LAUREL HUNTER

Laurel Hunter (S.A.G.) is filmmaker, writer, director and actor based in San Francisco, California. Her first feature film, SOMETHING BETTER, has screened at various film festivals and venues across the United States, including the American Film Institute in Los Angeles (2002), The East Village Cinemas in New York City with the New York International Film and Video Festival (2003), The Breckenridge Film Festival in Colorado (2004) and the Golden Film Festival (2004), who honored her work with Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Actress (Kim Ataide) awards. SOMETHING BETTER also received a Best of Festival Award from the Berkeley Film and Video festival (2003). Hunter's second film, DRIVING HOME, is currently in post-production, due for completion by the end of the year (2005). Ms. Hunter received her degree in Playwriting from San Francisco State University (1998) and is the recipient of multiple playwriting awards, including a Lawrence and Lee Playwriting Award, Highsmith Playwriting Award, and was the winner of the Bay Area Women's Playwriting Competition. Her fiction and non fiction have appeared in notable publications such as New Woman Magazine and the Berkeley Fiction Review, and she has appeared as a guest author at the Berkeley Barnes and Noble and Modern Times Books in San Francisco. Her short story DOG HOUSE received honorable mention in the 12th Edition New Millennium Writing Awards. Hunter has directed numerous theatre productions on the East and West coasts, including JP Allen's one man show, GAMBLING at the Victory Theatre in Burbank, which received critical acclaim in the Los Angeles Times and the L.A. Weekly, and has since been made into a feature film, winning Best Feature at the Telluride Independent Film Festival (2005). Her theatrical collaboration with New York based actor, Bill Smartt (AUNT JACK) recently ran for three weeks at the 78th Street Theatre in New York City, after developing it with Smartt at the Marsh Theatre in San Francisco, and premiering at the Theatre Rhinoceros Studio Theatre, also in San Francisco. As an actor, Hunter has trained at the University of Colorado where she received critical acclaim for her role as Daisy in THE ADDING MACHINE. She has also trained at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, and with numerous acting coaches. Other stage credits include Agnes in AGNES OF GOD at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Acting Workshop, Lunatic in ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, 9th Street Park Avenue Theatre, Denver; Leah in TORNADO ULTRA, Changing Scene Theatre, Denver; Janice in THE CASINO; Canadian Fringe Festival Tour - Pacific Theater (Edmonton, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia); Jane in THE DISAPPEARING, New City Theatre, Seattle; numerous Roles in the PLAYGROUND STAGED READING SERIES, San Francisco, Pascuala in FUENTE OVEJUNA, Studio Theatre, San Francisco. Her film credits include a principal role as Mary in the award winning independent film SOMETHING BETTER, and many minor and extra roles in films such as SOUL MAN, A SMILE LIKE YOURS, DESPERATE MEASURES, GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, ED TV and Walt Disney's TOTALLY MINNIE. Hunter is the founding member of Blu Fly Press and Productions, San Francisco, and World Clique Cinema with award winning filmmaker, Shady Srour of Nazareth. Hunter and Srour are currently in pre-production for their upcoming film, tentatively entitled, THE LINE OF DESPAIR.