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of "Henry V" and "Measure for Measure" opposite Sam Waterston; the Brecht/Weill musical "Happy End;" "Alice at the Palace" which won her an Obie; Central Park Productions of "The Taming of the Shrew" and "The Seagull," and most recently Streep appeared in the in Tony Kushner adaptation of "Mother Courage."

In TV, Streep won Emmys for the eight part mini-series "Holocaust" and for the Mike Nichol's directed HBO movie "Angels in America," which also won her Golden Globe and SAG Awards. Streep was also Emmy nominated for her performance in "First Do No Harm," which she also co-produced with director Jim Abrahams.

In 2004, Streep was honored with an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award.

Omar Metwally (Anwar El-Ibrahimi)
Omar Metwally was recently seen in the Academy-Award nominated thriller Munich, under the direction of Steven Spielberg. He garnered critical attention and praise for his portrayal of Ali, a Palestinian militant who engages Mossad agent Avner (Eric Bana) in political and philosophical debate while sharing a smoke in the stairwell of an abandoned safehouse.

Just prior to his work on Rendition, Metwally shot the James Ivory directed City of Your Final Destination for Merchant-Ivory Productions. Metwally plays the romantic lead in the film: a graduate student who wants to write a biography of a deceased South American author and journeys to Uruguay to gain permission from the executors of the author's estate: his brother, played by Anthony Hopkins, his former wife, Laura Linney, and his former lover, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. The film is planned for release in 2008.

Metwally began his career in San Francisco, where he trained at the American Conservatory Theater. He then went to New York, spending the next seven years on stages both on and Off-Broadway. In 2004 Metwally received a Tony Award Nomination for his work in "Sixteen Wounded." He was also lauded for his Off-Broadway portrayal of Aram, an emotionally scarred survivor of the Armenian genocide, in "Beast on the Moon," directed by Larry Moss.

Metwally has also worked on television, with appearances on "Grey's Anatomy" and "The Unit," as well as on the ABC pilot "Twenty Questions."

The son of immigrant parents, one Dutch and one Egyptian, Metwally was born in New York, raised in Southern California and now resides in Los Angeles.

Igal Naor (Abasi Fawal)
Israeli-born Igal Naor has appeared in films such as Munich, Miss Entebbe and The Mummy Lives. He has also starred in numerous Israeli productions such as Dijhad!, Kochavim Shei Shlomi, Dybbuk B'sde Hatapuchim Hakdoshim, Ha, and Clara Hakedosa. He is currently shooting the lead role of Saddam Hussein in the HBO/BBC co-production of Across Two Rivers.

Zineb Oukach (Fatima Fawal)
Zineb Oukach was born in Morocco and has appeared in several Moroccan films. She makes her American motion picture debut in Rendtion. She presently resides in France.

Moa Khouas (Khalid El-Emin)
Algerian-born Mohammed Khouas migrated to France as a teenager and appeared in the film Lila dit ca. He also appeared on French television in "Julie Lescaut" and "Josephine, Ange Gardien." He made his American motion picture debut in Steven Spielberg's Munich.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Gavin Hood (Director)
Gavin Hood's Tsotsi, based on an Athol Fugard novel, won the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 after winning the Audience Award at the 2005 Edinburgh International Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.
After graduating with a degree in law in South Africa, Hood worked briefly as an actor before heading to the US to study screenwriting and directing at UCLA. Here, in 1993, he won a Diane Thomas Screenwriting Award for his first screenplay, "A Reasonable Man." The script was inspired by a case of ritual murder. Judges included Steven Spielberg, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Kennedy.
After completing his studies, Hood returned to South Africa where he got his first writing and directing work making educational dramas for the new Department of Health which was just beginning to feel the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For his work in educational television, Hood won one Artes Award (a South African Emmy) and was nominated for another. In 1998 he made his 35mm film directing debut with a 22 minute short called "The Storekeeper." The film went on to win thirteen international film festival awards including the Grand Prize at the Melbourne International Film Festival in Australia, which qualified the film for Academy Award consideration in 1998.
"The Storekeeper" paved the way for Hood's low budget feature debut, A Reasonable Man, which he wrote, directed, co-produced (with Paul Raleigh) and starred in opposite Academy Award nominee Sir Nigel Hawthorne. At the All Africa Film Awards in 2001, Hood won Best Actor, Best Screenwriter and Best Director. At the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, he was named by Variety as one of their "Ten Directors To Watch."
He next directed a children's epic adventure based on the novel In Desert and Wilderness by Polish Nobel prize-winning author Henryk Sienkiewicz. Although the film was set in Africa where Hood grew up, it had to be made in Polish. Grabbing a chance to shoot on Super 35mm, Hood took the job, working with a Polish translator. On release, the film became the highest grossing film in Poland for the year and won Best of the Fest at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival in 2002.

Kelley Sane (Screenwriter)
Kelley Sane found a roundabout way into screenwriting. He studied economics, played professional tennis and worked as a photographer (he's photographed Kevin Spacey, Charlize Theron and ads for Pepsi). He started in Paris; modeled in Japan; spent time in Vienna, London and Istanbul; and worked in Milan as a professional photographer for three years -- where, he says, "I first started writing almost out of sheer boredom."
In 1996, he directed his first script, a campy, low-budget musical comedy, Francesca Page, which played in the Midnight section of the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.
Steve Golin (Producer)
Steve Golin's film Babel was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Picture in 2006. He has produced numerous films including Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, 50 First Dates, Bounce, Nurse Betty, Being John Malkovich, A Thousand Acres, The Game, Portrait of a Lady and Kalifornia.

Golin is founder and CEO of Anonymous Content LLP, a multimedia development, production and talent management company based in Culver City, California. The company reunites Golin with such directors as David Fincher, Neil La Bute, David Kellogg, Gore Verbinski and Mark Romanek, all of whom worked with Golin through his first venture, Propaganda Films.

Today, while developing a slate of film and television projects at Anonymous, Golin has guided the company's commercial division to become, in less than a year, one of the top commercial production entities in the industry, producing spots and campaigns for Nike, Intel, Citibank, United Airlines, Ford, Audi, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and others. Its music video division, which earned Best Hard Rock New Artist Clip of The Year at the 2000 Billboard Music Video Awards for A Perfect Circle's "Judith," directed by David Fincher, has also produced projects for the Wallflowers, Third Eye Blind, Smashmouth, Filter and Cypress Hill, among other artists. Under Golin's leadership, the company's management division has grown to represent more than fifty writers, directors and actors.

Previously, as co-founder of Propaganda Films, Golin helped develop such filmmakers as Michael Bay, Spike Jonze, Dominic Sena, Simon West and Antoine Fuqua. There, he also oversaw the development and production of such acclaimed television projects as "The L Word," "Beverly Hills 90210, "Twin Peaks," and the Peabody Award-winning "Tales of the City." Golin built Propaganda into the largest music video and commercial production company in the world, winning more MTV Video Awards and Cannes Palme d'Or Awards than any other company.

Golin helped revolutionize the music video and commercial industries with sophisticated and award-winning work for such artists as Michael Jackson, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Bonnie Raitt, George Michael and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and major advertisers including Budweiser, AT&T, IBM, Nike, Apple and McDonald's

Marcus Viscidi (Producer)
Marcus Viscidi recently produced Zach Braff's The Last Kiss and Steve Martin's Shopgirl. Prior to that he produced Wicker Park starring Josh Hartnett, Bad News Bear with Billy Bob Thornton, The Hunted starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro, and Tom Dicillo's Living In Oblivion, The Real Blonde, Double Whammy and Box of Moonlight.
Viscidi's other feature film producing credits include John Schlesinger's The Next Best Thing starring Madonna and Rupert Everett, Mad Love starring Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell, Horton's Foote's Courtship, Daniel Petries' Rocket Gibraltar, Sign of Life, and the film version of Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky which won the special jury award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Viscidi also produced the American Playhouse production of Katherine Porter's "Noon Wine" and Eudora Welty's "The Wide Net." He also produced Keith Reddin's off-Broadway play "Big Time" and "Honour," which received two Tony nominations and starred Jane Alexander and Laura Linney.
David Kanter (Executive Producer)
David Kanter is a producer and manager at Anonymous Content, a multimedia development, production and talent management company in Culver City, California.

Kanter produced or executive produced movies including the directorial debut of screenwriter Jon Kasdan, In the Land of Women, a co-production with Castle Rock and Warner Bros. Independent starring Meg Ryan and Adam Brody, released in April 2007; the controversial Tony Kaye documentary Lake of Fire that premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival that ThinkFilm is releasing in October 2007; Universal Pictures' Dead I May Well Be, directed by John Lee Hancock for Universal; Across the Medicine Line, a co-production with National Geographic Films about the relationship between the legendary Sioux Chief Sitting Bull and his Saskatchewan protector, James Walsh; and Jeremy Orm is a Pervert, for Think Film.

Kanter's television credits include executive producer of "To Love and Die in L.A.," which debuts in January 2008 for USA Network and "Law & Order: Crime & Punishment," a dramatic documentary series that ran on NBC that he co-created and executive produced.
As a manager, Kanter has built an impressive client roster including Patrick Sheane Duncan (writer, Courage Under Fire, Mr. Holland's Opus), Chad Lowe (director/producer, Beautiful Ohio, Chronically Metropolitan), Barry Blaustein (director, The Ringer, and Beyond the Mat writer, The Nutty Professor, Boomerang), Donald Margulies (Pulitzer Prize winning-author of Dinner with Friends, Sight Unseen and the upcoming Keith Moon with Mike Meyers), Edward Neumeier (writer, Robocop, Starship Troopers), Emmy-winner Larry Ramin (The Gathering Storm, Universal's The Ambassador), Stephen Metcalfe (writer, Beautiful Joe, Roommates, Jackknife) and Lesli Linka Glatter (director/producer, The Proposition, Now and Then, "The Gilmore Girls").
Prior to joining Anonymous Content, in 2000, Kanter was a founding agent at United Talent Agency and was personally involved with numerous major studio motion pictures including The Long Walk Home, Leap of Faith, Far from Home, The River Wild, L.A. Confidential, Sleeping With the Enemy, Mighty Joe Young, Starship Troopers, Rushmore, Traffic and The Spy Game, and numerous independent pictures including Zebrahead, Imaginary Crimes, Signs and Wonders, The 24 Hour Woman, Hurly Burly, The Minus Man, Swingers and O. He was also involved in many prestigious long form television projects including "The Final Days," "State of Emergency," "Truman," "Thicker than Blood," "Witness Protection" and "Conspiracy," and television series including "Chicago Hope," "Party of Five" and "The Sopranos."
Keith Redmon (Executive Producer)
Keith Redmon began his career at the William Morris Agency working in the feature talent and literary departments. He moved on to become a manager at Propaganda Films developing a client list that includes among others David Slade (30 Days of Night), John Hillcoat (The Proposition), Cherie Nowlan (Introducing The Dwights), Steve Berra (The Good Life) and Kelley Sane (Rendition).

Currently a manager/producer at Anonymous Content, Redmon will next be producing The Revenant based on the novel by Michael Punke to be directed by David Slade.

Michael Sugar (Executive Producer)
Michael Sugar received his International Baccalaureate degree, with highest honors, from the United World College, in 1991. Michael then attended Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he graduated Valedictorian. He then earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

In 1998, Michael and his brother, JB, founded Sugar Brothers Entertainment, a production/management company. In addition to A Separate Peace, produced with Dustin Hoffman's Punch Productions for Paramount and Showtime (and nominated for an Emmy Award), the Sugar Brothers executive produced "Wintution," a game show for The Game Show Network with partner Henry Winkler.

Michael then joined Anonymous Content, a full-service talent/literary management and production entity, representing writers, directors, and actors who have collectively received numerous Academy Awards, Emmys and Golden Globes. Michael was also recently selected as one of Hollywood Reporter's Next Generation 35 executives under the age of 35 in 2006.

Edward Milstein (Executive Producer)
Edward L. Milstein continues his family's three-generation tradition as part of a major presence in New York City's business life. Since 1985 he has been President of Timko Contracting Corporation, which built for the family more than 5,000 apartment units and 2,000,000 square feet of office space in New York.

In addition, Milstein is President of Milford Management, where, with his brother Howard, he has day-to-day responsibility for operations of the family's residential and commercial real-estate portfolio.

The family owns Emigrant Savings Bank, a $9 billion institution with equity in excess of $1 billion. Venture Capital Investments have included cable television, real estate services companies, computer software and internet related entities.

Milstein is a passionate wine collector, producer, importer and drinker.

Bill Todman, Jr. (Executive Producer)
Bill Todman, Jr. began his career in 1978 with Goodson-Todman Productions in New York, working for his father, legendary television producer and pioneer, Bill Todman. Young Todman worked in all aspects of the family's considerable business interests, including TV, real estate and newspaper publishing. Todman moved to Los Angeles, working at Goodson-Todman West, in 1980 to concentrate on television production. He subsequently joined MGM/UA Television in 1982, working for Thomas D. Tannenbaum, President of MGM/UA TV, as his Executive Assistant.
At MGM/UA TV, Todman learned the filmed television business and decided to become a television producer -- creating, packaging and selling his own ideas for network broadcast. In 1984, after his stint at MGM/UA TV, Todman joined 20th Century-Fox TV as a full time, in-house, producer reporting to Leslie Moonves, then vice-president of Movies and Mini-Series for Television. When Moonves moved to Lorimar Productions, Todman followed and teamed up with Joel Simon, forming Todman-Simon Productions, together producing eight television pilots, 2 series and one network movie. Todman-Simon Productions continued to produce for Moonves when Lorimar-Telepictures merged with Warner Communications.
While Todman was producing TV, he and Simon also produced the feature films, Married to the Mob for Orion Pictures and Hard to Kill for Warner Bros.
In 1995, Todman became President of Morgan Creek Productions; a Warner Bros. based Production Company and the largest independent film company of its kind. Todman oversaw all development, production, post-production, marketing and licensing and distribution for the company and was executive producer for all Morgan Creek movies (including Two If By Sea, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Diabolique, Incognito, Wild America, Bad Moon, Major League: Back to the Minors, Wrongfully Accused, The King & I,) as well as the animation and television divisions of the company.
In 1998, Todman left Morgan Creek to executive produce the feature film Wild, Wild West for Warner Bros. In 2000 Todman went on to co-produce the movie X-Men for 20th Century-Fox and he teamed as a producer with Kopelson Entertainment, a 20th Century-Fox based Film Company. In 2001-2002, Todman executive produced the TV series "Thieves" for ABC/Warner Bros TV and produced the motion picture, The In-Laws, for Warner Bros.
In January of 2003, Todman and real-estate and banking magnate Edward L. Milstein formed Level 1 Entertainment, LLC to finance and produce motion pictures. The company released its first picture, Grandma's Boy, through 20th Century-Fox and has just completed post production on its next feature Strange Wilderness, also to be released through 20th Century-Fox on January 25th, 2005. Both pictures were fully financed by Level 1 Entertainment and produced with Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. Level 1 Entertainment and Happy Madison are collaborating on 3 other comedy projects to be produced over the next 12 months.
Level 1 Entertainment will fully finance and actively produce four pictures per year. The company will co-finance three pictures per year, but which they will not actively produce.

Paul Schwake (Executive Producer)
Paul Schwake in 2003 joined Bill Todman, Jr. and real estate banking billionaire Edward L. Milstein's Level 1 Entertainment, LLC, as chief operating officer. Their first project was "Grandma's Boy" with Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo's Happy Madison Productions, which was released by 20th Century Fox on January 6, 2006. In addition to Rendition, Level 1 is releasing Strange Wilderness in January 2008 through Paramount. The film stars Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill and Justin Long and was produced with Happy Madison.
Prior to joining Level 1, Schwake helped form Spyglass Entertainment Group with Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum where he served as chief financial officer for six years. During his tenure Spyglass produced, financed and distributed over 20 films including The Sixth Sense, Bruce Almighty, Seabiscuit, The Insider, The Recruit, Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights, Unbreakable, and The Count of Monte Cristo.
Previously, Schwake was VP of Finance at Morgan Creek where he worked for seven years. While there, Morgan Creek produced, financed and distributed over 30 films including Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Young Guns, Young Guns II, Major League, Major League II, Last of the Mohicans, True Romance, and Wild America.
Schwake graduated from CSUN in 1985 and joined the accounting firm Price Waterhouse as an auditor on clients in the entertainment, gaming, banking and defense contracting industries.

Dion Beebe (Director of Photography, ACS, ASC)
Dion Beebe was born in Australia. He was mainly raised in Cape Town, South Africa, where his father was a dentist and his mother was a makeup artist who worked with still photographers specializing in fashion advertising. Beebe explored the possibilities of still photography in high school, but his interest shifted to cinema. He studied first at Pretoria Technical College for a year and then moved back to Australia to study at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney, Australia, where he won an Australian Film Australian Award and an Australian Cinematographers Society Golden Tripod Award for two of his student films. After graduation, Beebe worked for a small production company in Sydney that specialized in music videos.
He earned his first narrative feature credit in 1992 for Crush, only a year after graduating from college. Beebe compiled around a half a dozen documentary and feature film credits during the following five to six years. He won a Golden Tripod Award in the annual Australian Cinematographers Society competition for Down Rusty Down in 1997.
Beebe moved to Los Angeles the following year when his wife enrolled at the American Film Institute. He earned his first U.S. film credit for "My Own Country", a Showtime movie that aired in 1998. Beebe compiled a half a dozen feature film credits during the next three to four years, including Praise, Holy Smoke, Forever Lulu and Charlotte Gray.
He earned a 2003 Oscar nomination for Chicago. The following year Beebe received another Golden Tripod Award from the Australian Cinematographers Society for In the Cut. He and Paul Cameron shared Outstanding Achievement Award nominations from the American Society of Cinematographers and top honors from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Collateral in 2005. He also won an Oscar, as well as awards from the American Society of Cinematographers, Australian Film Institute, and BAFTA for Memoirs of a Geisha in 2006. Most recently, he worked on Universal's Miami Vice, which was released last summer.
Barry Robison (Production Designer)
Barry Robison has a diverse array of feature film credits that include Hildago, Fun with Dick and Jane, The Rookie, October Sky, Home Fries, Highway, Bubble Boy and Mi Familia (My Family), to name a few.

His television credits include "The Man Who Wouldn't Die," "Deadly Relation," David Mamet's "The Water Engine" and 5 years as designer on the ABC daytime drama "One Life to Live."

Before working as a production designer, Robison worked as a set and costume designer in theater and opera, working at some of America's top theaters/ opera companies; Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrites Horizon, Goodman Theater, the Guthrie Theater, and Long Beach Opera. His latest work includes the west coast premier of Doug Wright's Quills, at the Westwood Playhouse.

Michael Wilkinson (Costume Designer)
Michael Wilkinson's design work has taken him all over the world. His film credits include costume designer for the feature films: Babel, 300, The Nanny Diaries, Friends with Money, Sky High, Dark Water, Imaginary Heroes, Party Monster, American Splendor, Garden State, and Milwaukee, Minnesota. Upcoming projects include Watchmen.

He was also a design assistant on the feature films The Matrix, Far From Heaven, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge.

His theater work includes award-winning costume designs for the Sydney Theater Company, Opera Australia, The Australian Dance Theater, Radio City Hall, and the Ensemble Theater.

Wilkinson also works in special event design - he created hundreds of Costumes for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Wilkinson is based in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the design course at National Institute of the Dramatic Arts in his hometown: Sydney, Australia.

Megan Gill (Editor)
Megan Gill edited Tsotsi, which won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film.

Born in Malawi, Gill grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. She began working as an assistant editor in 1988. Gill has assisted on numerous South African and international features and television productions including: Sarafina!, Cry, The Beloved Country, Good Man in Africa, Ghost and the Darkness.

Gill made the break to cutting in 1997 and has since edited 3 features and many South African television series.

Paul Hepker (Composer)
Born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa, Paul Hepker is a classically trained concert pianist. He worked as a Musical Director at the National Theatres in Pretoria and Cape Town ("The Rocky Horror Show," "West Side Story") and has performed or recorded with a number of South African and international artists such as Shirley Bassey, Miriam Makeba, Ica Cube and Vusi Mahlasela. In the mid-1990's he toured the world as a member of Grammy-nominated band Johnny Clegg and Savuka (Juluka) before moving to Los Angeles in 1997 to pursue a career in composing for stage and screen.

A long-time member of acclaimed Los Angeles theatre company Circle X, Hepker has garnered an Ovation Award, two LA Weekly Awards, and numerous nominations for his work as composer or Musical Director on productions such as "Grendel," "Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog" and "Romeo & Juliet: Antebellum, New Orleans, 1839."
In 1999 Hepker was a Finalist in the inaugural John Lennon Songwriting Competition and has had songs featured in, and included on the soundtracks for Tsotsi, Permanent Midnight, Soul Survivor, The Bird Can't Fly and Into The Light. Hepker has composed the music for six Discovery Channel series: "Crash Files," "Impact," "America's Deadliest Season," "Into the Firestorm," "Deadliest Catch" (now in its fifth season) and "Raw Nature" (all for Original Productions).

He recently completed the score for Into the Light - a documentary exploring the AIDS crisis in Tanzania, which featured Kenyan singer Ayub Ogada. Rendition is Hepker's third feature film collaboration with Mark Kilian, having co-composed the music for Tsotsi (which won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film) and the Dutch-South African film The Bird Can't Fly.

Mark Kilian (Composer)
Mark Kilian was born and raised in South Africa. He earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Natal and a graduate certificate from USC's Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program. His awards include the South African International Composers Competition, the SAMRO scholarship for pianists, the Creative Arts Foundation of South Africa, the Harry Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the International Association of Jazz Educators.

After completing his studies at USC, Kilian was recruited by composer Christopher Young and contributed to many features including Copycat, Species, Virtuosity and Unforgettable. Mark was then hired by Machine Head in Venice and wrote music for many major TV commercials. His clients included Apple, Toyota, Mastercard, IBM, Budwieser, American Express, Coca Cola and Microsoft.

In 1997 Kilian scored his first feature Lovergirl and has since written music for many films. He traveled to India to record the music for Santosh Sivan's Before the Rains (which receives its premiere at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival.) He also recently completed the music for Michael Skolnik's award winning documentary Without the King. Other films Mark has written music for include The Animatrix, King Solomon's Mines, Icon, Blind Horizon, Skulls 3 and Raise Your Voice. Kilian worked as orchestrator and conductor for Paul Oakenfold, Rob D and Juno Reactor on The Matrix Reloaded.

Kilian's TV credits include ABC's "Daybreak" and "Jake in Progress," "Kitchen Confidential," "FX: The Series" and "Boarding House: The Northshore." He has also provided music for the video games "The Matrix: Path of Neo" and "Full Spectrum Warrior." Recently, Mark wrote and recorded strings for the new Glenn Hughes album Music for the Divine, produced by Chad Smith.

In 2004 Kilian collaborated with Paul Hepker to score Gavin Hood's Tsotsi which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Along with Hepker he also scored The Bird Can't Fly, a Dutch-South African co-production. Rendition is the second Gavin Hood-directed film Kilian and Hepker are scoring together.