Michelle-Anne M. Small

Michelle-anne's most recently produced film, Gun Hill Road, stars Esai Morales (Caprica) and Judy Reyes (Scrubs), in a family drama, wherein a Puerto Rican father comes home from jail, to the Bronx after a three year absence, to find his teenage son in the midst of a sexual transition. Gun Hill Road made its World Premiere on January 25, 2011, to a sold out audience, at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, shortly thereafter, was acquired for distribution by Motion Film Group, who is preparing for a summer 2011 theatrical release. Gun Hill Road marks a culmination of the last seven years, which started in 2003 with the launch of A Small Production Co. and Michelle-anne's first feature film, Not Just Yet. It was an ambitious project for the then filmmaking novice to take on. The story was a coming of age drama, which closely reflected Michelle's experiences, in the midst of her own quarter life crisis. It was completed in October 2003 and was awarded a Melvin Van Peebles Maverick Award at the 2004 San Francisco Black Film Festival. Her raw talent was recognized in her first review, "Writer/Helmer deserves credit for projects naturalistic air and pragmatic scale." Harvey, D. (2004, July 20). S.F. Black Film Fest. Variety . Michelle, creative talent notwithstanding, decided to turn her attention to producing. However, choosing to write, direct and produce a feature as a first foray into filmmaking, armed solely with a passion and raw talent, belied her willful, daring, and fearless nature, which continued to serve her well, in the years to come. Over the next few years, she continued to develop her craft on small budgeted projects, such as Ghetto Dog 2, an urban drama, distributed by Lion's Gate Entertainment in 2005, Pendulum, a psychological thriller, starring Paul Ben Victor (True Romance) and Back Stab, an urban heist, starring Chyna Layne (Precious), which premiered at Urban World Film Festival 2007. In 2008, needing to continue to grow in her craft, Michelle took on her biggest production to date, an ambitious 35mm, 120 page feature, with a 24 day shooting schedule. A Kiss of Chaos, a Latino crime thriller, starring Adam Rodriguez (CSI: Miami), Judy Marte (Raising Victor Vargas), and Manny Perez (Bella) was completed in winter of 2008. It premiered at HBO American Black Film Festival 2009, screened at HBO New York International Latino Film Festival 2009 and Won Best Feature and the SOHO International Film Festival 2010. A Kiss of Chaos was released by Maya Entertainment December 2010. Michelle has returned to her creative roots for her next project. She has penned a period drama, entitled At Last, which is currently in late development (July 2011) and has a production start date of July 2011. She is also producing Stupid Cupid, a romantic comedy, co-produced with Saldana Productions and A Small Production Co, as part of a slate of projects to be executed thru 2012. It seems that Michelle's career has come full circle and she is fulfilling her company's mission: to create high quality independent film projects, that explore the human condition in a manner that is both unique and compelling, and engages with no compromise on integrity.