SynopsisNile and Goldman, two forty-something friends, are exceptionally sad cases who have never left the Queens, New York neighborhood they were born in. When Goldman finds out that his chronic asthma is a misdiag-nosed fatal bronchial disorder, he convinces Nile, a gifted percussionist with a heroin habit, to join him on a trip to a monastery in Thailand for a meditation retreat led by a charismatic Buddhist nun.

The comically rigorous demands of the retreat, held in a temple deep in the Thai jungle, unhinge both of them, and becomes the catalyst for a dramatic role reversal. Goldman, realizing how little time he has left in this life, leaves the monastery in a desperate search for life-affirming experiences. Meanwhile, Nile goes cold turkey in the monastery and has a profound spiritual awakening, prompting him to stay on as a novice monk. Setting out on contrasting, yet parallel paths of self-discovery, they each encounter a wildly diverse spectrum of experiences. Their respective journeys prove to be multi-faceted tests of character, forever altering the course of their lives and those they meet along the way.

Production TeamSEAMUS McNALLY (Director / Writer) has directed numerous narrative short films including, To Paint the Portrait of a Bird (Best Short Film – NY/Avignon Film Festival, Woodstock FF, Mill Valley FF, and premiered at Cannes FF Market), The Hypnotist (Official Selection-Montreal WFF); Sketches of Hon-ey – five short films on 16mm and 8mm, which were part of a multimedia presentation performed at The Culture Project–NYC; Exchange Place (with Mad Men’s Michael Gladis); and a segment of Mike Leigh’s Ecstasy, to name a few.

For the last several years he has been cultivating a diverse range of long form material for film and television, starting with his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Reach, in development with producer John J. Kelly (Into The Wild, 127 Hours). Seamus recently created a television series about a hypnotherapist called Pendulum. He wrote and directed two fully executed pitch episodes starring Ato Essandoh (Cop-per, Django Unchained) and Nick Sandow (Orange Is The New Black, Boardwalk Empire). The show is currently being shopped to studios and networks.

Over the course of five trips to Thailand – cumulatively six months – Seamus has extensively re-searched and developed his feature film Rains Retreat, now in preparation for production in 2015.

MICHAEL GASPARRO (Producer) began his career producing music videos and commercials. He tran-sitioned to talent representation at Hardin-Curtis, a boutique agency in New York City. Gasparro later joined TalentWorks as an agent and cultivated a roster of promising television, film and theater actors. With his impressive talent roster, Gasparro transitioned to management and has been a Talent Manager for the past eight years. Gasparro self-produced the Tropfest New York finalist short film Ben. Gasparro is Executive Producer on the feature film Yuba with Unified Films and he is currently in development on The Brute, written by Ryan Prows with Julia Garner and Jonathan Pryce. Gasparro recently produced The Wannabe starring Vincent Piazza, Patricia Arquette and Michael Imperioli. Martin Scorsese Is Executive producer.

LIVING FILMS (Production Company / Thailand) Over the past 20 years in Thailand, Living Films has grown into one of the top production companies in South East Asia. The company has steadily grown and improved over the years, forging a niche that has been integral in the overall development of the Thai film industry. Living Films recently received an award from the Thai Film Board as the top production company in the country for five straight years.

Living Films’ filmography is unusually diverse, ranging from Hollywood blockbusters, to independent pro-ductions to small European award winning dramas. Some of the highlights of the last years include The Dutch drama Simon, which we shot back in 2003 and which won 8 international awards including Golden Calf awards at the Nederlands Film Festival for best film, best actor and best director. In 2009 we built the largest back-lot set ever constructed in South East-Asia for the Weinstein Co. financed period drama Shanghai starring John Cusack, Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li. In 2010 we shot Bangkok as period Tai-wan for the independent US feature Formosa Betrayed, which then won best feature at the San Diego Film Festival. In 2010 we shot The Hangover Part II for Warner Bros. which went on to become the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. That same year, Living Films shot Teddy Bear, a tiny Danish drama that went on to win 6 international awards, including best director at the Sundance Film Festival. And most recently, Living Films completed work on the independently financed thriller The Coup starring Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan, which is set to open in March 2015 in 3,000 theaters.

Living Films owes its ongoing success to a combination of many things: a personal approach employed with integrity; protecting, elevating and honoring local talent and crew, and receiving loyalty in return; by working with an extremely organized, diverse international team of workaholics; using a scalable approach to projects with appropriate budgets that allow for films both large and small; creating an atmosphere that matches the Thai spirit, combining hard work and fun; reducing costs through great bargaining power that comes with our sterling reputation and a busy production schedule over many years; integrating Eastern culture while maintaining a Western approach to budgeting, cost reporting and accounting with an eye on Western legal requirements, documentation, agreements, insurance and deliverables; and through a genuine care for projects with a passion and love for both Asia and the essential creative aspects of film, script and cinematography.

With over two decades of experience making films in Thailand and having built a reputation for integrity and Western style production in the East, Living Films is in an exciting position to develop, facilitate and produce unique new international films in Asia.

Living films is thrilled to be collaborating with Seamus McNally on his feature debut, Rains Retreat.

RONNIE YESKEL, C.S.A. (Casting Director) has cast an extensive list of successful projects in film, televi-sion and theater throughout her career. Her film credits include Pulp Fiction, Resevoir Dogs, Jade, Igby Goes Down, etc. She has worked with many notable directors, including Quentin Tarantino, William Friedkin, Paul Schrader and Steven Soderbergh.

Cast

NICK SANDOW (Goldman) has an extensive resume that spans film, television and theater. He can currently be seen on the Netflix original series Orange Is The New Black. Other television credits include recurring roles on Board-walk Empire, Blue Bloods, How to Make It In Ameri-ca, Third Watch, Unforgettable, CSI: Miami, Nurse Jackie, Mercy, Six Degrees, Law & Order, and NYPD Blue. Feature film credits include The Fitzgerald Family Christmas (alongside Connie Britton), The Sitter, The Accidental Husband, Living Out Loud, Swimfan, Re-turn to Paradise, Connie and Carla, and Resurrecting the Champ. His feature film directorial debut, Ponies, premiered in 2012, with New York Times calling it “...a riv-eting piece of work”. Sandow is currenlty in post on his 2nd feature film The Wannabe, executive producer Martin Scorsese.

MICHAEL IMPERIOLI (Nile) has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards as well as five Emmy Awards for his work as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos. He won an Emmy for the show’s fifth season in 2004. In addi-tion to his role on The Sopranos, Imperioli has appeared in a number of films, including Goodfellas, Jungle Fe-ver, Bad Boys, The Basketball Diaries, Clockers, Dead Presidents, Lean on Me, I Shot Andy Warhol, Last Man Standing, Shark Tale, High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story, and Summer of Sam, which he also co-wrote and co-pro-duced. In addition, he has also written a number of epi-sodes for The Sopranos.

The work of the extraordinary Thai painter CHATCHAWAN RODKLONGTAN will be featured to support a pivotal sequence of the film set in the studio of a master temple painter, Ajahn Thep. The role of the master painter is to be portrayed by Vitha-ya Pansringarm.

RAINS RETREAT is scheduled to shoot on location in New York and Thailand in 2015.To see a detailed production schedule and line budget, please contact :

Seamus McNally | Director/Writer- Rains Retreat917.701.5606 | seamusmcnally@mac.com | www.seamusmcnally.com

VITHAYA PANSRINGARM (Ajahn Thep) co-wrote the screenplay and played the lead in the Thai film Mindfulness and Murder directed by Tom Waller for which he was nominated for best actor and for best screenwriter at the Thailand National Film Awards 2012. After roles in several international pro-ductions shot in Thailand, including The Hangover II, Vithaya was cast in the leading role of police lieutenant Chang (aka The Angel of Vengeance)

in Only God Forgives, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, co-starring with Ryan Gosling and Kristen Scott Thomas which world-premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2013. Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura discovered him in this film and invited him to appear in Lupin the Third, as General Narong. Vithaya just won Best Actor at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival 2014 for his lead role in The Last Executioner directed by Tom Waller.

MYO MYINT (Padoh Manh) is the subject of the award winning HBO doc-umentary Burma Soldier. He is a former soldier who gave his adolescent years to the regime but came, in adulthood, to join the democratic opposi-tion against it. Says Nic Dunlop, writer-photographer and a co-director of the film, “Myo Myint’s story is extraordinary because it incorporates victim and perpetrator in a single narrative.” He revisits the details of atrocities committed by fellow service members and to which he was a reluctant witness – the raping of ethnic-minority women, the torching of their villages – in quiet and deliberate tones.