about
URANIA LEILUS is a short (24 min.) film which tells the story of a young female journalist who is subjected to death threats and intimidation after witnessing human rights abuses at an I.C.E. detention center for undocumented immigrant children. The film, whose script was a semifinalist in the 2020 BlueCat Screenwriting Competition, premiered at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival on October 23, 2020.
urania.....kate garfield
david......britt michael gordon
ice agent 1.....matt riker
ice agent 2.....connor wright
ice agent 3.....dash barber
ice agent 4.....will van moss
bartender.....anthony bourray
migrant child.....emperor kaioyus
melinda james.....kristin eliasberg
suspicious-looking man.....james garrison
writer/director.....andrew serban
cinematographer.....predrag dubravcic
composer/sound designer.....james hall
production designer.....madeline rocco
executive producer.....andrew serban
editor.....andrew serban
assistant director.....edmar flores
assistant producer.....jacob karim
assistant producer.....nora bode
key makeup artist.....leona ross
union payroll.....jen emma hertel
production assistant.....andrea lia
production assistant.....drew longo
special thanks.....nathan lim
special thanks.....carlo renzulli
The film is intended to be a warning about what might happen when a seemingly stable democracy succumbs to far right extremists and descends into fascism and barbarism — when immigrant children are ripped from their parents and locked up in cages without adequate food or medical care; when journalists and dissidents are regarded as “enemies of the people”, to be harassed, intimidated or "disappeared" by unidentified agents in unmarked vehicles — all of which have occurred (and continue to occur) in authoritarian regimes and have recently occurred in the United States. The film tells the story of a courageous young journalist who — in spite of being pushed to the brink by the atrocities she has witnessed and the death threats that follow — somehow finds the courage to stand tall in the face of radical evil. In this regard, the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1936 re-nomination acceptance speech still apply today: “There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.”