K. Lorrel Manning - Writer/Director

recently wrote and directed Happy New Year – a short film based on his critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play of the same title. He’s currently in heavy development on the feature length version (www.hnyfilm.com). His additional works include, A&J Rule the Universe, a prelude to the Columbine massacre, which ran Off-Broadway in 2006, and Wool, for which he was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) fellowship. Manning’s plays have been developed at theatres throughout New York City, including the Roundabout, the Rattlestick and the Barrow Group. He is a co-founder (with Michael Cuomo) of One Light Left, a full-service production company dedicated to telling stories that would otherwise go unheard, and he is the lead singer of the rock band, La Res (www.myspace.com/vivelares). He holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University.

Michael Cuomo - Lead Actor/Producer

Michael recently starred as “Cole” in the short film Happy New Year (which he also co-produced), written and directed by K. Lorrel Manning, reprising his role from the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play. A co-founder of One Light Left, Cuomo is currently in heavy development with Manning on the feature length version (www.hnyfilm.com). He just returned from Austin, TX where he shot a supporting role in Bandslam – a feature film directed by Todd Graff (Camp) for Fox/Walden. His additional film credits include Four Eyed Monsters (IFC Films) and No Diving (GenArt). He has performed at theatres throughout New York City, including the Rattlestick, Naked Angels and the Barrow Group. He trained with Joseph Chaikin, Brad Calcaterra and Seth Barrish.

Iain Smith - Executive Producer

Iain formed his own production company in partnership with Jon Schorstein and produced television commercials, documentaries, children’s feature films and low budget dramas.

He went on to line produce a variety of films for David Puttnam including Local Hero starring Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert, The Killing Fields starring Sam Waterston and Haing Ngor, and The Mission starring Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons.

In 1987 he formed Applecross Productions and went on to co-produce Richard Marquand’s Hearts of Fire starring Bob Dylan and Rupert Everett followed by City of Joy starring Patrick Swayze and Pauline Collins in 1991 and Ridley Scott’s 1492 - Conquest of Paradise starring Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver in 1992.

In 1994 he co-produced Stephen Frears’ Mary Reilly starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich, for Tristar Pictures, followed by Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element in 1996, which starred Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman.

He then produced Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Seven Years in Tibet starring Brad Pitt and David Thewlis, for Columbia Pictures, followed by Jon Amiel’s Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, for Twentieth Century Fox.

He executive produced Tony Scott’s Spy Game for Universal Pictures which starred Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, followed by Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain for Miramax starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zelwegger. He went on to produce Oliver Stone’s Alexander for Intermedia starring Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, followed by Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain for New Regency/Warner Bros. starring Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn. Most recently, he produced Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men for Strike Entertainment/Universal Pictures, and Timur Bekmambetrov’s Wanted for Universal Pictures.

One Light Left

One Light Left, established by K. Lorrel Manning and Michael Cuomo in January 2008, is a full service production company based in New York City. It is our aim to develop and create powerful films that shed light on stories that would otherwise go unheard. Happy New Year is the first of four independent features on our slate, followed by Red House, Stepping into the Light and Lonnie-Jake.