~ Key Collaborators ~

Alex Warren - Writer / Director / Producer 

Alex Warren is an American director, actor and writer whose work has been recognized on NPR, in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, PBS, Pitchfork, Vogue, Vice and at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.  He’s directed 10 narrative short films & over 50 short documentaries. He’s acted in 8 films and his short stories have been published in various magazines such as Flaunt and Decades.

 

Babak Khoshnoud / Yours Truly - Producer 

Babak co-founded the production company Yours Truly in 2011, working with brands like adidas originals, Ray-Ban, Apple Music, and Spotify to create global campaigns with scripted, documentary and hybrid films. His work has been recognized by publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times, NPR, and Wired Magazine. In addition to producing Automatic Everything, he’s currently producing feature-length documentary THE CHARLEY PROJECT, which was included in 2019’s IFP Spotlight on Documentaries.

 

Kunjue Li - Actor from Sichuan, China

Kunjue has worked on BBC dramas including Ripper Street, Peaky Blinders and the award winning mini-series One Child. Kunjue starred in three short films that were selected in Cannes Film Festival in three consecutive years since 2014. She was awarded Best Leading Actress in China UK Microfilm Festival 2015, and honored in June 2017 by UK-based charity Arts for India (AFI), with the 'Young Icon Award' for her contributions in Film, Television and Theatre. In 2019, Kunjue stars in Chinese horror film The Funeral and Alan Yang’s Tigertail.

 

Ella Smith - Actor from London, England

A stage and film actress who trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Ella stars in the 2018 film Ray and Liz, which was nominated for six BAFTA’s, received a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival, and earned her the Grand Prix and Best Actress awards at the BIAFF Batumi festival. Ella was recently announced as a lead in the upcoming Joss Wheedon HBO series The Nevers.

 

Bobby Rush - Actor from Jackson, Mississippi 

A legendary Grammy award winning, 12x Blues Music Award winning, and B.B. King Entertainer of the Year singer, songwriter and actor. Bobby is a lead figure in the Martin Scorcese-produced I Am The Blues and plays a role as himself in the upcoming Eddie Murphy film My Name Is Dolemite. He’s made over 300 records in his expansive 60+ year career. Bobby stars in I Am The Blues and prominently featured in Martin Scorcese’s The Blues. He’s opened for Elvis Presley, collaborated with Buddy Guy and Little Richard, and has been inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame.

 

Kristoffer Borgli - actor from Oslo, Norway 

An award winning Norwegian writer/director of numerous short films, music videos and commercials. His short film Whateverest(2013) landed him a documentary award at the AFI Festival, which subsequently had to be returned after an article inThe Guardian exposed it as fiction. His debut feature film DRIB (2017), starring Brett Gelman, premiered at the SXSW festival, and has since played over 20 festivals, including Fantasia Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, IDFA and CPH:DOX. Filmmaker Magazine called the film "an incredible feat". In 2018 his film A Place We Call Reality received the Norwegian Film Critic Association award for best short of the year. Alumni of the Venezia Biennale College, 2016. His short films Former Cult Member Hears Music For The First Time, Softcore, and EER have all won awards and each stars Alex Warren.

 

Courtney Pauroso - Actor from Los Angeles, CA

An actress, writer and an alum of The Groundlings Sunday Company. Her credits include FRANKLIN & BASH, 2 BROKE GIRLS, KEY & PEELE, GOOD LUCK CHARLIE, PERFECT COUPLES, and JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE. She is a member of the sketch group Big Boss and has performed in Fairy Tale Theater: 18 & Over. In the summer of 2019, she performed her one-person show “Gutterplum” at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest.

 

Jane Rule Burdine - Actor from Taylor, MS

Jane Rule is a widely celebrated folk photographer and personality. During the Southern writing renaissance of the 80s and 90s in Oxford, her home (which is used as a location in Automatic Everything) became a central hub for bohemian life. Throughout the years, Jane Rule has hosted the famous and infamous: world renowned actors, musicians, artists and writers mixed with bootleggers, liars and every imaginable raconteur. Once called by the writer Barry Hannah “the Gertrude Stein of the Mississippi,” Burdine might be the most famous unknown artist in the South.

 

Vatana Shaw - Actor from Los Angeles, CA 

Vatana Shaw was born and raised in California. An entertainment professional specializing in artist development, brand management, marketing, and touring, Vatana makes her on-screen debut in Automatic Everything.

 

Dabbs Anderson - Actor from Los Angeles, CA

Dabbs Anderson is an actress making her debut in two upcoming films, Automatic Everything, and Freak Power: The Battle of Aspen. In both films she plays herself. Ms. Anderson spends most of her time playing guitar and designing a wide variety of mysterious and sharply hilarious works of creativity. Some are invisible. Ms. Anderson can be found serendipitously and on the internet.

 
 

Will Goss - Actor from Clarksdale, MS

Will Goss is from a very small town called Clarksdale, Mississippi – also known as “Home of the Blues.” Will studied English literature at the University of Georgia, then moved to Chicago to study filmmaking at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was here that Will began directing his epic 10-part film Magenta's Caress. Will plays a Liquor Store Clerk in Alex’s film The Temperature Of Father James Martin.

 
 

Olya Feldberg - Actor from Moscow, Russia

Olya makes her American debut in Automatic Everything. She began filming two days after moving to the States from Moscow, Russia. Olya is a sociologist and currently in a doctorate program at the University of Virginia.

Michael Bible - Writer

Michael Bible is the author of the novels SOPHIA and EMPIRE OF LIGHT. Michael studied under Barry Hannah and worked with David Milch adapting William Faulkner's Light in August for HBO. He now divides his time between Mississippi and New York City. “Michael Bible...brings out the strange fire at the heart of everyday life.” - New York Times

 

Chris Taylor - Sound Design 

Producer and bass player of seminal indie bands Grizzly Bear and CANT. Founder of Terrible Records.