Elaine, a beautiful young witch, is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. However, her spells work too well, leaving her with a string of hapless victims. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved will drive her to the brink of insanity and murder.
With a visual style that pays tribute to Technicolor thrillers of the ‘60s, THE LOVE WITCH explores female fantasy and the repercussions of pathological narcissism.
Samantha Robinson - Elaine
Samantha Robinson was born in New York City to Panamanian and English parents. At age three she moved to London and began studying at LAMDA. She attended the all girls’ school Queens Gate in South Kensington, whilst spending her free time dancing and taking acting classes, eventually landing a role in the West End in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. At fourteen her family decided to relocate to Miami where she attended the prestigious performing arts school, New World School of the Arts. There she performed several lead roles in the most prominent art-houses in Miami. Moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film, she attended UCLA with a concentration in acting. Since graduating in 2014, she has had a supporting lead role in the Lifetime movie SUGAR DADDIES starring Peter Strauss, and more recently a lead role in the feature film THE LOVE WITCH, directed by Anna Biller.
Laura Waddell - Trish
Laura trained at the prestigious East 15 Acting School, London. She went on to work extensively in London’s West End, and credits include Top Girls directed by Samuel West at the Alameda, Elegies at the Fortune Theatre, and the role of Ophelia in a national tour of Hamlet. Laura quickly acquired her Green Card in the U.S., and has worked on the Lifetime movie WILLIAM AND KATE, the STARZ series TORCHWOOD MIRACLE DAY, the Disney movie SAVING MR. BANKS, and most recently the new Guillermo del Toro film CRIMSON PEAK. She is also an established voice and motion capture performer for video games.
Jeffrey Vincent Parise - Wayne
Jeffrey Vincent Parise is a Los Angeles based actor. He has appeared in many television shows, such as CSI:NY, PARTY DOWN, and I ZOMBIE. Most recently he finished a two- year run on GENERAL HOSPITAL playing Carlos Rivera. Most notably, Parise was in the final episode of MAD MEN, playing Vince the Guru, speaking the last spoken words of the iconic series. Parise has appeared in over 20 films, three of which were directed by Wim Wenders, including DON’T COME KNOCKING, written by and starring Sam Shepard. He also starred in CALLBACK: THE UNMAKING OF BLOODSTAIN, for which he took home three Best Actor awards for his performance.
Gian Keys - Griff
Gian Keys has a background in the U.S. Air Force and in competitive bodybuilding, both of which have given him discipline and dedication that he now applies to his acting career. He has studied television and film acting in Los Angeles since 2012, and since then has worked in numerous commercials and shorts, appearing in commercials for Budweiser, Ford, Volvo, Old Spice, and Nationwide Life Insurance. He has also had the pleasure of working with Bea Arthur and Sally Struthers. More recently, he played the lead in the 35mm feature film THE LOVE WITCH.
Jared Sanford - Gahan
Jared Sanford has been performing since he was a child. In high school he studied theater and voice, performing in musicals and regional theater in Hawaii. He then toured with a rock band, and ended up in New York where he met director Anna Biller, with whom he would begin a collaboration that lasts to this day, co-producing and acting in original films and theater productions. He went on to earn an MFA in film from CalArts and wrote and directed some of his own art films, at the same time honing his acting craft and performing in more plays and musicals around Los Angeles.
He starred in and co-produced the cult feature film VIVA, and more recently was featured in several web series, and played a male witch and was executive producer for the 35mm feature film THE LOVE WITCH.
Robert Seeley - Richard
Robert Seeley traveled the word as a child as a military brat, and he credits this experience for absorbing the different cultures and people that inform his work. He has performed extensively in theater. Some of his favorite roles include Richard The Lionhearted from The Lion In Winter, Christopher Wren from The Mousetrap, and Leslie Bright from The Madness of Lady Bright. Robert holds a theater degree from California State University Long Beach, and studied Shakespeare with Patrick Stewart. He worked with William Richert in The Man In The Iron Mask, with Carl Ballentine on the NBC pilot THE MAGIC PEARLS, and with Fred Willard in the play None of a Kind. Robert stars in a short film, IF YOU COULD ONLY BE YOU, which is now playing the festival circuit, and another film, AT FALLING ROCK, which will be released later this year. Other film and television highlights include HOW’S YOUR ROMANCE, THE LOST WORLD (along with Leonard Nimoy and John Delancie), and PERFECT MATE. Robert is also presently attached to the series SHIFTING SHADOWS for writer/director Martin Donovan.
Jennifer Ingrum - Barbara
Jennifer Ingrum, a classically trained ballerina from San Diego, has won International dance competitions and performed in numerous ballets, including the lead Clara in the California Ballet Company’s The Nutcracker. In high school drama Jennifer found her passion, acquired an L.A. agent, and studied at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After a few commercials, Jennifer landed her first role in the Horror movie BLOODSHED. Jennifer danced in THE ARTIST, (Best Picture 2011), where her clip was shown during the Oscar telecast. Jennifer can be seen in Broken Lizard’s latest comedy THE BABYMAKERS, and in various television series, including FRANKLIN & BASH, CSI: MIAMI, and the Lifetime movie WILLIAM & KATE. Jennifer plays Barbara, the High Priestess, in the 35mm feature film THE LOVE WITCH.
Jan Bijvoet - Theo
Jan Bijvoet was born in Antwerp in 1966. He has been one of the artistic directors and actors of the Antarctica Theater since 2005. He has also performed in film and television, guest-starring in a number of series. He has starred in the films AD FUNDUM, THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Academy® Award nominee), and BORGMAN (Official Selection – Competition, Cannes 2013). In 2007, he was nominated for the Flemish Culture Award of Scenic Arts. Referring to the German explorer who was the inspiration for his character, he reflects that even though Grünberg tried to integrate with the native people, he could not let go of his white spirit. “He had the western way of thinking, and he wanted to carry hundreds of things to study. Love is possession, too. He is also afraid of death. He doesn’t understand why, but it’s because deep down, he is a materialist since his formation, even though he tries to drift away from it.”
Brionne Davis - Evan
Brionne Davis was born in Texas and started acting at a very early age, playing Tom Sawyer. He has starred and taken leading roles in more than 30 independent feature length and short films and television series, including REST STOP: DON’T LOOK BACK (2008), DOROTHY AND THE WITCHES OF OZ (2012), Pandemic (2007), NARCISSIST (2014), SAVAGED (2013), and HOLIDAYS WITH HEATHER (2006). In New York, Brionne starred in the Theatre Row adaptation of Sam Shepard’s “True West.” He has appeared in many theater productions all across the country, including “Wallenburg” at the Soho Playhouse, “A Noble Exile” in Los Angeles and “Nueva York,” a one-man show that he wrote  and produced, inspired by the writings of Tennessee Williams. Davis’ character “Evan” in EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT was inspired by the great botanist and explorer Richard Evans Schultes, and he feels close to him in his love of and search for plants and nature.
Antonio Bolívar Savador - Old Karamakate
Antonio Bolívar Salvador is one of the last survivors of the Ocaina people. He resides near Leticia and has had some previous experiences in filmmaking, but he prefers not to speak about them because he feels that they were disrespectful to his culture. Besides playing one of the main characters, he also served as interpreter for the Tikuna, Cubeo, Huitoto languages and even English, as he became the teacher of the international actors. He represents the best of the Amazonian people: willing to trust foreigners, to transmit their knowledge and thankful to be treated respectfully. That’s the most important aspect of the film to him: “It is a film that shows the Amazon, the lungs of the world, the greater purifying filter and the most valuable of indigenous cultures. That is its greatest achievement.”
Nilbio Torres - Young Karamakate
Nilbio Torres has never set foot in a gym; his amazing physique has been sculpted by the hardships of the jungle and the hard work he’s done since he was little. The 30- year-old has only worked in agriculture and this is his first experience with the cinema. He has a hard time expressing himself in Spanish, as he speaks mostly Cubeo. But he manages to find words to tell what this experience has meant to him. He feels the film is faithful to the story of his ancestors. “What Ciro is doing with this film is an homage to the memory of our elders, in the time before: the way the white men treated the natives, the rubber exploitation. I’ve asked the elders how it was and it is as seen in the film, that’s why we decided to support it. For the elders and myself it is a memory of the ancestors and their knowledge.”
Yauenkü Miguee - Manduca
Yauenkü Miguee was born and raised in Nazareth, a Tikuna community of the Amazon, 26 years ago. He is now a student of physical education in Bogotá and is about to achieve his greatest goal: to become a professional. He defines his participation in the film as a new experience in his life, this time from the field of art and corporal expression, which reinforced his thinking and showed him how to see life from different perspectives. He believes this film should be shared not only with the people of the locations, but all across the country, with all the indigenous peoples in Leticia and the Amazon, with the leaders, in schools and universities. He is the voice of many Manducas, a voice that, far away from the so-called civilization, cries out for a more civilized attitude towards Colombia’s indigenous communities.
Anna Biller - Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, Production & Costume Designer
Anna Biller’s 35mm cult feature VIVA and her 16mm art-film shorts have screened at major film festivals and art spaces around the world, and her work has been discussed in academic cinema journals. She is known for her use of classic and outdated film genres to talk about female roles within culture, coding feminist ideas within cinematic aesthetics and visual pleasure. She creates all of her own costumes and set designs, making many or the props and paintings as well as composing and scoring for her films. She has a BA in art from UCLA, and an MFA in art and film from CalArts. She continues to work on film because of her interest in emulating the look and feel of classic cinema, and her latest film, THE LOVE WITCH, was made using only traditional film processes.
M. David Mullen, ASC - Cinematographer
M. David Mullen studied filmmaking and cinematography at the California Institute of the Arts, where he received his Master’s Degree. Since then, he has photographed almost forty independent feature films, four television series, and a number of pilots. He was nominated for the IFP Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography in 2000 for TWIN FALLS IDAHO, and again in 2004 for NORTHFORK, both films by Michael and Mark Polish. In 2000, he photographed JACKPOT, the first 24P HD feature to be released theatrically in North America. In 2004 he became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers; in 2007 he joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Projects released theatrically in the past few years include JENNIFER’S BODY (2009), SEVEN DAYS IN UTOPIA (2011), BIG SUR (2013), and 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN (2015). SMASH aired on NBC in 2012-13 and EXTANT aired on CBS in 2014.
Many of his features have played at major film festivals over the years. TWIN FALLS IDAHO, NORTHFORK, TWO BROTHERS & A BRIDE, ASSASSINATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT, MANURE, and BIG SUR were all shown at the Sundance Film Festival. STAY COOL played at the Tribeca Film Festival, and JENNIFER’S BODY at the Toronto International Film Festival. He also updated the classic textbook Cinematography with original author Kris Malkiewicz, and has written a number of articles about his own work for various filmmaking magazines.
