About the Filmakers

Tamar Simon Hoffs (Director/Writer/Producer)

A seasoned filmmaker and alumna of the prestigious AFI Directing Workshop for
Women, Ms. Hoffs was the first woman to receive the triple director/writer/producer
credit on a major studio feature film, The Allnighter (Universal, 1987). Her critically
acclaimed short comedy, “The Haircut,” also released through Universal, starred John
Cassavetes and was a film festival favorite, an “Official Selection of Cannes” (Un Certain Regard) and an official selection of the Sundance, Toronto, and Telluride film festivals. The experience of directing the iconic John Cassavetes in her first film set Hoffs’ directing career in motion on a high note.

Hoffs' first major film credit came in 1974 as co-writer of Warner Brothers' Lepke,
starring Tony Curtis. Two years later, she served as writer-producer with Andrew Davis
on Stony Island (1978), a seminal independent film about a group of R&B musicians in
inner city Chicago. It was screened at Sundance and Deauville and was a winner at the
Chicago Film Festival.

A pioneer in the use of new media, Hoffs wrote, produced, and directed Rock 'N' Read
(MCA-Universal, 1989), starring Pauly Shore, for younger audiences. She also served
as producer, writer, and voice director on the BAFTA-nominated, digital animation
series, “Horrible Histories” (Scholastic Entertainment, 2001), narrated by Stephen Rea.
For the theater, Hoffs directed “Ghost Music,” starring Pam Grier, Jennifer Warren, and
Nick Cassavetes. She has directed and produced numerous music videos, most notably “Going Down to Liverpool” and “If She Knew What She Wants” (Columbia Records, 1984) by The Bangles.

Tamar Simon was born in the steel town of Johnstown, PA, but grew up in Chicago. She
received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago,
followed by graduate studies in painting with Josef Albers at Yale University School of
Fine Arts. Planning a career in art education, she pursued a Masters degree at the
Illinois Institute of Technology, Institute of Design. After moving to Los Angeles, she
discovered her true calling as a filmmaker almost by accident, when she was asked by
actor/director Leonard Nimoy to join the art department of his independent film,
Deathwatch (1966).

Hoffs has won the Lincoln Award for contributions to filmmaking in Illinois and the
coveted Chicago Award from the Chicago International Film Festival, as well as
commendation from Robert Redford's Sundance Institute. She is a member of the
Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America and is a founding member
of the Alliance of Women Directors. She was also instrumental in organizing the French-
American Film Workshop and has participated in several of its programs in Avignon,
France.

Joseph O'Connor (Playwright)

Joseph O'Connor was born in Dublin, Ireland, and still lives in the city that has been the
source of so much of his material. In the 1980s, he studied Anglo-Irish literature at
University College, Dublin, receiving a first class MA and subsequently attending Oxford
College.

Since becoming a full-time writer in 1988, O'Connor has authored eight best-selling
novels, including the critically acclaimed STAR OF THE SEA (2003), which was published in 26 languages and received the Prix Litteraire European Madeleine Zepter
for European Novel of the Year. His first novel, COWBOYS AND INDIANS (1991), was
short-listed for the Whitbread Prize. This was followed by a volume of short stories,
TRUE BELIEVERS (1991), and a number of novels, including DESPERADOES (1993),
THE SALESMAN (1998), INISHOWEN (2000) and REDEMPTION FALLS (2007).

In 1994, he published a collection of comic essays, THE SECRET WORLD OF THE
IRISH MALE, which became a best seller in Ireland. His other non-fiction tomes include:
EVEN THE OLIVES ARE BLEEDING: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES DONNELLY (1993), THE IRISH MALE AT HOME AND ABROAD (1996), and SWEET LIBERTY: TRAVELS IN IRISH AMERICA (1996).

O’Connor’s first play, “Red Roses and Petrol,” was staged in Dublin in 1995 and won the ‘In Dublin’ magazine Award for Best New Irish Play (1995). The production subsequently toured Ireland and was performed in London. His second play, “The Weeping of Angels,” was performed at Dublin’s Gate Theatre in 1997. He has also written several screenplays.

O’Connor’s work frequently has been concerned with the lives of a new generation of
Irish emigrants. He wrote the introduction to IRELAND IN EXILE (ed. Dermot Bolger),
the first anthology of Irish expatriate literature.

Among his awards are The Sunday Tribune/Hennessy First Fiction and New Irish Writer
of the Year Awards (1989), the Macauley Fellowship (1994), the Miramax Screenwriting
Award (1995), and the Time-Out Travel Writing Prize.

Gail Wager Stayden (Producer/Writer)

Gail Wager Stayden has worked as a producer and development executive with Janus
Films, David Susskind Productions (MGM), and Powell & Young Public Relations. She
was educated at the NYU School of Filmmaking and the Lee Strasberg Actors Studio.
Prior to Red Roses and Petrol, Stayden produced the comedy, I Could Never Have Sex
with Any Man Who Has So Little Regard for My Husband (1973), Strictly Business and
My Man Adam (TriStar Pictures, 1985). She is currently producing the remake of the
1941 Jean Arthur comedy The Devil and Miss Jones, under the title, Friends in Low
Places at Universal Pictures with RKO and Shady Acres. Tom Shadyac will direct.

An Executive Board Member of Broadway on Sunset, Ms. Stayden co-produced and co-financed the prestigious BOS West Coast Musical Theater Conference in 2000, which included keynote speaker Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”), director Rob Marshall
(“Chicago”), LA theater visionary Gordon Davidson, CNN's Larry King and a cast of
Broadway's top creators.

 

Current theatrical projects in development include, “Fun with Dick and Jane: The Musical,” and “Now, Voyager: The Musical,” based on the classic Bette Davis movie. Stayden first collaborated with Tamar Simon Hoffs on the action comedy screenplay,
The Middle Man, to be filmed abroad.

Georganne Heller (Producer)

Originally a publicist owning her own successful public relations firm and working with
clients that included Cal Arts University and Burbank Studios, Georganne Heller served
as the Cultural Director of the Borough of Manhattan for five years. During her tenure
there, she worked with Astoria Film Studios and the Dino De Laurentiis Company to
attract film production to New York City. With extensive theater credits, Ms. Heller co-founded the Daedalus Theatre Company and currently serves on the Irish Arts Centre advisory board. She has produced more than a dozen plays, including “Red Roses and Petrol,” Samuel Beckett’s “Molloy,” and Frank McCourt’s “Limerick on my Mind.”

 

For television she produced the magazine show, “A Whole New You” for Lifetime Cable.
Additional film/television credits include Associate Producer on “First Monday” and “Red
over Red.” Heller is a member of the Ireland-US Council, Club 100 of the Music Centre
in Los Angeles, and the Gramercy Arts Club. She is also a co-founder of Women in
Film.

Alfred Sapse (Producer)

Alfred Sapse has been practicing entertainment law since 1986. He has represented and continues to represent actors, writers, directors, producers and independent production companies. During the course of representing clients, Mr. Sapse became interested in packaging and producing films. Since 1994, he has packaged and produced 13 pictures, including The Heist (1999) with Ice-T and Dead Awake (2001) starring Stephen Baldwin. Upon reading the screenplay for Red Roses and Petrol, he decided to undertake all efforts required to have the film produced. Those efforts, although lengthy and difficult, ultimately resulted in a feature film that deftly explores the complexity of family dynamics.

Nancy Schreiber A.S.C. (Director of Photography)

Nancy Schreiber is a native Midwesterner. Before becoming a cinematographer, she
learned the film industry as a gaffer, working for such directors as Martha Coolidge,
Richard Pearce, Claudia Weill, and Shirley MacLaine. In 1995, Ms. Schreiber was
honored to become the fourth female member of the prestigious American Society of
Cinematographers. Well regarded in the industry, she was chosen as the director of
photography for Visions of Light (1992), a production of the American Film Institute that
chronicled the craft of the cinematographer. This extraordinary film was awarded Best
Documentary by both the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film
Critics.

Ms. Schreiber has been honored twice at the Sundance Film Festival, sharing the Best
Cinematography Award (documentary) at Sundance for My America…or Honk If You
Love Buddha (1997) and winning the Best Cinematography Award (dramatic) for
November (2004). She garnered an Emmy nomination for Best Cinematography on the
acclaimed documentary The Celluloid Closet (1995) for HBO. In 1997, Schreiber was
honored with the Kodak Vision Award at the Women in Film Crystal Awards, and in 2000
she was recognized by Variety as one of 10 cinematographers to watch.

 

Ms. Schreiber has been working on a wide variety of film projects since the late 1970s,
including documentaries, videos, TV series, and promotional films. Television credits
include A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) and
the HBO movie, Path To War (2002), directed by industry veteran John Frankenheimer.
She also served as director of photography on the HBO/Amnesty International World
Tour film and more than 100 music videos showcasing major artists like Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, and Sting. As producer/director and cinematographer of Possum Living, From the Heart and Rites of Passing, Schreiber was invited to show at the New Directors/New Films series at New York’s Lincoln Center. Recent projects include Kevin Bacon's Loverboy (2005), Flakes (2007), directed by Michael Lehmann (Heathers), The Nines (2007), with Ryan Reynolds, and the upcoming Fashion: The Movie (2008), starring Faye Dunaway, Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah.

Sarah Elgart (Choreographer)

In the 1980s, Sarah Elgart operated her own highly influential dance company. She and
director Tamar Simon Hoffs have been collaborators and friends for over 20 years. The
action of Red Roses and Petrol takes place in the very confined spaces of the Doyle
home and garden, and to compensate, Hoffs required a considerable amount of creative movement throughout. As a result, we see characters dancing at the drop of a hat, stripping, fighting, and even Enda doing a parody of Elvis.

Ms. Elgart has worked as a choreographer on many Hollywood hit films, including Earth
Girls Are Easy (1988) and Alien Nation (1988), as well as the Emmy Award-winning
television production, “And the Band Played On” (1993). More recently she has specialized in working with individual stars including Jim Carrey, Joan Cusack and David Duchovny. In addition to choreography, Elgart also produces and directs theater, music videos, and TV productions. Recently, she completed her heart-wrenching DREAM project, using children with terminal illnesses as her subject. She has been honored with awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Julieann Getman (Production Designer)

Before shooting on Red Roses and Petrol commenced, Julieann Getman conducted
meticulous research in order to create Ireland in California. Very few people watching
the film would be aware that, with the exception of the university and street scenes (shot
in Galway and Dublin respectively), the entire film was shot in the United States.
Ms. Getman has worked as a production designer, set decorator, and art director on
numerous films and television series since 1999.

Her recent credits include Akeelah and the Bee (2006) with Laurence Fishburne, Home of the Brave (2006) with Samuel L. Jackson, Heavens Fall (2006) with Timothy Hutton, and the critically acclaimed television show, “Smith” (2006). In 2007, she worked on 13 episodes of NBC’s hit drama, “Las Vegas.”

Seth Podowitz (Score Composer)

Seth Podowitz is a Los Angeles-based film composer whose distinctive musical style
has been heard in many feature films, television spots and national commercials.
Besides Red Roses and Petrol, his recent film score credits include the documentary
Every Fifteen Minutes (2003), the feature film Playhouse (2003), MTV’s “Undressed,” a
Toyota advertisement, and the feature Dakota Skye (2008). In addition, Red Roses and
Petrol features the song, “The Water is Wide,” performed by Susanna Hoffs of The
Bangles and arranged by Podowitz and (Susanna) Hoffs.

Dathai Keane (Editor)

Dathai Keane comes to Red Roses and Petrol from Ireland, where he originally studied
film editing and developed his unique style of assembling film specifically for
independent productions. His credits include The Sinners (2002) and numerous shorts
and documentaries. He has edited several series for Irish Television.

Pierce Boyce (Co-Producer)

Pierce Boyce helms Abu Media, one of Ireland’s most vital young production companies, creating series, documentaries, educational, news, and long form for Irish television.  Mr. Boyce began his career in comedy, founding one of Ireland’s favorite gathering spots: The Funny Bone Club. He was trained in production at Concorde Anois Teo, Roger Corman’s studio in the west of Ireland, and frequently served as line producer for Corman. Most recently, Boyce produced the highly regarded Irish television series, “Teenage Cics” (2006), which has been described as an Irish “Malcolm In The Middle.” Red Roses and Petrol is Abu’s first feature film collaboration with Rock ‘N’ Read Productions.

Joshua Hoffs (Executive Producer)

A graduate of Harvard University and a Yale and University of Chicago graduate in
medicine, Joshua Hoffs is Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and
Biobehavioral Sciences at the University Of California, Los Angeles. He is an active
member of both the Brain Research Institute and the Neuroimaging Research Group. In
addition, he is a member of the Senior Faculty, past Chairman of the Research
Committee and Co-Founder of the Neuroscience Center at the Los Angeles
Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Hoffs also has an active private practice in psychoanalysis,
specializing in artists of all fields and interests. Additionally, Dr. Hoffs is an accomplished and exhibited artist and a partner in the acclaimed Mark Moore Gallery in Santa Monica, CA.

Susanna Hoffs (Executive Producer)

Susanna Hoffs is a founding member of the popular, multi-platinum rock band The
Bangles, with albums including: All Over The Place (1984), Different Light (1986), and
Everything (1988). The all-female group went on hiatus in 1990 after a decade of music making and celebrity, becoming role models for a generation of young women while maintaining their integrity as musicians. Ms. Hoffs continued as a successful solo artist with When You're A Boy (1991) and her self-titled album, Susanna Hoffs (1996). Having reunited in 1999, The Bangles later released Doll Revolution (2003) and the live, in concert album, Return To Bangleonia (2007).

Hoffs also recently collaborated with Matthew Sweet on the 2006 album, Under The
Covers, Vol. 1, recording cover versions of their favorite songs from the 1960s and
1970s. In addition, she can be heard on the soundtracks of the Austin Powers films (in
which she also appears in the band) and Meet The Parents (2000). Hoffs holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.