Moon Rock & Lighter Fluid

Crew

CHARLES R. UY: Director
Charles is an award winning filmmaker currently attending USC’s School of Cinematic Arts for his MFA. He graduated with a BFA in Film making from New York's School of Visual Arts with directing as his major. Under the DGA mentor program, Charles went on to shadow Joel Schumacher for the filming of the motion picture “Flawless” starring Robert DeNiro & Philip Seymor Hoffman. After a brief stint assisting a literary agent, Charles moved on to Fox Family Channel to work in primetime movie development and acquisitions. Currently, Charles is the curator of the David L. Wolper Center for the Study of the Documentary at USC. Uy continues to independently produce and direct music videos while developing feature film projects. Charles’s numerous awards include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Silver Medal for Drama, 24th Annual Student Academy Awards; DGA Student Academy Award; Academy of Television Arts & Science Regional Award Winner for Drama; the Kodak Filmmaker’s Award. www.cru26.com

DAVID LaMATTINA: Writer
Writer Dave LaMattina penned MOONROCKS AND LIGHTER FLUID in his final semester as a USC MFA student. Since then, he's freelanced as a writer/story editor with Babies First TV, a specialty channel that focuses on creating media meant for an early childhood audience. His work with BFTV includes a stint as the dialogue writer on DANNY AND DADDY, an interstitial series about a young boy who creates drawings for his father. As an undergraduate at Boston College, LaMattina produced/directed a documentary about the HIV/AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa shot entirely on location in Johannesburg. He continues to write family-oriented screenplays while developing his next documentary.

JODIE BALTAZAR:Producer
Jodie Baltazar's artistic background is in music and the performing arts. She has hundreds of performances and a dozen recordings to her credit. As Monotrona, her one-woman-band, Jodie created singing, dancing Superbeings: eight wonderful anti-heros with very interesting personality problems. Professionally, Jodie worked for many years as a creative director and user interface designer before marrying her professional and creative life through filmmaking. Jodie aspires to create challenging, imaginative film and television programs for children. She has focused on children’s media since starting at USC in 2005 and has written, produced, or directed over fifteen short projects for children. Jodie has also produced two feature films. “Slumberland” recently won the Special Jury Prize at Gydnia, and she’s currently in post-production with “The Reflecting Pool”. She was the recipient of the American Association for University Women's Career Development Grant in 2005. She is married and has a four-year-old son.

CRYSTAL PAGE: Producer
Crystal, a native San Diegan, attended Loyola University of Chicago to obtain a dual degree in communication and theology. At Loyola, she produced “Just Sparkle” a television show, modeled after T.L.C.’s “What Not to Wear,” with the mission of educating people on how to support sweatshop-free industry; the show can be seen on the Chicago airwaves. Her video installation, “The Bridge Between,” previously on display in Loyola’s Mundelein Center, illustrated the connection between the School of the Americas and the murder of Salvadorans and Jesuit Priest in the 1980s. Currently completing her M.F.A. at the University of Southern California. At present, Crystal is in various stages of production with a music video for Sixx Carter, in production on a tv show for USC, and in pre-production on a children’s film. She continues to work on her animated adventure of Colombia. Crystal is excited to be working with Charles and Jodie (and the rest of the creative time) on MRLF.

JESSE MILKMAN: Assistant Director

ANDREW RUSSO: Director of Photography
Experienced in both narrative and documentary filmmaking, Andrew’s passion lies in discovering the essence of the story when it comes to directing the photography of a film. He has worked on such films as The Lost Journal of Vice Marceaux, Ready or Not, Michael Q. Schmidt: A Cinematic Portrait, the half-hour feature Dog Tags, and a short documentary on Gracie Jiujitsu about Brazillian combat fighting and the famous Gracie family. Andrew has also shot music videos for bands such as The Black Tie Dynasty, Smile Smile, and Exit Clov. He spends much of his time working on Best of the National Parks for the Travel Channel, which has taken him to Hawaii, New Orleans, the Grand Tetons, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Alaska. He is currently assisting Jeff Feuerzeig on his up and coming project about heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner, who became the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky character. Born in Chicago, Andrew received his undergraduate degree in international relations with a foreign policy and economics minor from the University of Wisconsin - Madison where he graduate with honors with distinction, before moving to California to attend the graduate program in Film Production at the University of Southern California. When he is not shooting, he writes and directs his own films.