Urania Leilus
A young female journalist is subjected to death threats and intimidation after witnessing human rights abuses at an ICE detention center for undocumented immigrant children.
Born and raised in New York City, Andrew Serban studied film directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles. He has written and directed a number of independent shorts which have played at a variety of venues, including LA Shorts Fest, Cinequest, Kansas City FilmFest, the Screen Actors Guild Foundation Short Film Showcase and the NY Short Buzz at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, among others. His recent short, “Let Mercy Come”, received a Best Supporting Actor Award and Best Actress Nomination at the Garden State Film Festival and was a Finalist in the International Short Film Competition at the USA Film Festival. A prior short, “The Sacred Heart”, won the Best NYC Film Award at the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival in Manhattan. Andrew Serban is also a professional freelance photographer who has worked on assignment for such clients as The New York Times, Getty Images and Le Nouvel Observateur. He currently resides in Washington Heights, NYC.
“Urania Leilus” is intended to be a warning about what might happen when a democracy succumbs to far-right extremists and descends into fascism — when immigrant children are ripped from their parents and locked up in cages without adequate food or medical care; when journalists and dissidents are regarded as “enemies of the people”, to be harassed, intimidated or “disappeared” by unidentified agents in unmarked vehicles — all of which have occurred (and continue to occur) in authoritarian regimes and have recently occurred in the United States.