synopsis  cast/crew  making-of  photos: movie frames  photos: filming  trailers  poster  read the script  film festivals  contact  links		CAST HAZEL R. JOHNSON (Doris Stone) Hazel has performed in over seventy productions on community and professional stagesm playing Daisy in Driving Miss Daisy, Fonsia in The Gin Game, and many Agatha Christie women. On screen, Hazel has appeared in the TV series, Raven, and several northern California independent films. BONNIE BENNETT (Ava Stone & YEAR Producer) Bonnie has enjoyed a career in musical theater for almost three decades playing lead roles in Auntie Mame, Man of La Mancha (where she broke her leg on opening night then finished out a three month run) and at The Studio Theatre in Sacramento in Six Women With Brain Death for three years. She has appeared in national commercials for Suzuki, in Power for producer-director Michael Dryhurst, which her husband Mike Carroll photographed and edited. Year, in addition to being her first feature film, is her first experience at producing. Like her character Ava, she loves painting (walls) and yard work. CAROL MIRANDA (Vivian Stone) Carol is also a veteran of musical theater, appearing with Bonnie and Christine in Six Women With Brain Death and in a two year run of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. She also appeared in the short thriller Power and was not given the option of not appearing in Year. Writer-director Mike Carroll based much of the character of Vivian on Carol’s own neurosis and insomnia. CHRISTINE NICHOLSON (Sydney Stone) Christine is a founding member of Synergy Stage, for whom she has appeared in Fat Men in Skirts, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Private Lives, Closer, and most recently in the original musical Adventures in Shakespeareland; or, How Willy Ruined My Life. She is also a leading director of productions of Tartuffe and Top Girls for City Theatre and The Conduct of Life for UC Berkeley. Christine holds an MFA in Theatre from UCD and teaches Theatre at Sacramento City College and for the Actors Training Program at Solano College in Fairfield. KATHERINE PAPPA (Gina Stone) Katherine is a tireless actor in the Sacramento and northern California theatre, often juggling rehearsing for one show while appearing in one or two others in the same week. How she ever found time to squeeze in a film role is a testament to her sacrafice for her art. Generous to a fault, she even volunteered her own apartment as the film location for Sydney and Miles’ apartment. (Of course, she was rehearsing for a play on those evenings.) KRISTEN HEITMAN (Lana Stone) Kristen is the on-air personality for Radio Disney AM 1470 in Sacramento. She also appears in musical theater, having just finished her fifth extended run with Carol Miranda in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. She is appearing in the independent film Farewell Bender with Kip Pardue (Remember the Titans), Eddie Kaye Thomas (American Pie) and Kaylie Cuoco (8 Simple Rules) to be released in 2006. SAVANNAH SWAIN (Chris) Savannah had never met director Mike Carroll until the afternoon she met him to start filming her scenes. An outstanding student, and a natural actor, she has appeared in several television commercials. Year is her first effort as an actor in playing a character over an extended period of time. BLAIR LEATHERWOOD (Brendan) Blair Leatherwood has over 30 years of experience on stage. He holds an MFA degree in Acting from Brandeis University. His previous film experience has put him before the cameras of Barry Shear, Neal Israel, Clint Eastwood and John Frankenheimer. The "Year" experience (truly that, a year no less!) was an education in itself. He feels very privileged to have worked with Mike Carroll and such a talented group of actors. ERIC WHEELER (Miles) Eric got his start in musical theatre in Sacramento in the late 1970's with such stars as Gordan McCrae, Howard Keel, Carol Lawrence, and Tom Posten. At nineteen in New York he appeared in the Off-Broadway shows The Pirates of Penzance, Babes in Toyland and The Merry Widow. Returning to Sacramento to settle down, he remains active in theatre, radio, television, and film working alongside Sharon Stone, Peter O'Toole, Don Cheadle, and Ray Liotta and Will Smith in the upcoming The Pursuit of Happiness. He had the leading role in the 1999 feature My Sweet Suicide. Eric's pursuit of happiness continues with Lisa, his wife of nineteen years, and his ten year old son, Christian. MICHAEL DRYHURST (Morris & YEAR Producer) Michael was a child prodigy, entering the British film industry as a camera assistant (clapper-loader) before he had a driver’s license. He has worked on such classic films as A Night To Remember, Pulp, Superman, The Naked Runner and as producer on Excalibur, The Emerald Forest and Hope And Glory, for which he was nominate for the Academy Award for Best Picture and won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture. Michael has been an enthusiastic supporter of digital filmmaking for it’s ease and economy, most recently writing, producing and directing Power, starring Bonnie Bennett and Carol Miranda, with Mike Carroll shooting and editing. For his scenes in Year, Michael not only acted but co-wrote, and enjoys a well-earned "additional dialogue" credit. DAVID HARRIS (David) David Harris’ has appeared in productions at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse and has appeared on screen Penny Marshall’s Renaissance Man. CHEANTELL MUNN (Joan) Cheantell has appeared in many stage productions in the Sacramento area, often alongside her best friend from college Katherine Pappa and under the direction of Christine Nicholson. She was also recommended her niece Savannah Swain for the part of "Chris". Year is her first feature length film and the longest shooting schedule she’d experienced. Her first goal after filming was completed was to visit the hairdresser and change her hair style. LORI HOCHLERIN (Marcy) Lori found her path to the cast through the oldest "in" in the film industry – through someone she knows. In this case Bonnie Bennett, lead actor and co-producer of Year, and her mother. Lori is a veteran of several Off-Broadway shows and soap operas. She lives in New York City with her husband Doug and eight year-old son Sam. KELLEY DUHAIN (Pamela) Kelley DuHain, 22, is currently at University of Santa Barbara studying Dramatic Arts. She has a leading role in the independent film Pink Ponies directed by Jason Okamoto, to be released in 2006. She enjoys soccer and surfing. She has been cast in Mike Carroll’s next film Small World to begin filming in summer 2006. TIM HERRERA (Tom) Tim is an author, writer, newspaper columnist and former television news reporter and anchor. He is the author of three humor books on family and parenting and publishes an online column and newsletter (www.timherrera.com). Tim is often found speaking to library and school groups about writing and publishing. Sometimes, he's even invited. He played the role of Tom in YEAR - his first acting role - because he owns more than one necktie. ROBIN WILLIAMS (Deedee) [bio to follow] RICHARD YORK (German Translator) [bio to follow] FILMMAKER MIKE CARROLL (writer-director-cinematographer-editor) Mike is an award-winning documentary and news cameraman with over twenty years experience shooting for television. For the past several years he has been turning his creative efforts towards independent filmmaking, first with the documentary Dog Soldiers about professional dog walkers in New York City, which won Best Documentary at the Seattle Underground Film Festival and has been on pay-per-view in New York for three years. Mike has teamed as cinematographer-editor with Michael Dryhurst on several short films, which Mike has termed, "my boot camp in proper British filmmaking."       Year is not only his first feature film, but his first time working from his own script and directing actors.       Mike hopes to make a war film about his father’s experiences as a Marine in World War Two and a biopic about maverick film legend Russ Meyer, the producer-director-writer-cameraman-editor of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! who was a friend and mentor to Mike for over twenty years.       He is currently preparing his next film Small World to star his wife and co-producer Bonnie Bennett, her daughter Lori Hochlerin and Kelley Duhain, to begin production in summer of 2006. He is also developing a film about Russian émigrés and the Russian community living in California, Russkiya-Ameriki, to be filmed in the Russian language.
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