Trisha Ray

Trisha Ray

Nationality	American
Occupation	Animal Advocate, Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Producer, Actor, Editor

Trisha Ray is an award-winning independent producer, screenwriter, filmmaker, actor and editor.^[1]

Her grandfather Dr. Bimal Roy, an ObGyn by profession, was so passionate about music, that he compiled three encyclopedias in Eastern Classical Music which are used by researchers all around the globe.^[2]

Trisha is the grandniece of BAFTA nominated actress Karuna Banerjee.^[3] and niece of Universal Esperanto Association President Probal Dasgupta.

Trisha dropped out of pre-med during her sophomore year to pursue creative arts. She speaks Bengali, English and Spanish fluently.

Films

After working on sets and location in different countries including USA, England and Argentina, in 2000, San and Trisha officially started their production company Lake Camp Productions in Houston to continue making independent films. Trisha wrote and directed an experimental feature called 'Flipped', starring San Banarje and a group of friends and acquaintances. To accommodate the acting style of her friends, she had to rewrite the script on location, finally ending with only San Banarje as a cast with dialogues. The challenges of working with non-actors who took the film as a hobby taught her the importance of working with trained and involved actors. It also made her study harder and learn from her own mistakes that she made while making the film. She considers the editing process of her experimental as the best film school she didn't attend. She credits Robert Rodriguez as her guru.

In 2003, San and Trisha started their film studio called 'Next Actor Studio' to form a team of professional actors who, like them, would passionately pursue filmmaking. They started making several shorts and music videos to stay busy. In 2007, Trisha met Christian screenwriter and evangelist Brian Stewart and produced and directed several of his screenplays to distribute to schools, colleges, churches, prisons etc.

In 2006, Trisha wrote the screenplay of the comedy 'Bleep Love' based on an idea of San Banarje. The film starred a number of actors and actresses from Houston. While Trisha was looking for original music for her comedy feature that she wrote and directed titled Bleep Love.,^[4] actor/musician Ryan Donowho,^[5] whose father Wayne Donowho^[6] played a supporting role in the film, came forward with a soundtrack CD and donated it to be used as background score of the film.

In 2007, Trisha directed her first Christian film Federal Case for Boat Angel Family Films, an Arizona-based film company whose films educate teens and children with messages of love and faith.

In 2009, Trisha directed her first film in Calcutta, India, her second Christian film "Sugarbaby" for Boat Angel Family Films, based on a script by Brian Stewart. The film was produced and shot by San Banarje who also acted in it. This was the first time that Trisha and San got a chance to work with the legendary thespian Soumitra Chatterjee. They were so awed by the actor, that they decided to shoot a Bengali language feature with Soumitra soon. Meantime, back in USA, they shot a short film Terracotta while traveling cross-country USA.

In winter 2009, Trisha and San returned to India with a script titled Bodhisattva, written specifically for Soumitra Chatterjee in the title role.^[7] Trisha was chosen to act alongside Soumitra as his disturbed daughter.

During Bodhisattva rehearsals, director San Banarje was not convinced by Trisha's performance and gave her the first day of shoot to prove to him that she could play the role of Maya or get recast. Her first day of shoot was opposite Soumitra Chatterjee who was playing her father Bodhisattva. To prepare for the role, she took off for seven days, watched every movie of her grandaunt Karuna Banerjee whose acting style inspired her and decided to cut communications with everyone until the picture wrapped. After her first scene was shot, director San Banarje was excited by her performance and applauded her for her dedication. The entire film was shot in the home of Trisha's mother who stayed in one room until the day's shoot was over.^[8]

In 2011, Trisha again was involved in the production of two features and one short. After finishing production of a Christian feature "Inside Out" in Houston in July, Trisha left for Buenos Aires, Argentina to get materials for her screenplay "9 July, Buenos Aires (Regression)" that she had started writing in 2010. Being in the city where the story actually takes place helped her move forward with her research and weave the Dictatorship era with present-day political situation of the country. She also started pre-production on her short film Marcha Atrás in Buenos Aires, that she shot in December of that year after finishing the shoot of The Nowhere Son as an actress in Calcutta, India.

In September 2011, Trisha returned to India to work in The Nowhere Son starring Soumitra Chatterjee for the third time in their film. The film was named as top five Don't Miss Movies at 2013 Worldfest by movie critic Joe Leydon.^[9]

In December 2011, Trisha went back to Buenos Aires to film her short titled Marcha Atrás that she made as a prelude to her feature "Regression" aka 9 July. Buenos Aires.

In 2012, back in Houston, Trisha focused on making PSA videos to raise cancer awareness through a non-profit foundation that she founded with San Banarje called "The Next Samaritan Project" and started to spread the word to donate shoes to barefoot rickshawpuller, cartpullers and children. She was successful in involving a good number of youths to work as they donated unused and forgotten shoes to the barefoot rickshawpullers in their neighborhood. This helps the men to stay off injuries caused by glasses and nails and other sharp objects on the streets as they run with their carts and rickshaws.

In 2013, Trisha worked in three features. Her screenplay The Shadow Behind You that she co-wrote with director San Banarje was followed by the surreal drama Artisse, written by Brian Stewart that she directed, and the comedy Sex, Marriage and Infidelity that she produced and edited for debutante director and her screenwriting student Richard Finger. The film starred KISS frontman Gene Simmons' daughter Sophie and wife Shannon Tweed.^[10]

In 2014, after finishing the post-production of all three films of 2013, Trisha started casting of her screenplay titled '9 Jul. Buenos Aires' (Regression) about the Dirty War in Argentina through the eyes of a little girl. She had started writing the script in 2010 and worked in Buenos Aires in 2011 to scout locations and work in casting and production with friends in Argentina cinema. After many years of working on the script, Director San Banarje cast Spanish actor Javier Godino in the lead role.

In 2015, Trisha co-wrote and co-produced the film 'A Curry on an American Plate' starring Rick Fox, Andrea Guasch and Charlie O'Connell with director San Banarje. The film was shot entirely inside their studio.^[11]

In 2015 December, Trisha started directing the action thriller "Orphan Train", written by Brian Stewart under the banner of Boat Angel Family Films and starring popular Indian Bollywood actress Mahie Gill and San Banarje in the lead roles alongside their Golden Shepherd Gablu, who is cast as Max in the film about a scientist who finds a weapon making base in Mexico while investigating the deaths of kidnapped children along the Mexico-Texas border.^[12]

In 2016, the casting begins of '6 Rounds of Chloe', starring Olivia Mayron Mort, daughter of screenwriter and director Cynthia Mort of Will and Grace, Nina, The Brave One, Roseanne fame and emmy-winning director Melanie Mayron. The film is slated for shoot in summer in Houston. The film is being executive produced by San Banarje, Trisha Ray and Jessica Steindorff.^[13]

Filmography

Rebecca on the Phone (2004) Short (writer, director, editor)
Closure (2005) Short (writer, director, editor)
Bleep Love (2006) Feature (writer, director, editor)
Money (2007) Feature - Ira (editor)
Federal Case (2007) Feature (director)
Stanislavski in September (2008) short (writer, director, editor)
Train (2008) short (editor)
Sugarbaby (2009) Feature (director)
Terracotta (2009) short - hitchhiker (editor)
Bodhisattva (2009) feature - Maya (writer, editor)
Cleaning Up (2010) short (editor)
Inside Out (2011) Feature (producer)
The Nowhere Son (2011) - Asha Feature (editor)
Marcha Atras (2011) short (writer, director, editor)
Detect Early Save Life (2012) PSA (writer, editor)
Physiotherapy (2013) short (writer, director, editor)
The Shadow Behind You (2013) feature - Maggie (writer, editor)
Artisse (2013) feature (director)
Sex, Marriage and Infidelity (2013) feature (editor)
A Curry on an American Plate (2015) feature (writer, editor)
Orphan Train (2015) feature (director, editor)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trisha Ray.

Trisha Ray at the Internet Movie Database

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