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URBAN  MOVIE  CHANNEL  &  AMC  NETWORKS
presents

 RELEASE
an ADEL L. MORALES movie

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HollyHood Productions, Inc. 

LOGLINE

“Maverick” comes home to the Bronx, after twenty-one years. Suffering from the traumas of abuse and neglect, that go hand-in-hand with our American prison systems. He's become a loner, hardened over his lengthy sentence. Layers of frustration and fear, lie underneath his heavy penetrating stare. He’s a changed man figuring out his place in a family he barely remembers, while dealing with the pressures of a changed world and a twenty-one-year-old daughter he doesn’t know.

SYNOPSIS

Ricky “Maverick” Santana comes home after twenty-one years. Suffering from the traumas of abuse and neglect, that go hand-in-hand with our American prison systems, he has become a loner, hardened over his lengthy sentence. He is a master of manipulation, who trusts no one. His PTSD is triggered by feelings of inadequacy, indecision, or disrespect. The hopelessness that has crept into his face gives him a more rugged look than in his youth. There are layers of frustration and fear, just underneath his heavy penetrating stare. Maverick hikes eight hours from an upstate prison, along the Old Croton Trailway, to his Mom’s small project apartment in the Bronx. He meets several new family members, but none more important than his twenty-year-old daughter, Ellie.

 

A constant state of alertness has made it difficult for Maverick to ever really relax. He rarely sleeps and, when he does, he has nightmares. At a “Welcome Home” party for Maverick, Ellie is pinned against a wall by her baby’s daddy, Nestor. The assault progresses to forceful kisses. Fortunately, Maverick is close by and rescues his daughter. Later that night, Ellie and swollen-eyed Maverick sit on the couch still contemplating the day’s events. Ellie checks the bruise under Maverick's eye, kissing it gently to ease the pain. There's a silent tension, as they stare at each other for two beats too long. Between these related strangers something raw, primal, and forbidden has been released.

Maverick’s mother, Janet, gets him a job at a clothing store, working for an under-sexed woman, Valerie, from her church. Trying to connect her son, with an entrepreneur and a Christian, is exactly the type of passive-aggression Janet has always displayed. It’s never really mattered what anyone wanted. Janet always knows best.

 

Maverick and Valerie have sex several times, but he soon grows tired of her and ends their relationship. Meanwhile he is feeling more comfortable at home and getting closer to his daughter, but the signs of affection that they share are always awkward. To make matters worse, his PTSD triggers are being activated with more frequency, which causes him to get thrown in jail for a weekend.

His ex-wife, Sally, bails him out and he mistakes her kindness for affection, which makes him try to win her back. Soon after, Janet uncovers a secret between Maverick and Ellie that shatters her soul. Janet ends up blaming herself for ignoring her suspicions and commits suicide. Losing his mother, ending his relationship with his daughter, and being rebuffed by Sally, causes Maverick to fall deeper into depression and paranoia.

 

He decides his only chance at redemption is to go to Nestor's apartment and leave NYC with Ellie and Elijah; to protect them. Will his plan backfire sending him back to prison for good or will it work, convincing his daughter to run away with him where they will live ... happily ever after? -- This is a tragic story of what happens when two broken souls, who have never met, finally do connect, and give into their feelings of love.

Logline
Cast
IAN PAOLA

Ricky “MAVERICK” Santana is a 40-year-old loner hardened over twenty-one years in prison. He is a master of manipulation with a deep frustration just underneath his penetrating stare.

PRISCILLA STAR DIAZ

ELLIE is a single-parent with a dead-beat Baby-Daddy. She’s, also, Mav’s 21-year-old daughter, whom he last saw as an infant. Lack of a stable father figure causes her to make poor romantic choices.

DENIA BRACHE

JANET is Mav’s 65-year-old mother, who has spent the last twenty years praying & working for her son’s freedom. She’s a strict believer in the Catholic faith and loving grandmother and great-grandmother.

CARIDAD DE LA LUZ

SALLY,(38), is Mav’s ex-wife. She loved him once. Now she lives in New Jersey with her husband in a luxury condo with a Hudson River view.

GRIZEL "CHACHI" DEL VALLE

DAISY,(36), Mav’s sister who loves her brother through most of his faults. But, she has her limits.

EDNA LEE FIGUEROA

VALERIE,(39), goes to church with Janet and offers Maverick a job that he accepts.

OMAR CAPRA

FERNANDO,(39), is Daisy’s long time boyfriend. He refuses to accept the idea that Daisy won’t ever marry him.

JONATHAN IGLESIAS

NESTOR, (25), Ellie’s cheating boyfriend and baby’s father; the definition of a “dead-beat.”

VICTOR CRUZ

HERNAN,(31), a co-worker of Maverick's who helps him get used to life on the outside.

ESTER JIRON

BARBARA,(21), a co-worker of Maverick's who shares some laughs with Maverick.

PETER DAVENPORT

MICHAEL,(52), is the divorce lawyer who helped end Maverick & Sally's marriage. He is currently Sally's new husband.

ROBERT MCKAY

FATHER MCKEY,(58), pastor of the church and a family friend. 

The Crew
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executive producer, writer, & director 
ADEL L. MORALES

Adel has produced twenty short films & two features, while in NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Grad Film Program. He has written & directed eight of those projects.

producer
ANDERS N. BERG
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producer
IAN PAOLA
producer
GISELL CABRERA
co-producer
MAX RISSMAN
co-producer & casting director
ELAINE DEL VALLE
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co-producer & post supervisor
HADRIEN ROYO
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co-producer
FRANKIE VILLANUEVA
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co-producer & script consultant
JULIO ANTONIO TORO
director of photography
LORENA DURÁN
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production designer
SIMON SCHABERT
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music composer & acoustic guitars
ROBERTO ALFONSO
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music composer, sound designer & audio post
Z JADWICK
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co-editor
KYLE MORIARTY
more crew
top row left: JR DAVIS (key grip),ISAIAH RICO (swing/g&e), & JAMES RICO (gaffer)
2nd row left: WOONJAE PARK, (2nd ac/dit), BRADLEY BIXLER (AC),  IAN PAOLA (maverick), SIMON SCHABERT (prod. design), DAVID GARCIA (grip/driver), MAX RISSMAN (producer), GRACE KIM (script sup.) AZAEL BUENO (driver/pa)
1st row left:  DEBOLEENA MAITRA(sound mixer), JACKSY VILLANUEVA (HMU), PRISCILLA STAR DIAZ (ellie), JIAN 'LAYLA' LUO (ad), GISELL ARISMENDI (producer), LORE DURÁ  N(DP) 
on floor:     ADEL
Behind
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Release Channel
Release Channel

Release Channel

RELEASE Official Trailer #2 (2020)

Bronx Filmmaker, Adel L. Morales, interviewed by NEWS12BX

“RELEASE” Film | OPEN

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