Filmman

‘Modern American Outlaws’ : An inside look at one fringe group’s rise in America

filmman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:18:00 +0000

Filmman has once again been granted unprecedented access to a work of non-fiction that provokes equal parts anger, awe, derision and speculation as to the veracity of many of its varied ‘facts’.

Modern American Outlaws by Matthias Niwalt

Modern American Outlaws: one insider’s glimpse into the world of Nation’s Young Blood is a self-published work of non-fiction completed under self-professed ‘conditions of duress’. It is Matthias Niwalt’s unauthorized, hastily-written and sometimes unfocused account of the year he spent after being invited into the world of one of America’s most powerful fringe groups.

Its failings aside, it is impossible to think this is anything less than an important work from yet another very important American writer. For what we’ve been shown is, on its surface, the only insider’s account of a year in the life of the main members of Nation’s Young Blood, the most powerful and popular terrorist network America has ever seen.

Inside its pages, the book outlines the troubles and successes and failures and overall feeling these girls have of what they’re doing and what they likely will never achieve, but that they strive towards with no less than every ounce of effort they can gather.

It is a book of young women doing what they believe is right and of authorities trying to uphold the law in the face of so much public criminal support. And therein lies the idea of what the writer of this book gets so right. Niwalt paints not only the manner and means of the illicit activities of these girls but shows us what it is like to be detectives and police trying to do what is right in the face of so much popular support for the girls and dislike for the ‘good’ those same police are trying to uphold.

Regardless what you think of these girls and whether you believe they’re right or wrong, there is no question it is imperative to have a modern work of non-fiction able to get us so close to something we so desperately need to understand in a much deeper manner.

BOOK EXCERPT 1:

“These are my girls”, Kayla Morales said as she carried the shotgun with her arm pointing straight down. She never let that weapon go. She never set it down, she never placed it on her shoulder. So long as I was there and she was in my presence, that shotgun was like another appendage, always there, always moving, clearly placed on her body for a purpose. “These girls would do anything for me”, she continued as each ‘girl’ she mentioned walked by, paying proper deference to her and eyeing me with what seemed to be a pre-selected level of disdain.

We walked a long time in silence, before she stopped, placed the shotgun in a resting position in front of her and turned to face me. She looked at me a long moment, her beautiful green eyes staring into mine and it was then that I noticed how fragile she seemed, standing there in her combat vest and army fatigues and that ubiquitous gun cradled in front of her torso. In any other situation, she would be a beautiful, driven woman. But to me and all the others who are even slightly familiar with her group, she is a dangerous beautiful woman, driven by what many view as a cypher of a moment, a moment even more believe she egotistically used to drive her agenda to the heights it has reached.

She said nothing as she turned back around and we continued through the house these women all shared, an inner-city house not unlike a compound out in the midwest, where polygamists and religious fanatics can practice their devotions in relative seclusion. But this house isn’t secluded at all. These women operate in full view of one of the largest and best-funded police forces in this nation. And their continued success is a testament to the intelligence and drive of their leader, whose fully-realized visage was leading me into the heart of their operation. I knew right then, there was no going back.

“Nation’s Young Blood” Cast Overview: Kayla Asaro is Talia Maasri

filmman — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:39:29 +0000

Nation’s Young Blood:

Four Women. One Plan. The Ultimate Agenda.

With a Little More Planning, It May Have Worked.

Nation’s Young Blood is the story of Kayla Morales, a young woman with ideals that can’t match the techniques she uses to reach her means.

It is the story of an HMO and a young man and of four women doing what they can to make a difference. It is about ‘disobedient’ revolutionaries and ‘radical’ agendas. It is the story of Kayla Morales and the women who helped her forge the unreachable motives of a nearly impossible agenda.

TALIA MAASRI

Actor: Kayla Asaro

Kayla Asaro is Talia Maasri

There is really not much known about Kayla Morales’s right-hand. Some say she met Kayla in Boston, others say she was an old friend from Kayla’s days on the road and even others say she was integral in helping Kayla ‘remove’ herself from the situation in Arizona with her abusive boyfriend.

Either way, rumors and theories abound as to how the two met, but one thing is certain; one thing is known by everyone: Talia Maasri is the most loyal foot soldier of Nation’s Young Blood and is an adept hand-to-hand combat fighter, weapons-handler and enforcer for Kayla Morales.

All that is known of her past is that she was born in the Allston neighborhood of Boston to parents who abandoned her in the main lobby of the Children’s Hospital of Boston.

After being raised for a few years by foster parents many believe used her looks for various nefarious activities, her records disappear and no one knows what happened until she once again met Kayla in Boston, photos of which place them together in Harvard Square not long before recent events.

Regardless of the truth before, the truth now is unequivocal: With Talia Maasri alongside Kayla Morales, the events in question were never anything less than handled.

“Nation’s Young Blood” Cast Overview: Libby Vilner is Aralyn Driese

filmman — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:48:25 +0000

Nation’s Young Blood:

Four Women. One Plan. The Ultimate Agenda.

With a Little More Planning, It May Have Worked.

Nation’s Young Blood is the story of Kayla Morales, a young woman with ideals that can’t match the techniques she uses to reach her means.

ARALYN DRIESE

Actor: Libby Vilner

Libby Vilner is Aralyn Driese

Aralyn Driese is the youngest of the group, and as such, is also the most safeguarded. But that doesn’t mean she is ‘weaker’ than any of the others. Quite the opposite, she is likely the most ambitious and driven and proves easily there is no doubt she would do anything she needed to for any of the others without a moment’s hesitation.

————————————————-

Aralyn Driese was born in Morocco to a Moroccan father and Persian mother. Her parents owned a chain of clothing stores in Casablanca and this is where Aralyn first discovered her love for modeling and fashion.

Nights after school, she would sneak into her parent’s closed business and sometimes, even after accidentally tripping the alarm, she would mix-and-match what outfits she wanted to create on the few mannequins she could carry from the basement storage.

She never lost the passion for that dream, even when she moved on, in high school, and transformed into that consummate combination tomboy/cheerleader mix, where she excelled in numerous sports, for many of which she received potent accolades, including in her favorite among them all: soccer.

Excelling in academics and athletics and public service and anything she decided to tackle, attending college overseas in America seemed the next logical step.

And the most logical choice of college for an ambitious, intelligent, beautiful young international student in America is where she meets Stacie Zhao: Harvard University.

In her first semester at Harvard when the story begins, she makes decisions with the ambition of youth, the free-wheeling nature of an intelligent young woman with the world in front of her and the delight of someone experiencing, in her own words, “A really, really bitchin’ adventure.”

“Nation’s Young Blood” Cast Overview: Nina Brown is Kristina Consiera

filmman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:48:03 +0000

Nation’s Young Blood:

Four Women. One Plan. The Ultimate Agenda.

With a Little More Planning, It May Have Worked.

Nation’s Young Blood is the story of Kayla Morales, a young woman with ideals that can’t match the techniques she uses to reach her means.

KRISTINA CONCIERA

Actor: Nina Brown

Kristina Conciera met Kayla Morales when both participated in the same open mic nights at a local Central Square bar called The Cantab Lounge.

Kristina began doing open-mic nights as a lounge-type singer but then quickly realized her real passion lay in the realm of rap and hip-hop.

Nina Brown is Kristina Conciera

She made a name for herself on the local circuit, enjoyed a bit of national fame for one album and then settled into a comfortable cult-status in the local Boston music scene, mostly collaborating with Jaysaun and Slaine of the Boston rap group Special Teamz.

It was in this time that she met Kayla Morales and a life-long friendship was formed over a mutual bond of life, love and music.

Through Kayla, Kristina would meet most of her closest friends and an inseperable bond would be formed with one young woman, Stacie Zhao.

When Stacie’s young son, Marcus, is diagnosed with inoperable lymphocitic Leukemia, Kristina is thrown back to an earlier part of her life, when her own young daughter died of a brain tumor at 8 years old.

This event, terrible enough by itself, would not be the ultimate event to bond the women together forever. That event would come when the HMO covering Marcus’s largest operation decides to no longer cover the young man and his disease.

This would bond the women forever and propel Kristina into a plan that none of them truly wanted to follow, but that she knew would be the only path they would ever walk again, as it would be the only way she could watch over what happened to her ‘girls’.

It is that role that Kristina feels most comfortable with, viewing herself as the older, ‘protector’ of the group, and when things begin to fall apart, it is she who feels most strongly that, no matter what, it is her place to guard the only member of the group she needs to, a feeling that will have dire consequences for them all.

“Nation’s Young Blood” Cast Overview: Erica Sigaran is Kayla Morales

filmman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:25:33 +0000

Nation’s Young Blood:

Four Women. One Plan. The Ultimate Agenda.

With a Little More Planning, It May Have Worked.

Nation’s Young Blood is the story of Kayla Morales, a young woman with ideals that can’t match the techniques she uses to reach her means.

KAYLA MORALES

Actor: Erica Sigaran

Erica Sigaran is Kayla Morales

Kayla Morales: friend, mentor, former ‘army brat’…idealist.

A young woman. A plan. An idealistic agenda through which she attempts to make a statement.

Perhaps with a little more time…and a little more planning…things could have worked.

—————————–

Kayla Morales was born on an army base in Kentucky to an army Corporal father and a PHD Biologist mother with a specialty in Dementia Research.

She moved to three different schools growing up and once ran away from home at 16, for two years. It was her time in Arizona with an abusive boyfriend that made her realize the mistakes she had made and the ultimate direction she wanted for her life.

She re-enrolled in high school, graduated with honors, and attended Tufts University on a Science scholarship. After travelling Europe for a year and then teaching English in Japan after graduation, she moved back to Davis Square in Cambridge, her old college stomping grounds, and settled into a job with a medical research firm in Kendall Square.

She settled in and made a lot of friends at her weekly stab at being a musician at the weekly Wednesday open-mic nights at the Cantab Lounge and on Thursdays at The People’s Republik.

It was these friendships that would help shape her view of what was happening in the world since the new millenium and those ensuing eight years that saw her realize just what she would have to do: make a difference.

Searching for a purpose through a variety of different means, it wasn’t until, through an incident that saw a close friend’s young son being denied medical care for Leukemia, that she realized, rightly or wrongly, the statement she would finally have to make.

In her words, however, she would express the sentiment she would carry with her through everything she would do: “When you’re doing anything in this life…who says what is ‘right’…and why should I believe those who tell me anything is ‘wrong’? It’s the ultimate outcome that is the only thing that matters.”

Nation’s Young Blood

filmman — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:35:38 +0000

Four Women.

One Plan.

The Ultimate Agenda.

With a Little More Planning, It May Have Worked.

Nation’s Young Blood is the story of Kayla Morales, a young woman with ideals that can’t match the techniques she uses to reach her means.

“The First Derivative has changed.”

filmman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:34:31 +0000

With those words, a story is set in motion. A story of love, suspense, difficult choices, redemption and…mystery.

Discrimen Cast Overview: Mark Odlum is Abercrombie Taverner

filmman — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:58:02 +0000

Each day Filmman will be profiling a character and cast member of his next project, “Discrimen”.

We’ll include a brief bio. and a portion of one or more of their scenes and include pictures and any other relevant information.

Discrimen:

Set in the near future, Discrimen revolves around a defining moment of the APD Wars, and of the greatest soldier of that conflict, Nike Wiknam. Beaten, hungry and exhausted from fighting, Nike Wiknam and his men have been pushed to the border of the large city-state of Suffolk (formerly Boston). With no options and limited resources and a bureaucracy that would rather see them dead, they must now make one of two decisions: declare civil war and march on their homeland or face certain death. For the greatest soldier of his generation, that decision may not be his alone to make.

ABERCROMBIE TAVERNER

Actor: Mark Odlum

Throughout history there have been political wunderkinds and masterminds of all types and descriptions:

Mark Odlum is Abercrombie Taverner

Karl Rove, G. Gordon Liddy, Henry Kissinger, Niccolo Machiavelli.

To that list can now be added another name:

Abercrombie Taverner

The youngest political advisor ever admitted into the hallowed halls of the APD, he was only 17 when he helped administer and coordinate the largest coup of any political system in the known world to that time.

His position solidified with an already-preternatural ability to craft even the smallest speeches into epic moments of oratory, his deft handling of his opponents and quick-thinking when even the slightest bit of hope seemed all but lost assured that Abercrombie Taverner would never fear for his elevated place in the APD political spectrum.

He has spoken to billions through the greatest leaders of his age with his words.

He has been one of the key members in crafting the largest, most powerful political party known to any world.

He is now the closest and most trusted advisor to the most powerful individual on two worlds.

Leaders of all types listen to him; men of any type who aspire to power know they will someday have to deal with him.

He is everywhere. But never seen. He is well-known. But no one knows anything about him.

He is Abercrombie Taverner.

And many believe he will always be the most powerful man no one will know existed.

Actor Info:

Website: www.markodlum.com

Discrimen Cast Overview: Manuela Farina is Atalia Oberlan

filmman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:39:29 +0000

Each day Filmman will be profiling a character and cast member of his next project, “Discrimen”.

We’ll include a brief bio. and a portion of one or more of their scenes and include pictures and any other relevant information.

Discrimen:

ATALIA OBERLAN

Actress: Manuela Farina

Manuela Farina is Atalia Oberlan

One of the greatest engagements fought on any soil in any war:

The Siege at Kulkulkan.

One injured General-Soldier. One Brazilian Civilian of Italian Heritage.

The great pyramid at Kulkulkan.

2,000 Insurgents stopped dead-cold by sheer force of will and one superior modern weapon.

Atalia Oberlan: Aimless. Homeless. Living a life with no true meaning. In the right place at the wrong time but lucky enough to survive through the greatest single defense of a great man ever recorded.

Two souls on far different paths converging in the dense rain forests of Mexico.

One: a great man escaping death.

The other: an aimless soul wandering her adopted country.

Both will meet at the steps of an abandoned ancient wonder.

And both will be tested beyond anything they ever thought either would experience.

Both would pull through. And one would grant the other immediate award and entry into his world. It wasn’t what she asked for and it wasn’t what she expected. But it was, once again, where her life had led her.

Many live a life of expectance and dream of a life spent experiencing.

One woman of a life spent experiencing made decisions in a moment that gave her a role she never expected.

Actor info:

Website: www.manuelafarina.com

Spotlight on: Emmanuel Sutter

filmman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:36:35 +0000

Today we put the spotlight on one of the greatest minds of the APD: Emmanuel Sutter.

David Lamberton is Emmanuel Sutter

“The only true way is for the many to give up what they want so that a select few can benefit from what they can achieve.”

It is he who drafted the original Articles of Incorporation; the original and still-in-use-to-this-day Incorporation Manual; the original plan for the terraforming of another world, that led directly to the push to send the original colonists to Mars…and the only man to ever make the return trip from a foreign planet.

Emmanuel Sutter has shaped his world as much as Edison shaped his age; as much as Einstein shaped his.

Arguably one of the most brilliant scientific minds to ever grace the world stage.

We have been granted access to talk about this man and his work. Easily the most revered scientist to grace our world stage and perhaps the most popular scientist of all time.

Many, however, believe him to be simply a tool of the corporate world to which he so easily seems to relate. Undoubtedly influential, but to what end? And for what means? And when a scientist decides to use his nearly limitless gifts for furthering any state’s agenda…does everyone not have the right to use and profit from the advancements he finds? Where is the line and who draws it?

Emmanuel Sutter. You live by rules that he drafted. A new world has been created from his discoveries and breakthroughs. It is impossible not to revere the man, but can we question his choices? And would the brilliant man care what you think? All that matters is what he’s done, and what he’s done…has changed the world.