William West

DVD trailer for Alleged. Love and faith are put to the ultimate test in this stirring romantic drama set against the landmark Scopes 'Monkey Trial' of 1925. Charles Anderson (Nathan West, Miracle) is a talented young reporter engaged to Rose (Ashley Johnson), who works with him at the Tennessee small town newspaper his late father founded. The 'Trial of the Century' brings brilliant adversaries William Jennings Bryan (Fred Dalton Thompson) and Clarence Darrow (Brian Dennehy) to Charles' hometown. But as the trial unfolds, Charles is caught up in the media circus and becomes torn between his journalistic integrity and impressing his mentor, the colorful Baltimore Sun editor H. L. Mencken (Colm Meaney, Star Trek: The Next Generation), who presses him to 'make a story' instead of report one.

Trailer for Alleged. Alleged is a romantic drama based on events occurring behind the scenes and outside the courtroom of the famous Scopes 'Monkey Trial' of 1925. Charles Anderson (Nathan West), a talented young reporter, feels trapped living in a tiny town (Dayton, TN, 1925) in steep decline. Using the Monkey Trial as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to break into the journalistic big leagues, Charles becomes the eager prot g of Baltimore Sun editor H.L Mencken (Colm Meany), America's most colorful and influential columnist. The trial itself lives up to its billing as the 'Trial of the Century' when the great Clarence Darrow (Brian Dennehy) defends the theory of evolution against the popular statesman and fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan (Sen. Fred Thompson) who sees the reduction of mankind to mere animal status as both inaccurate and potentially disastrous. Once in the midst of this staged event, Charles is torn between his love for the more principled Rose (Ashley Johnson), his fianc e, and the escalating moral compromises that he is asked to make by the agnostic and acerbic Mencken. When the truth is at stake, Charles discovers, some lies just have to be told.

Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish -- The play Romeo and Juliet has been translated around the world. Now Eve Annenberg s gritty, funny new feature film sets William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in contemporary New York City with Brooklyn-inflected English and Yiddish spoken by a talented cast. Ava, a wisecracking middle-aged E.R. nurse and bitterly lapsed Orthodox Jew undertakes a translation of Shakespeare s Romeo and Juliet (from old Yiddish to new Yiddish) in her pursuit of a Master's degree. In over her head, she accepts help from some charismatic and ethically challenged (a.k.a. scamming), charming young Ultra Orthodox dropouts, Lazer and Mendy. When another ex-Orthodox leaver enchants her apartment with Kabbalah magic that he is leaking due to over-studying, the boys begin to live Shakespeare s play in their heads, in a gauzy and beautiful alternate reality where everyone is Orthodox. Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish tucks Shakespeare s tale of greatest woe into a story of intra-Judaic culture clash in present day Brooklyn….It s premise is charming and not at all far-fetched. Anyone who loves West Side Story knows that New York is full of warring tribes and clans to serve as Montagues and Capulets….Ms. Annenberg aims for (and often achieves) the energy and inventiveness of an improvised, process-driven group project. The movie is always interesting to watch, but you come away with the distinct feeling that it was absolutely thrilling to make. A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Poetry, portraits, the arts and China. East meets West in this short film by Chilean artist/ filmmaker Carolina Loyola-Garcia. The film captures the great Chinese poet, Huang Xiang, and American artist, William Rock, as they tirelessly collaborate to create painted portraits the artists call a 'visual dialogue across humanity.' This film had a celebrated premiere at The Antiga Audiencia in Tarragona, Spain. The film has been called a 'potent film of a powerful arts collaboration' and 'a heart-warming film and a miracle of stainless mind.'