WURTSBORO - 15 minutes Synopsis: A short film adaption of Käla Mandrake's fiction/poetry book entitled FICTION STORY. In homage to the old silent film era of the early 1900's, WURTSBORO is told solely through music, silent video footage and narration. Instead of the use of black cards for dialog, as was the style of the original silent films, there is voice-over narration to tell story, much of it read directly from the book it is based upon. In this way, the film is more a cross between a silent film, an audiobook and a music video. WURTSBORO is the story of "The Girl in White" and "The Girl in Black." The two have a strong, dependent, almost obsessive friendship that leads to the disappearance of one and the insanity of the other. It is a psychological-spiritual fairy tale that attempts to understand the most intimate of relationships within the human heart. The film opens in the countryside of Wurtsboro, New York and leads to a revelation that can only happen by walking the streets alone in the labyrinth of Manhattan.

THE MAKING OF A BURLESQUE MUSIC VIDEO - 8 minutes Synopsis: An impromptu behind-the-scenes documentation of the making-of world-known burlesque artist and singer Melody Sweets' music video "SLICE OF HEAVEN".

MANDRAKE: THE MASKED MAN TRAILER - 2 minutes Synopsis: Trailer for the upcoming documentary about the secretive man behind the world-famous persona Mandrake the Magician, Kala Mandrake's grandfather.

KALA MANDRAKE has been working in television and film for over 6 years. Writer/producer and video editor for HBO, Cinemax and BBC America during the past 5 years, and has worked on various shorts and full-feature films, including Hollywood director Doug Liman's movie Fair Game. In May 2011, she directed and edited her short film entitled WURTSBORO. She also produced, directed and edited the Behind-the-Scenes movie for world-known burlesque artist and singer Melody Sweets' music video, as well as award-winning HBO producer Jenn Grauer's music video.

In February 2011, she officially launched Kala Mandrake Underground Media Productions (KMUMP) while producing promotional shows for the first season of HBO's original series Game of Thrones. Born and raised in New York, Käla Mandrake has been documenting the underground art and music scene since she was 15 years old. As a teenager, she hung out in squats and underground venues on the Lower East Side, photographing punk bands, squatters and the homeless. She frequented cutting edge non-profit organizations ABC NoRio and The Collective Unconscious. She attended punk shows at these places as well as make-shift venues such as the Gas Station, the Garage and the basement of C Squat in Alphabet City. At 17 years old she spent a year playing keyboards in a girl-fronted glam-rock band which introduced her into a subculture of girl bands. Staying true to her vision of the underground, Käla has always sought out establishments to showcase her work that supports the local artist in every way.

Käla is the granddaughter of the legendary stage performer, Mandrake the Magician. Contemporary to the 1930's comic superhero of the same name, Leon Mandrake began his career in Vaudeville and went on to perform and invent magic acts on the road with Käla's grandmother, Velvet for over 50 years. They had their 4 children on the road, including Käla's father, a New York musician. Käla's mother is a multi-media artist and political activist, and her paternal great- grandparents worked in Vaudeville as well as musicians. Käla has published two books. Photography book UNDERGROUND is an intimate look into some of the unique and brave souls of New York City's underground scene. FICTION STORY is a fiction -poetry book, the inspiration for her latest film WURTSBORO. For more information, please visit http://kalamandrake.com/

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About The After-Set Independent Film Program

The Program is operated on a weekly basis depending on availability on the screening room at Tribeca Grand Hotel. As a courtesy, we do not charge the filmmakers to screen their films and we allow them to showcase their work to their own audience. However, we do ask for an online admission to keep the program running and we give a weekly contribution to Healing The Children Northeast, an organization that helps doctors travel abroad and operate on children who need medical assistance. For more information please visit www.htcne.org. If you are a filmmaker and would like to screen your work with us, feel free to email us at nyc@after-set.com

TICKETS ONLINE: $10

TICKETS AT DOOR: NOT AVAILABLE

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