Anna and Ryan have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute, and meets Amir.
RATING: R for language
PREMIERE DATE: In select theaters and streaming globally on Apple TV+ on November 3, 2023
CREDITS
CAST: Jessie Buckley as ‘Anna’
Riz Ahmed as ‘Amir’
Jeremy Allen White as ‘Ryan’ Luke Wilson as ‘Duncan’ Annie Murphy as ‘Natasha’
DIRECTOR: Christos Nikou
SCREENWRITER: Christos Nikou Sam Steiner Stavros Raptis
PRODUCERS: Coco Francini
Andrew Upton Cate Blanchett Christos Nikou
Lucas Wiesendanger
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Glen Basner
Milan Popelka Alison Cohen Ashley Fox Kevin Lafferty Jerome Duboz
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Marcell Rév
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Zazu Myers
COSTUME DESIGNER: Bina Daigeler
EDITOR: Yorgos Zafeiris
COMPOSER: Christopher Stracey
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: FilmNation Entertainment Dirty Films
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Anna and Ryan are happily partnered, living together in uncomplicated bliss. In fact, they are a perfect match – that is, according to the test that accurately determines whether a couple is in love. In the alternate reality of “Fingernails,” couples examine their devotion at love institutes, completing exercises to bring them closer together in advance of taking a test, using a new technology, which requires each person to submit a fingernail to determine compatibility. Some are without a doubt — a 100 percent score indicates the perfect match. Others who score 50 or 0 percent discover their relationship isn’t meant to be. But is it possible, even in a world of dating algorithms, diagnostics, and data streams, to remove the risk from love entirely?
Anna isn’t quite so sure. She finds herself inexplicably drawn to taking a job at the institute to explore the exercises that Ryan thinks are unnecessary, given their proven compatibility. There she meets Amir, a diagnostician who claims he’s secure in his own relationship — except like Anna, he isn’t. Against statistical odds the co-workers fall in love, throwing into question the system that binds them and employs them. And raising the question for our audience, is love truly quantifiable?
“Fingernails” marks the English-language debut of Athens-born filmmaker Christos Nikou, whose first feature, 2020’s amnesia-recovery drama “Apples,” drew the attention of Dirty Films, Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini’s production company. “We were blown away by Christos’ ability to tell a story that was slightly dystopian and conceptual but filled with humanity,” says Francini. “The beauty of this film, and Christos’ work in general, is that it doesn’t sit neatly into any single genre. It’s a slightly sci-fi exploration of a love story within a larger tale about humanity. It’s as complex as love itself.”
Adds Cate Blanchett, who was eager to work with Nikou after seeing “Apples” in 2020: “One could reach for phrases like ‘melancholic absurdity’ or ‘alienated winsomeness’—the tone of his movies is hard to define. But whenever I speak with Christos, I feel like I’m inside a deeply serious conversation whilst being simultaneously tickled. I think his films have similar energy.”
Featuring an ensemble cast led by Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed and Jeremy Allen White, and co- starring Luke Wilson, “Fingernails” employs a bittersweet comic tone for its thoroughly modern examination of relationships, and the lengths couples go in order to maintain them, ensure they are valid, and remain mutually fulfilling for the long run.
“It’s not dissimilar to the world we live in, where you can hop on a dating site and use an algorithm to match with somebody you barely know, or might never know,” says Buckley, who plays Anna. “In ‘Fingernails’ and its world of testing and certification, you can sleep soundly knowing your relationship is safe and secure. Except Anna is trying to wake up from all that — she’s afraid of falling asleep inside something that’s supposed to feel electric and alive.”
Adds Riz Ahmed, who plays her co-worker Amir: “The role of the institute centers on taking the risk out of love, and the ability to test with certainty whether two people are in love. Some people take the test before getting engaged or married, or before moving in together — the idea is to work out whether both people are fully committed to each other. The problem is that there’s always some risk to falling in love. True love is never safe, calculable or quantifiable.”
In “Fingernails” Nikou furthers the melancholic tone on display in “Apples,” taking his sophomore feature into absurdist comic terrain with the love institute’s ultimate compatibility test: couples have their fingernails extracted and placed inside a machine for testing to ensure their love is the real deal.
“So often we use our fingers to swipe right or left on dating apps when we choose partners — and one of the first signs when you’ve having heart problems is the appearance of small white spots on the fingernails,” says Nikou. “We took a scientific fact and turned it into a dramatic one to show how much love hurts. It’s especially painful when you’re falling in love because you sacrifice things and lose yourself. But if you have your fingernails removed, and your fingers are bandaged, navigating dating apps becomes impossible. Maybe you can’t find love in this way.”
Producer Lucas Wiesendanger, who produces the film on behalf of FilmNation Entertainment, shares his praise of Nikou. “This is a movie that springs from the mind of a true filmmaker, and there’s nobody else on earth who could have made this movie. It’s a singular vision, and Christos is finding a tone that’s all his own, that’s awkward and romantic and real and human and funny at the same time.”
MELANCHOLIC VISIONS
Nikou’s debut feature premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, in the Orizzonti (Horizons) sidebar, specializing in new works with bold visions by under-the-radar filmmakers. Blending comedy and tragedy, the deadpan “Apples” told the story of a solitary Greek man (Aris Servetalis) who tries to rebuild his life after an epidemic of amnesia hits an unnamed city.
Released from the hospital, he enrolls in a program that helps him recover his memories and
reenter society through the performance of mundane everyday rituals. With a production design rich in analog tech, including vintage cassette recorders and Polaroid cameras, “Apples” drew international acclaim for its melancholic tone and rueful examination of grief, recovery, and disconnection.
“My first feature was a very personal story, a movie about my father,” says Nikou. “I tried to put myself in the position of the main character and examine how somebody deals with grief and loss when everybody around him starts to forget things.”
Prior to its Venice launch, “Apples” had already caught the eye of two-time Academy Award- winning actress Cate Blanchett (“Tár”). Nikou’s follow-up was already taking shape, and Blanchett hoped to work with Nikou on his sophomore feature. “Right before our premiere, I received a message from my agent that Cate wanted to have breakfast with me while I was on the Lido,” says Nikou. “We only had a small treatment for ‘Fingernails’ at that point, and there wasn’t a part for her in it, but we kept in communication.”
Dirty Films eventually became producers on both features. “I was already a huge fan of ‘Apples’ and was thrilled Dirty Films could help shepherd a pandemic-themed film through an actual global pandemic and find its audience,” says Blanchett. Added Upton, “when Christos reached out with the ‘Fingernails’ treatment, we were immediately intrigued.”
The producers and Nikou knew that one of the most important aspects of bringing this story to life would be the casting. The characters had to be grounded and believable in the center of this slightly absurd world. It was essential to cast actors who audiences could identify with. Nikou, Francini, Upton and Blanchett had extensive and ongoing conversations with Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed throughout development, as they were fans of Nikou’s Apples and eagerly awaiting his new work. Once the team shared the script with Buckley and Ahmed, both actors eagerly jumped aboard.
Dirty Films’ Francini, Upton, and Blanchett said: “We were very consciously trying to capture the many tones of humor, heart and humanity embedded in the core of Fingernails. Riz and Jessie as a duo brought such unique talents to the characters that we felt would perfectly capture Christos’ vision for the film.”
The filmmakers began looking for partners, and were thrilled to welcome the wonderful team at FilmNation Entertainment to the project. Quickly, plans were made to shoot fall 2022. “We were
huge fans of ‘Apples,’ so we were thrilled when the ‘Fingernails’ script was shared with us,” shares Glen Basner, executive producer and FilmNation Entertainment CEO. “It was an ambitious step forward for Christos, both as a writer and a director, and nothing excites us more at FilmNation than working on films that have that ambition matched with originality. We immediately offered to put all of our resources behind the film and produce alongside Dirty Films – lucky for us, both Christos and the Dirty Films team were excited to jump into this partnership because of our track record of supporting bold and artistic filmmaker. We were off and running after that.”
SWIPE LEFT, SWIPE RIGHT
Nikou wrote “Fingernails” with his “Apples” co-writer Stavros Raptis, who is also his closest friend. Following the success of his debut feature, Nikou signed with an agent and manager, hoping to direct an English-language movie for his second feature. The first script he received was “Morning” by the U.K. screenwriter Sam Steiner, currently in development with Justin Kurzel (“Nitram”) at the helm.
The dystopian drama “Morning” is set in a near future where society offers a pill eliminating the need to sleep. With the introduction of an artificial sun, daylight becomes eternal. As a young generation grows up deprived of the world of sleep, they consider rebelling to reclaim their dreams. “As much as I loved the script and its premise, I didn’t want to direct someone else’s writing,” says Nikou. “Co-writing something with Sam, however, was very interesting to me. We thought it would be helpful to have an English-speaking native on the project, and he more than understood the world of our story.”
The three writers decamped to the seaside in Greece the summer before “Fingernails” went into production and hammered out a working draft. “Half the day we wrote and the other half we swam and watched movies,” says Nikou. “For the rest of the time, we focused on love. I had been trying for the last few years to understand why people around me were no longer authentically falling in love — they were using the dating apps to connect.”
But Nikou was not interested in making a conventional love story or romantic comedy. “When you hear the title ‘Fingernails,’ you don’t think this is going to be a love story, and that was intentional on Christos’ part, because this story is not about love being joyful and fun,” says producer Francini. “It’s about the pain of love, and the pain of making a choice in your life that revolves around love.”
Executive producer Basner adds: “The script masterfully threads between multiple genres establishing the film as a bold original proposition while also dealing with the most fundamental questions we’ve asked ourselves for years: can you ever be certain about love? Can you quantify the connection between two people? It sticks with you long after you read it.”
During writing sessions, the co-writers became preoccupied with the idea of the ultimate test for love, one offering scientific proof of that it exists in coupled relationships. They set their story inside the fictional love institute and raised the stakes by envisioning a procedure that is beyond the accuracy of dating apps, in which fingernails are extracted from both parties and placed in a machine to determine whether the couple’s devotion to one another is real.
“Before we wrote this, I looked around and saw everyone trying to prove everything in their lives, including love—love is not a science, you can’t put it in your hand, analyze it, and say ‘This is love,’” says Nikou. “We started thinking about whether we needed love at all, and what we were ready to sacrifice in order to have something authentic in our relationships.”
Nikou and his co-writers developed a distinct tone for “Fingernails,” one that isn’t quite future- forward, nor is it traditional romantic comedy. “The movie is technically science fiction because of the machine at the heart of the story that determines whether a couple is compatible, but really it’s a bunch of people talking about love and learning about themselves,” says Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”), who plays Ryan. “Christos’ story is simple in one sense but also complex in the questions that it’s asking about the nature and dynamics of modern relationships.”
Speaking of his own work, Nikou likens the tone of his films to a “melancholic smile,” in that they are both funny and sad at the same time. “My favorite films and filmmakers share this tone: ‘The Apartment’ by Billy Wilder, ‘The Truman Show,’ which made me want to become a filmmaker, and the films of Aki Kaurismaki, Jacques Tati, Mike Mills, and Charlie Kaufman,” says Nikou.
“This is a beautiful story with a distinct comic tone that I hope gets people talking and thinking about the nature and possibilities of love,” says Riz Ahmed. “‘Would you take the test?’ the film asks. How far would you go to put your own love to the test?”
JESSIE BUCKLEY AND RIZ AHMED AS ‘ANNA’ AND ‘AMIR’
In “Fingernails,” Jessie Buckley plays Anna, a schoolteacher in a secure relationship who takes a job at the love institute in order to take stock of her relationship, despite a 100-percent compatibility with good-guy Ryan. “They’ve been together for three and a half years and everything on the surface is great, but there’s this doubt inside Anna,” says Buckley. “She goes to work in the institute because she’s secretly fighting for something she feels is lacking in her relationship—but she doesn’t know how to articulate that since her bond with Ryan has been declared perfect.”
Anna’s job at the institute is to help Amir administer exercises to couples before they undergo fingernail extraction to determine their compatibility. Some of the exercises include watching romantic films, trying to remember what a partner smells like while the other is blindfolded, and holding your breath underwater while looking into your partner’s eyes as an endurance test.
While overseeing exercises with Amir, Anna discovers she has feelings for him—a scientific impossibility.
“Played by the incredible Jessie Buckley, Anna is a really inspiring character,” enthuses Wiesendanger. “She’s a woman who’s in a certified love relationship where the world is telling her, ‘you should be satisfied, you have everything you could want.’ But she’s someone who doesn’t stop searching, who’s got the courage to listen to that little voice inside of her that says, ‘I need to understand better. I want to feel more. I’m not going to be satisfied with what I’m told is sufficient.’”
“What stood out to me about Anna when I was reading the script was her curiosity, the way she genuinely wants to understand her situation while letting go of whatever preconceptions she might discover from that understanding,” says Buckley. “The picture-postcard that is her relationship with Ryan isn’t feeding her anymore. Her curiosity is drawing her forward because she’s desiring something more. She’s willing to risk all in order to find the truth.”
Buckley was also curious about exploring the world of love in the context of modern relationships. “It’s interesting how much we’ve curated a world in which we all strive for these 100 percent confirmed relationships,” says Buckley. “But the reality is much messier. I wanted to understand and come to love the messiness that’s within most secure relationships, rather than striving for the impossible which leaves everyone feeling empty.”
With Buckley already in mind for Anna, Nikou and his producers had to make a crucial casting decision early in the production for the role of Amir, as the two lead characters required a delicate and convincing chemistry that blossoms as the story unfolds. “I’d already had a general meeting with both Jessie and Riz before I suggested them because I think they are two of the best actors working right now,” says Nikou. “Jessie has the most beautiful cinematic smile, and Riz has these wide eyes that make you feel like you’re drowning in emotions when you look at him. Once they were cast, Jessie and Riz became like co-creators of this project.”
Both actors had been looking for the right material to collaborate on, having crossed paths multiple times at industry events and parties. Buckley has been a fan of Ahmed for some years, and Ahmed felt the same enthusiasm for the acclaimed performer whose recent work includes Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking,” Alex Garland’s “Men,” and Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.”
“I think Riz is extraordinary, and what made working with him interesting in ‘Fingernails’ was not simply the vulnerability of his character, but finding vulnerability together as characters when Anna convinces him they should be together,” says Buckley. “To be able to do that with somebody who is so kind and warm and funny, and who taught me so much about rap music when I was trying to teach him about folk music during preparation—this was an unforgettable experience.”
Ahmed for his part was attracted to Amir’s depth and complexity. “Couples are supposed to be learning from him, but Amir is at the institute to try and find love himself—or at least try and understand what love is,” says Ahmed. “He’s been heartbroken so many times through failed relationships and he’s hiding the fact that he’s never received a positive test. His solution is to try and crack the formula behind love, to see up close and personal what love is. But he comes to learn that love can’t be reduced to a formula—there’s no formula for falling in love.”
Adds Ahmed: “Meeting Anna is what flips things for Amir. Falling in love with her shows him that maybe his approach to learning about love has been all wrong. He’s been trying to understand it intellectually rather than experiencing it emotionally.”
Buckley and Ahmed discovered a refreshing shorthand while working together on “Fingernails.” “With this kind of beautiful script and story, things take care of themselves,” says Ahmed. “We both like to try different things from take to take and scene to scene, but we were never worried
about crafting too much (around Anna and Amir). We were more interested in letting things be in the moment.”
JEREMY ALLEN WHITE AS ‘RYAN’
When it came time to cast Ryan, Anna’s devoted live-in partner, Nikou was having trouble finding the right actor to play a soulful charmer who winds up heartbroken. When casting director Carmen Cuba mentioned Jeremy Allen White, Nikou immediately watched “The Bear,” the hit series about a gifted chef working in a Chicago sandwich shop. Nikou knew from the moment he saw White chopping onions as Carmy Berzatto that he’d found his Ryan. The in- demand actor turned down several other roles to appear in “Fingernails.”
White had seen “Apples” and was drawn to Nikou’s distinct style and innovative take on the future of now. “It was strong, emotional and powerful and I felt the same way about ‘Fingernails,’” says White. “Christos is curious about the human condition, but he also wants the world of his movies to feel timeless—there’s nothing specific to indicate what time we’re in.”
White warmed to the character of Ryan because of his practical approach to his relationship with Anna, and his skepticism when she asks him to take a second test to confirm their love. “Ryan is acting out of fear because he doesn’t want to take the second test—he’s afraid of what might be revealed,” says White. “Having had too much confidence in their initial test, Ryan is looking at the data while Anna is listening to her heart.”
White took on the role because he was eager to work with Jessie Buckley, whom he considers one of the best actors of his generation. “She’s incapable of saying anything dishonest or having a dishonest moment on screen—everything is so grounded with her, and it becomes contagious when you’re working together,” says White. “My first week on the production was just Jessie and me doing scene work in Anna and Ryan’s home. It was nice to slow down, make choices, and watch her work.”
The actors also prepared together over Zoom during read-throughs with Nikou, making the decision that Anna and Ryan needed to be truly in love—neither one of them could be faking it. “They are secure in their test results initially,” says White. “We wanted to find moments of love and connection between them even though we knew they aren’t truly meant to be together.”
Nikou started a group chat with Buckley and White during rehearsals, sending them songs to help inform their characters. The actors followed his lead and began trading their own songs.
LUKE WILSON AS ‘DUNCAN’
Supporting cast member Luke Wilson plays Duncan, the founder of the love institute. “He’s a single father who went through a divorce because he received a test with a negative result,” says Wilson. “His job is to administer test results and deal with the business aspect of the institute, breaking good news and sometimes heartbreaking news to the couples who drop in.”
Wilson loved “Apples” and wanted to be involved with Nikou’s English-language debut after learning Buckley, Ahmed and White had been cast in major roles. “All the actors I love come from the ‘70s and ‘80s, and to see a new crop of performers that are as interesting and dynamic as the faces from those eras was a great feeling,” says Wilson. “When I found out Cate Blanchett was involved through her production company Dirty Films, I knew it was going to be an interesting and quality project.”
Nikou cast Wilson for the warmth and soulfulness on display in such works as Mike White’s “Enlightened,” in which the actor played the similarly broken Levi Callow. “Wilson is playing the God of this story, the creator of the love institute, and I’ve always felt something tender in his characters. “This felt like a re-discovery of Luke Wilson for me, though he’s never stopped being a great performer. I knew he could bring the necessary warmth and power to Duncan.”
THE LOOK AND FEEL OF “FINGERNAILS”
Set in the near-present, “Fingernails” employs a production design, like “Apples,” that is quietly high-tech and at times analog and retro in feeling, in the case of the oven-like devices that test the fingernails of institute patrons for the confirmation of true love.
“The institute is where our couples come to biologically certify whether or not they are in love, and even though this is fictitious science, the world of the movie is distinctly not science fiction,” says production designer Zazu Myers. “It was important to Christos that the institute felt like a place that wasn’t particularly modern or special—it’s someplace you might visit for treatment, service or certification, like your dentist or accountant’s office.”
Nikou wanted the movie to look timeless and classic, not cutting-edge modern—someplace neither here nor there, in keeping with the unnamed North American city that is the film’s setting. During early discussions with his design team, Christos suggested a late ‘90s/early 2000s vibe
—a retro timelessness that was close enough to the present to feel familiar and immediate, but rooted in the past.
“We infused the institute with objects suggesting data and figures and diagrams because we wanted to quantify the experience of romantic connection, which feels so impossible in this day and age,” says Myers. “The institute leaders want the couples who arrive there to find success in their relationships—but we did not want to convey a cold, bureaucratic, institutional feel.”
Working in collaboration with Myers, cinematographer Marcell Rév (“Euphoria”), and the costume designer Bina Daigeler (“Tár,” “Mulan”), Nikou developed a color palette for “Fingernails” that looked organic, using direct primary colors and earth tones for the major characters and their surroundings. “We were interested in certain colors and textures and gravitated toward rich royal blues and rusty reds for the walls in the love institute, to balance the everyday banality of the office with a throughline of warmth and heart,” says Myers. “It’s a very strong color language for the movie.”
Adds Marcell Rév: “We thought it would be interesting to go with primary colors in this world because the love institute suggests a corporate atmosphere—but it’s never antiseptic or sterile.”
The team employed a similar color strategy for Anna and Ryan’s home, which needed to feel lived-in and comfortable enough to reflect the couple’s enduring, settled relationship. “There’s no reason why things shouldn’t feel right in Anna’s home—she’s tested positive with Ryan, and they are 100 percent compatible,” says Myers. “Their home needed to feel like a warm blanket, which is a good way to describe Ryan.”
Amir by contrast lives in a modern apartment in the heart of the city, and when Anna forces her way inside his living space for the first time, she learns a lot more about Amir from his residence than the few things he’s revealed about himself at work. “He’s somebody who is quite guarded at the institute,” says Myers. “But once Anna steps inside his personal surroundings, she learns about his past, and about who he truly is through the look and feel of his living space.”
When Nikou began discussing the look of the film with Hungarian-born Marcell Rév, the cinematographer was coming off shooting two seasons of “Euphoria” with Sam Levinson, a show that is sensual, seductive, highly stylized, and rich in saturated colors, like a pop fever dream. For “Fingernails,” Nikou wanted something more subdued—a visually grounded appearance incorporating natural lighting.
They decided to shoot on film, leaning into the movie’s naturalistic tone. “I’ve been lucky in the last few years to shoot many of my projects on film, and since we wanted to create something organic and real-looking, shooting ‘Fingernails’ on film became the natural fit,” says Rév. “The look of celluloid simply has more life to it than digital imagery—there’s something about the chemical process that brings additional luster to the material. We took advantage of it on this movie.”
Rév shot “Fingernails” on 35-millimeter film using the ARRI LT camera with vintage lenses, underexposing the standard Kodak stock to bring out more grain in the image. “Marcell shot ‘Euphoria’ on film, and I’ve spent a lot of my career shooting on film as well,” says Francini, who has worked with Quentin Tarantino and Zach Braff. “It’s a beautiful texture that you don’t get on digital, and the way Marcell uses shadows and light to tell his stories is very special. We felt that ‘Fingernails’ merited the tactile nature of celluloid film—not everyone gets to shoot on film these days, and I think you see it in the beauty of Marcell’s framing and the texture of his images.”
“Fingernails” shot in Toronto, Ontario from November to December 2022. Nikou wanted to shoot his English-language debut in a North American city that exuded a generic or unrecognizable vibe. “Toronto is like a copy of New York in some ways, only more relaxed, and I like that,” says Nikou. “The architecture might look somewhat generic and anodyne, but it becomes very cinematic when your setting is supposed to feel anonymous.”
“In ‘Apples’ we couldn’t move the camera because we didn’t have grip equipment—we simply couldn’t afford it,” says Nikou. “With ‘Fingernails’ we had more equipment, allowing us to move the story around in a different way. We tried to make something more accessible and commercial without losing the ‘melancholic smile’ of its predecessor.”
“This movie is going to be entertaining for audiences,” says Wiesendanger. “You go in not knowing exactly what you’re going to get, and then you get a beautiful love story that also makes you laugh in all these unexpected ways and places along the way. It’s also one of those
rare movies that sticks with you. It makes you think about your relationships in your own life: the times you’ve pursued love, when you thought you were in love, were you really?”
+ + +
ABOUT THE CAST
JESSIE BUCKLEY
‘Anna’
Jessie Buckley is an Irish actress and singer. The recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and three BAFTA Awards, she was listed at number 38 on The Irish Times’ list of Ireland’s greatest film actors of all time, in 2020. In 2019, she was recognized by Forbes in its annual 30 Under 30 list.
A RADA graduate, Buckley began her career in 2008 as a contestant on the BBC TV talent show “I’d Do Anything,” in which she came second. Her early onscreen appearances were in BBC television series, such as “War & Peace” (2016) and “Taboo” (2017). Buckley made her film debut playing the lead role in “Beast” (2017), and had her breakthrough starring in the musical film “Wild Rose” (2018). Her performance as an aspiring country music singer in the latter earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Buckley’s career progressed with starring roles in the HBO miniseries “Chernobyl” (2019), the thriller film “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” (2020), season four of “Fargo” (2020), and the drama “The Lost Daughter” (2021). Her performance as a troubled mother in the last of these earned her nominations for the BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Buckley’s portrayal of Sally Bowles in a 2021 West End theatre revival of “Cabaret” won her the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2022, she released the collaborate album For All Our Days That Tear the Heart with Bernard Butler, provided voice acting and performance capture acting for the video game “The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me,” and starred in the films “Men” and “Women Talking.”
RIZ AHMED
‘Amir’
Riz Ahmed is an Academy Award winner and multi-hyphenate, excelling in his unique blend of critically-acclaimed acting, producing, writing and creating music. Recently, he won the 2022 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film alongside director Aneil Karia for the short film “The Long Goodbye,” an accompaniment to the title track of Ahmed’s 2020 solo album. The short film was also named British/Irish Short Film of the Year at the London Critics’ Circle 2020 Awards, as well as Best British Short Film at the British Independent Film Awards.
Most recently, Ahmed voices one of the lead roles in Netflix’s animated film, “Nimona,” the adaptation of ND Stevenson’s New York Times bestselling graphic novel. Later this Fall, he will star in Apple’s sci-fi romance film, “Fingernails,” opposite Jessie Buckley. He is currently in post-production in David Mackenzie’s Thriller, “Relay,” opposite Lily James.
In 2021, Ahmed was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for his lead performance in feature film “Sound of Metal.” He won the National Board of Review, IFP Gotham Award and Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor, as well as more than fourteen leading critics groups. The film, directed by Darius Marder, follows a professional drummer’s descent into unexpected hearing loss. It originally premiered at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival to career-topping performance reviews, which led to the acquisition by Amazon Films.
Ahmed became one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors following the explosive success of HBO’s “The Night Of” (written and created by the legendary Steven Zaillan), for which he won an Emmy Award, and was Golden Globe and SAG Award nominated.
Past feature films credits include Disney’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Jacques Audiard’s “The Sisters Brothers,” Sony/Marvel’s “Venom” and Amazon Studio’s “Encounter.” He first garnered industry attention in festival favorites “Four Lions” and “Nightcrawler.”
Ahmed’s award-winning production company, Left Handed Films, has a first-look TV deal with Amazon Studio. Left Handed Films produced Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee,” which made history as the first movie to earn Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and International Feature. Most recently, Left Handed Films executive produced “Joyand,” the first Pakistani film to play at the Cannes Film Festival and to be shortlisted for the Best International Feature Oscar. Initially banned in its home country for its LGBTQ+ themes, “Joyland” is a visually radiant, subversive family drama set in the bustling megacity of Lahore.
Upcoming Left Handed projects include “Exit West,” the best-seller by Mohsin Hamid for Netflix in partnership with the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions and Joe and Anthony Russo’s AGBO, as well as a modern take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” They are also partnering with Lulu Wang’s Local Time to develop the comedy series “The Son of Good Fortune” at Amazon. Based on the novel by Lysley Tenorio, the series will follow an undocumented Filipino teenager working through a difficult relationship with his mother, a former B-movie action star, and trying to pay back a large debt.
As a musician, Ahmed’s journey has spanned two decades across battle rap, techno, artistic residencies, a successful American band Swet Shop Boys, and most recently, his critically- acclaimed, award-winning 2020 solo album The Long Goodbye.
As a vocal advocate for inclusion, Ahmed published an award-winning piece in the Nikesh Shukla; the edited collection of essays The Good Immigrant has been described as “essential reading.” In spring 2017, he spoke at the prestigious British Parliament’s House of Commons about diversity and representation. That same year, he graced the cover of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People.
In June 2021, Ahmed launched a multi-layered initiative for Muslim representation in media, in partnership with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the Ford Foundation and Pillars Fund. Powered by USC Annenberg’s latest study on Muslim representation in media — which found that less than 10% of top grossing films from 2017-2019 had a Muslim character on screen, with less than 2% of those characters having speaking roles — the coalition created the Blueprint for Muslim Inclusion, as well as the Pillars Artist Fellowship, offering selected grantees an unrestricted award of $25,000.
JEREMY ALLEN WHITE
Jeremy Allen White is a dynamic actor known for his impressive, compelling performances that captivate both fans and critics alike.
Jeremy stars in the hit FX series “The Bear,” following ‘Carmy,’ a young chef who comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich show after a heartbreaking death in his family. Currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, the dramedy became an overnight smash success, garnering Jeremy a Golden Globe win for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy while the show was nominated for Best Television Series – Music or Comedy Series. Jeremy also won the Critics’ Choice Award Nomination for Best Actor in a
Comedy Series while the show was nominated for Best Comedy Series. Variety raved “with White practically vibrating at its center, imbuing Carmy with such pained restlessness that it’s often hard to look at him straight-on, what could easily tilt into cliché instead becomes a character study of people on the brink of triumph or ruin — whichever comes first.” Given the massive success of the show, it was quickly renewed for a second season and production will begin soon.
He recently wrapped production on two buzzed about films including Sean Durkin’s “The Iron Claw,” opposite Zac Efron and Harris Dickinson. Based on a true story, the A24 film will follow the rise and fall of world-famous wrestling siblings, the Von Erichs, their family dynasty and their notorious impact on the sport. Additionally, Jeremy will star alongside Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed in Apple’s “Fingernails,” directed by Christos Nikou. The sci-fi love story, set in a world where a test can measure whether couples are truly in love, follows ‘Anna’ (Buckley) and her certified lover ‘Ryan’ (White) as she begins to work in an institute to help couples succeed.
Previously, he is beloved for playing ‘Lip Gallagher’ on the mega-hit “Shameless” for 11 seasons. In 2020, he starred in Dave Franco’s hit “The Rental,” opposite Alison Brie, Dan Stevens and Sheila Vand. In 2018, White appeared in Amazon Prime’s “Homecoming” opposite Bobby Cannavale and Julia Roberts. His film credits include Antonio Campos’s “Afterschool,” “The Time Being” opposite Frank Langella, and “You Can’t Win” opposite Michael Pitt.
Additionally, he can be seen as the male lead of the independent feature “After Everything” opposite Maika Monroe and Gerardo Naranjo’s English debut “Viena and The Fantomes,” a film about life on the road with an 80s punk band, where he stars opposite Dakota Fanning.
LUKE WILSON
‘Duncan’
Luke Wilson’s career started in 1994 with James L. Brooks production of Columbia Pictures’ “Bottle Rocket” that was also the debut of Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. A collaboration that continued with “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
Wilson’s work has ranged from dramas to the iconic comedies “Idiocracy,” “The Family Stone,” “Legally Blonde,” and “Old School.” And in the world of comedy he collaborated with Adam Sandler, Kristen Wiig, Tracy Morgen, Ben Stiller, Martin Lawrence, and 5 films with Will Ferrell.
Wilson considers himself lucky to have worked alongside such Hollywood legends as Gene Hackman, Ben Kingsley, Angelica Huston, Nick Nolte, Diane Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jeff Bridges. His forays into television have included work with Mike White, Vince Gilligan, and
D.C. Comics’ Geoff Johns. His admiration of musicians has found him on projects such as the film “Masked” and “Anonymous” with Bob Dylan, and projects with Cameron Crowe, Jimmy Buffett, Tom Petty, and Kris Kristofferson.
Wilson’s work as a writer has produced the film “The Wendell Baker Story” which he also co- directed with his brother Andrew starring Eva Mendes and Harry Dean Stanton as well as the award-winning short film “Satellite Beach” as well as the upcoming Mexican Baseball movie “Juarez 9” and “Pecos River Bridge” both of which Wilson wrote.
Wilson’s most recent films are Sony Pictures Classic Depression era football film “12 Mighty Orphans” in which Wilson starred as legendary Texas football coach Rusty Russell and the upcoming courtroom drama “Miranda’s Victim” in which he stars alongside Donald Sutherland and Abigail Breslin. Wilson portrays the lawyer, Lawrence Turoff. As well as the Apple film drama “Fingernails” alongside Jesse Buckley, Jeremy Allen White and Riz Ahmed.
Wilson recently wrapped production on Kevin Costner’s 4 film western epic “Horizon” from Warner Bros and New Line Cinema. Kevin Costner wrote and is directing. The film is Costner’s long dreamed of story of westward expansion in the American West in the 1860s. Wilson stars alongside Sienna Miller and Sam Worthington.
ANNIE MURPHY
‘Natasha’
Annie Murphy is an Emmy® Award-winning actress best known for her portrayal of ‘Alexis Rose’ in the award-winning series “Schitt’s Creek.” For its sixth and final season, the series received nine Emmy® wins, won Best Musical of Comedy Series at the Golden Globe Awards, and won the SAG Award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series, becoming the most awarded comedy series in a single year.
Murphy most recently starred as Allison on AMC’s series, “Kevin Can F**k Himself,” a dark comedy that follows the secret life of a sitcom wife. She can also be seen featured in the second season of Netflix’s “Russian Doll.” Recent guest appearances off-camera include “Robot Chicken” (Cartoon Network), “American Dad” and “Family Guy” (20th Century Fox). Murphy has written, produced and performed in “The Plateaus,” a web series for the CBC which also features Elisha Cuthbert and Jay Baruchel.
Born and raised in Ontario Canada, Murphy is a graduate of both the Canadian Film Centre Actors’ Conservatory and the Theatre Performance Program at Concordia University.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
CHRISTOS NIKOU
Director, Producer, Writer
Christos Nikou was born in Athens in 1984. A director, screenwriter, and producer, he directed his first short film, “KM,” in 2012; his first feature film “Apples” opened the Venice Orizzonti section in 2020, playing at Telluride and TIFF that same year. Greece’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, “Apples” was released in more than 70 countries and was named one of the top five international films by the National Board of Review. Nikou makes his English-language debut with “Fingernails,” starring Riz Ahmed, Jessie Buckley, Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson, which he directed, co-wrote and co-produced with Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films.
SAM STEINER
Writer
Sam Steiner is a screenwriter and playwright who hails from Manchester. His acclaimed plays include “Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons,” most recently staged in the West End with Josie Rourke directing and Aidan Turner and Jenna Coleman starring; “A Table Tennis Play” (Walrus Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019); You Stupid Darkness! (Theatre Royal Plymouth, 2019 and Southwark Theatre, 2020). He also has new commissions with the Almeida Theatre and Francesca Moody, and his adaptation of “Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons” for the Royal Ballet will open at the Royal Opera House this Autumn.
Sam’s current feature slate includes MORNING, which Justin Kurzel is directing. Laura Dern, Benedict Cumberbatch, Noah Jupe and Naomi Ackie will star with Cumberbatch’s Sunnymarch producing. He has two films in post-production: “Fingernails,” which Christos Nikou (“Apples”) is directing for Apple, starring Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed, and “Rich Flu” which Galder Gaztela-Urrutia (“The Platform”) is directing starring Mary-Elizabeth Winstead. He is also writing original horror “Banquet” with Gaztela-Urrutia directing and David Yates producing and original feature drama “The Ending” with Tessa Ross and Sarah Esberg producing.
STAVROS RAPTIS
Writer
Stavros Raptis (1976) is a Greek casting director and scriptwriter. As casting director the last years he is working for several greek and international productions with directors like David
Cronenberg, Ruben Ostlund, Park Chan Wook, Fatih Akin, Fernando Trueba, Philippe Lacote etc. As scriptwriter he co-wrote with Christos Nikou the script of the film “Apples” (Venice, Telluride) and won Silver Hugo for best screenplay-Chicago IFF2020.
COCO FRANCINI
Producer
Coco Francini is an Emmy-nominated producer and a partner at Dirty Films. Most recently, Coco produced Christos Nikou’s upcoming film “Fingernails,” and executive produced his acclaimed first film, Apples, which was Greece’s entry for the 2021 Academy Awards. This year, Coco also executive produced Iranian-Australian filmmaker Noora Niasari’s feature debut “Shayda,” starring Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir-Ebrahimi, which won the Audience Award in the World Dramatic Competition at Sundance. And Warwick Thornton’s “The New Boy” which premiered at Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard program.
Previous to her work with Dirty Films, Coco executive produced “Mrs. America” for FX Networks, which led to her future collaborations with Cate Blanchett. The show premiered in April 2020 and received ten Emmy nominations, including Best Limited Series, Outstanding Writing, and acting nominations for Blanchett, Margo Martindale, and Tracey Ullman, as well as an Emmy win for Uzo Aduba.
Coco has a prolific and diverse resume including her developing IP such as “Call of Duty” while at Activision Blizzard Studios and being a frequent collaborator of Quentin Tarantin, beginning with “Django Unchained” and then on “The Hateful Eight” where she oversaw the global 70MM roadshow tour and the score that won a long deserved Academy Award for Maestro Ennio Morricone. A graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Francini earned her masters degree from the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC.
ANDREW UPTON
Producer
Andrew Upton is a writer, producer and director of film, television and theatre and a co-founder and partner of Dirty Films. From 2008 to 2012, he was co-CEO and co-Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company (STC), alongside Cate Blanchett, and sole Artistic Director from 2013 to 2015. During this time he programmed and oversaw annual seasons of productions across four Sydney venues, as well as national and international touring in Europe and the USA (including his adaptations of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” and “The Present “on Broadway, co- adaptation and translation of “The Maids,” and as director of Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot”).
Leading Australia’s largest performing arts company he also advocated for sustainability and co-
led the transformation of the company’s home base to accommodate Australia’s second-largest rooftop solar array, while co-leading the award-winning “Greening the Wharf” sustainability program and pioneering in-school professional learning development programmes. For the National Theatre (UK), Upton was responsible for adaptations of Maxim Gorky’s “Philistines” and “Children of the Sun,” Bulgakov’s “The White Guard” and Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.” Upton was an executive producer of “Stateless,” a six-part limited Netflix Original series, created and produced by Dirty Films and Matchbox Pictures for the ABC and Netflix, which won 13 AACTA Awards. He recently produced Warwick Thornton’s “The New Boy” which premiered at Cannes Film Festival, and Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails,” featuring Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed, and has executive produced Nikou’s “Apples,” which premiered at Venice Film Festival in 2020, Noora Niasari’s debut feature film, “Shayda,” which premiered (and won the Audience Award) at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Under the auspices of Dirty Films Upton executive produced “Carol,” “Little Fish,” “The Turning” and “Truth.” He also co-created and executive produced the Audible Original podcast series, Climate of Change with Cate Blanchett and Danny Kennedy.
CATE BLANCHETT
Producer
Cate Blanchett is co-founder and partner of Dirty Films, alongside Andrew Upton (with whom she was co-CEO and Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company from 2008 – 2012). An internationally acclaimed, two-time Academy Award & four-time BAFTA winning actor, producer, artistic director, and humanitarian, she has presided over the festival juries in Cannes (2018) and Venice (2020), and The Venice Film Festival has twice awarded her with The Volpi Cup for Best Performance. Blanchett recently co-produced and appeared in Warwick Thornton’s “The New Boy.” She played the titular role in and executive produced Todd Field’s “Tár,” and recently wrapped production on “Disclaimer,” directed by Alfonso Cuaron, in which she appears and is executive producer. Blanchett’s additional acting credits include “Nightmare Alley,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Thor: Ragnorok,” “Carol” (which Dirty Films executive produced), “Blue Jasmine,” “Notes on a Scandal,” “The Aviator,” “I’m Not There,” “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “Truth” and “Little Fish” (both Executive Produced by Dirty Films), “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.”
She recently produced Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails,” featuring Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed, executive produced Noora Niasari’s “Shayda” – which won the Audience Award at Sundance, and is in active development of “Champions,” to be directed by Ben Stiller. The company also produced the acclaimed Audible Original podcast series, Climate of Change.
She is a Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and a lifetime member of the Australian Conservation Foundation. In 2012, Blanchett was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. She has received three Honorary Doctorates (University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, and Macquarie University) as well as the Companion of the Order of Australia.
LUCAS WIESENDANGER
Producer
Lucas Wiesendanger is Vice President of Production at FilmNation Entertainment, a leading financier and producer of independent films, television, theater, and audio. Since joining the company in 2021, Wiesendanger has produced Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” starring Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed for Apple Original Films and Rightor Doyle’s “Down Low,” starring Zachary Quinto and Lukas Gage, which recently premiered at SXSW. Previously, he oversaw development and production at Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher’s Red Wagon Entertainment.
GLEN BASNER
Executive Producer
Glen Basner is founder and Chief Executive Officer of FilmNation Entertainment. A leading distributor, financier and producer of independent films and television, FilmNation has worked with many of the world’s most renowned filmmakers and storytellers including Steven Soderbergh, Armando Iannucci, Pedro Almodóvar, Jonathan Glazer, Emerald Fennell and Denis Villeneuve. The company has established itself as a home for specialty filmmaking with global appeal by focusing on a highly selective group of filmmakers and projects that emphasize both creative integrity and commercial potential, and in recent years has strategically diversified its avenues of storytelling with television, theater and podcasting.
Consistently ranked as one of the highest-grossing independent international film distributors, FilmNation has produced award-winning box office hits that include Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” starring Amy Adams and Kumail Nanjiani’s and Emily V. Gordon’s “The Big Sick” and released the Academy Award winning “The King’s Speech,” “Room” and “The Imitation Game.” Coming soon is Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” starring Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed for Apple Original Films. Recent releases include “The Good Nurse” starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne for Netflix, Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer” starring Kristen Stewart, Pedro Almodovar’s “Madres Paralelas” starring Penelope Cruz and Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket.” The independent studio released Emerald Fennell’s Academy Award winning “Promising Young Woman” starring Carey Mulligan, Sean Durkin’s “The Nest” starring Jude Law, “The Courier” starring Benedict
Cumberbatch, and Armando Iannucci’s “The Personal History of David Copperfield” starring Dev Patel. FilmNation’s films have grossed over $3.4B worldwide at the box office, while garnering a highly prized ‘EGOT’ across its various businesses: an Emmy win for its first TV series, 2 Grammys for its first Broadway musical, 50 Oscar nominations (including 5 for Best Picture) and 9 wins, and 17 Tony Award nominations and 10 wins.
The studio’s first television series “I Know This Much Is True” for HBO garnered Mark Ruffalo an Emmy Award for his lead role. The studio has a number of high-profile television projects lined up including adaptations of Isabel Allende’s “The House of the Spirits,” Thomas Pierce’s and Lila Byock’s “The Stephanies” for Hulu, and Susan Choi’s National Book Award winner “Trust Exercise.” FilmNation is developing projects at networks including Amazon, Hulu, Peacock, and Sky. The company announced in early 2019 the launch of its UK-based television production company with Nordic Entertainment Group. FilmNation was a producer on the Tony winning “The Band’s Visit” and “The Sound Inside” and the West End’s critically acclaimed “True West” from Empire Street. The company most recently produced podcasts SNAFU for iHeartMedia, Hyper-Thetical and Murder on the Towpath for Luminary, and Torched for Stitcher.
MILAN POPELKA
Executive Producer
Milan Popelka is the Chief Operating Officer at leading independent entertainment company FilmNation Entertainment. Popelka’s responsibilities include overseeing all day-to-day operations, strategic planning/business development, and finance for the company, and extend across film, television, theater, and digital/audio. FilmNation’s films have grossed over $3.4B worldwide at the box office, while garnering a highly prized ‘EGOT’ across its various businesses: an Emmy win for its first TV series, 2 Grammys for its first Broadway musical, 50 Oscar nominations (including 5 for Best Picture) and 9 wins, and 17 Tony Award nominations and 10 wins.
Popelka served as Executive Producer on Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction epic “Arrival,” Emerald Fennell’s Oscar-winning “Promising Young Woman,” and WWII epic “Greyhound” starring Tom Hanks, among many others, as well as on recent acclaimed Ed Helms hosted podcast SNAFU. He is a member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
ALISON COHEN
Executive Producer
Alison Cohen is the General Counsel | EVP, Business and Legal Affairs and a managing partner of FilmNation Entertainment where she is tasked with overseeing all aspects of business affairs across the company’s film, television, audio, and theater divisions. FilmNation has worked with many of the world’s most renowned filmmakers and storytellers including Steven Soderbergh, Armando Iannucci, Pedro Almodóvar, Jonathan Glazer, Emerald Fennell and Denis Villeneuve. The company has established itself as a home for specialty filmmaking with global appeal by focusing on a highly selective group of filmmakers and projects that emphasize both creative integrity and commercial potential, and in recent years has strategically diversified its avenues of storytelling with television, theater and podcasting.
Cohen has most recently served as executive producer on John Carney’s Sundance 2023 critical darling “Flora and Son,” Graham Moore’s “The Outfit,” and Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival.” Upcoming releases include Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” starring Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed which is being distributed by AppleTV+.
Prior to joining FilmNation, Cohen was a partner of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, P.C. and Epstein, Levinsohn, Bodine, Hurwitz & Weinstein, LLP, two preeminent entertainment law firms based in New York. During her thirteen years in private practice, Cohen represented the specialty divisions of several studios as well as independent film producers, production companies, film funds, and individual financiers. Cohen received her JD as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar from Columbia University of Law.
ASHLEY FOX
Executive Producer
Ashley Fox is the co-president of production at Maximum Effort, overseeing the company’s film and television business. Previously, she was the president of production at FilmNation Entertainment, where she produced and executive produced films such as “Promising Young Woman,” “The Courier,” “The People We Hate at the Wedding,” “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things “and “Knock at the Cabin.” She started her career at WME, where she was an agent representing authors and journalists in the world of film and tv adaptation.
KEVIN LAFFERTY
Executive Producer
Kevin Lafferty is an Emmy-winning producer who has produced television series and movies for many major international distributors and broadcasters.
Most recently he worked with director Tim Burton on the Emmy-Nominated Netflix series “Wednesday”. His credits also include “The Umbrella Academy”, and “Locke & Key” for Netflix, the upcoming Jessie Buckley/Riz Ahmed feature “Fingernails” for Apple+, the Phoebe Waller- Bridge series “Run” for HBO, and “Star Trek: Discovery” for CBS and Paramount.
Mr. Lafferty has worked all across Canada — in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, and Halifax. He’s very experienced internationally as well, having produced shows in Romania, Puerto Rico, Hungary, and South Africa. He lives in Toronto with his wife and three kids.
JEROME DUBOZ
Executive Producer
Jerome Duboz is the founder of Ithaka Media, a management and production company focused on stories and talent from around the world. He has been working with Bong Joon ho, Gael García Bernal, Tobias Lindholm, Christos Nikou, Zoe Wittock, Nik Arcel, Gustav Moller and Kantemir Balagov, to name a few.
Most recently, Duboz executive produced the upcoming film “Fingernails,” and associate produced, “Apples,” which was Greece’s entry for the 2021 Academy Awards.
He is currently in development on several other Film and TV projects around town.
Duboz started his career in the WMA mailroom and was a partner at WME before founding Ithaka.
Originally from Paris, France, Duboz is a dual US-French citizen. He earned his business degree in Montpellier, France, and holds an MFA from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California.
MARCELL RÉV
Director of Photography
Cinematographer Marcell Rév won the Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single- Camera Series (“One Hour”) in 2022 for his work on the critically acclaimed HBO series “Euphoria” second season episode “The Theater and Its Double.” Rév also won a Camerimage Film Festival award for the show’s pilot episode. Rév first collaborated with “Euphoria’s” creator Sam Levinson on the thriller “Assassination Nation,” which had the highest sale at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to Neon & AGBO. Rév also shot “Malcolm & Marie” with Levinson. The film, starring Zendaya and John David Washington, was the first feature to start and complete production during the pandemic with a limited crew, and was acquired by Netflix. Rév reteamed with Levinson on the HBO series “The Idol,” which premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Rév’s other credits include “The Story of My Wife” directed by acclaimed Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi starring Léa Seydoux; Barry Levinson’s “Paterno” starring Al Pacino for HBO; and “White God,” directed by Kornél Mundruczó and released by Magnolia Pictures. “White God” won the “Un Certain Regard” award at Cannes and was praised by Variety for its dynamic camerawork. Rév received praise for “Land of Storms,” a romantic drama directed by Ádám Császi, which debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival and was recognized for its “superb lensing” and “bold compositions” by Variety. Rév also shot “Jupiter’s Moon,” an Official Selection at Cannes directed by Mundruczó, and “Most of the Souls That Live Here,” a comedy directed by Ivan and Igor Buharov.
Rév’s upcoming credits include the feature “Fingernails,” the English language debut of Greek director Christos Nikou for Apple+ and Dirty Films starring Jessie Buckley. He also shot the series pilot of “The Changeling” for Apple TV+ and Annapurna Pictures directed by Melina Matsoukas.
Rév was awarded the Hungarian Film Critics award for Best Cinematographer of the Year in 2015. He has shot numerous shorts, commercials, and music videos. Rév studied cinematography at the Hungarian Academy for Film and Drama.
ZAZU MYERS
Production Designer
Zazu has brought her unique vision to numerous creative projects. Her feature film credits include the Cate Blanchett produced feature film “Fingernails,” with Director Christos Nikou, for Dirty Films | AppleTV+; “My Old Ass” for LuckyChap Entertainment, with Executive Producer
Margot Robbie, directed by Megan Park and starring Aubrey Plaza and Maisie Stella; “Love Me” for Scythia Films, directed by Sam and Andy Zuchero, starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun; “Night Raiders” (Berlinale 2021, TIFF 2021, VIFF 2021 to name a few) with Director Danis Goulet, executive produced by Taika Waititi and starring Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers for Alcina Pictures | Elevation Pictures; “The Broken Hearts Gallery” (DGC nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Production Design in a Feature Film), with Executive Producer Selena Gomez and directed by Natalie Krinsky for Sony Pictures | No Trace Camping | TriStar Pictures; “The Grizzlies” (DGC nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Production Design in a Feature Film) directed by Miranda De Pencier; “Mouthpiece” (TIFF 2018) directed by Patricia Rozema; Drew Lint’s M/M (Slamdance 2018) and “Un Traductor” (Sundance 2018) with Directors Rodrigo and Sebastian Barriuso (which was Cuba’s submission to the 2019 Academy Awards for best foreign language film.
Zazu’s TV credits include the series “Guilty Party” for CBS Television Studios, Funny or Die and Paramount+.
BINA DAIGELER
Costume Designer
Bina Daigeler is an Academy Award and Emmy nominated costume designer. Her feature film design work can be seen most recently in Todd Field’s “TÁR,” where she received a CDGA nomination, and the Disney life action movie “Mulan” (2020), directed by Niki Caro. With Mulan, Daigeler was nominated for her first Academy Award and won the CDGA for Excellence in Fantasy Costume.
In television, Daigeler most recently designed Netflix’s tentpole fantasy show 1899. Previously, she designed the costumes for FX’s “Mrs. America,” where she was nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Period Costumes, as well as a CDGA. “Mrs. America” also reunited her with Cate Blanchett, with whom she had collaborated on the visual art piece “Manifesto,” directed by the German video artist Julian Rosefeldt, which was a major success in the art world and awarded Daigeler with the German Film Award for Best Costume Design. Daigeler again reunited with the Dirty Films team for Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails.”
Having started her career in the German cinema of the mid eighties, Daigeler was drawn to the creative explosion in Spain and landed her first job as a costume designer, in Spain on Juanma Bajo Ulloa’s “Airbag”, a huge box office hit, which led her to work on Pedro Almodóvar’s “All About My Mother” and “Volver”. For these two films, along with her costume design for Joaquín
Oristrell’s “Unconscious” and Fernando León de Aranoa’s “Princesas,” Daigeler received four Goya Award nominations for costume design.
YORGOS ZAFEIRIS
Editor
Yorgos Zafeiris was born in Athens, Greece, in 1984. His first studies were in Mathematics, and after his graduation he moved to Prague, Czech Republic in order to attend an academic program in FAMU for filmmaking. After that, he enrolled in the master program in Digital Arts of Athens School of Fine Arts.
He has been an editor since 2013 in short and feature films. His most recent works include “Apples” (dir. Christos Nikou, premiered in Venice Film Festival), “The City and the City” (dir. Syllas Tzoumerkas, premiered in Berlin International Film Festival), “Memoir of a Veering Storm” (dir. Sofia Georgovassili premiered in Berlin International Film Festival), “On Xerxes’
Throne” (dir. Evi Kalogiropoulou, premiered in Cannes Film Festival).
CHRISTOPHER STRACEY
Composer
Christopher Stracey is a composer, record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist currently based in Los Angeles, California. He scored Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth”, alongside collaborator Este Haim, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival 2022, and was released by Apple in June. Also in collaboration with Este, Christopher scored the Netflix hit TV series “Maid”. He has also scored the feature film “War Pony” alongside collaborator Mato Wayuhi for Riley Keough and Gina Gammell which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2022 and was awarded the Caméra d’Or. Upcoming for Christopher is the drama | thriller “Manodrome” starring Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, the drama feature “Suncoast” along with Este for Searchlight Pictures written and directed by Laura Chinn and starring Woody Harrelson and Laura Linney, and the drama sci-fi feature “Fingernails” for Apple starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Annie Murphy and Jeremy Allen White.
With a classically trained background, Christopher grew up studying violin from an early age, and later moved on to guitar, clarinet, saxophone and keyboards before discovering the near unlimited possibilities of electronic music production. As a songwriter and producer, he has worked across almost all musical genres and styles with popular artists ranging from Orville Peck, to Ellie Goulding, to Westside Boogie, to Diplo and more. He is also one half of Australian
synth-pop/dance music group Bag Raiders which has earned platinum and gold records in multiple countries around the world including the USA, Australia, Germany and more.
In 2021 he released his first solo record entitled “Music for Growing Plants”. The compositions reflect his explorations into different sonic worlds through both organic and electronic instrumentation.
ABOUT DIRTY FILMS
Dirty Films is an independent film, television and podcast production company operating out of the UK, USA and Australia and headed by partners Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini. In 2023 it has three films for release: Warwick Thornton’s “The New Boy,” Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” and Noora Niasari’s “Shayda.” Dirty Films executive produced Christos Nikou’s “Apples,” which was named one of 2020’s Best International Films by the National Board of Review. Blanchett and Francini produced the 10-time EMMY nominated “Mrs America” for FX, which was named one of 2020’s Best Television Shows by the American Film Institute. Dirty Films also co-created and produced the 13-time AACTA-winning series “Stateless” for Netflix, in addition to executive producing the feature documentary “Burning” from director Eva Orner for Amazon. Other film credits include “Truth,” “Carol,” “Little Fish” and “The Turning.” Upcoming projects include “The Champions” with director Ben Stiller and an adaptation of Lucia Berlin’s “A Manual for Cleaning Women.” Dirty Films created and produced the Audible Original podcast “Climate of Change” with Cate Blanchett and Danny Kennedy, which offers a solutions- based narrative on climate action, and “Evolver,” a VR free-roaming interactive experience which was produced by Dirty Films in association with Marshmallow Laser Feast, Atlas V and Pressman Film. Executive produced by Terrence Malick, the late Ed Pressman, Blanchett, Francini and Upton, “Evolver” was launched at Tribeca in 2022 and is currently being exhibited at Museum Wave in Seoul, South Korea.
ABOUT FILMNATION ENTERTAINMENT
Since its founding in 2008, FilmNation Entertainment has established itself as the leading independent entertainment company through its own award-winning productions that combine bold artistic vision with global appeal which include award-winning box offices successes “Promising Young Woman,” “Arrival,” and “The Big Sick.” The company also serves as an incubator for select third-party films, where it partners throughout the creative journey, including financing and distribution.
Thank you for reading this post.