Asian American Film Lab Workshops Chakra Media's Film Project Breached

The Asian American Film Lab (501(c)(3)) hosted one of its long-running Unfinished Works programs on November 8th, featuring Chakra Media's "Breached," a feature film script that follows an American couple who, while posted on a project in India, hire an Indian surrogate mother to carry their baby. But the project pits them against their surrogate in a high stakes battle of corporate greed, corruption, murder and deception. Written by Genevieve Castelino and Kiran Merchant, "Breached" made it into the 2nd round of the 2013 Sundance Institute|Mumbai Mantra Writers Workshop. Castelino's plan is to begin pitching Breached in the Q1 of 2013. She stated, "It would be a tremendous help and support to workshop the screenplay to help us refine and rework the screenplay as we approach the next rewrite effort." The event took place at AAARI-CUNY in New York City. After the filmmakers were introduced, the actors took their places and began the reading. After the script was reading, Unfinished Works host Jean Goto moderated questions on Breached. Castelino and Merchant said the screenplay was inspired by events actually taking place in India, such as the surrogate mothers renting out their wombs, the killing of protesters,and corporate abuse. The actors themselves also commented on the script. The actors during the reading were the following. Michelle Ang, Jennifer Betit-Yen, Perry Tsao, Monisha Shiva, Geeta Citygirl, Jinn S. Kim, Kamran Khan Imran, Javaid Marissa Carpio, Ron Voz, and Julie Pham. Both the Asian American Film Lab and Chakra Media have other interesting things going on. The next Asian American Film Lab event is the Holiday networking gala, featuring live music, raffles, and other fun things. For tickets and more info, go to the film lab's site. Chakra Media's previous feature film "Quarter Life Crisis," stars Lisa Ray (Academy nominated Water), acclaimed comedian Russell Peters (Sourcecode) and Maulik Pancholy (Hitch, 30 Rock, Weeds). The film was in six festivals, distributed worldwide and is currently playing on Showtime in the U.S.