Synopsis
State Crossed Lovers is a 15-minute dramatic short inspired by the timeless tragedy of Romeo & Juliet, reimagined through the lives of two American teenagers navigating love, faith, and fear in a post–Roe v. Wade America.
Mila Hart is a devout Catholic high school student trying to reconcile her beliefs with her life’s realities. Her boyfriend, Lucas Cruz, is fiercely loyal and determined to protect those he loves, even when the world around him offers few options. Lucas has barely finished high school as he takes care of his mother and sister, working at the autobody shop where his dad used to work before being deported. When Mila discovers she is pregnant in a state where abortion is criminalized after six weeks, the young couple is thrust into a spiral of panic and uncertainty. As legal restrictions tighten and the pressures of family, faith, and the future weigh on them, the purity of their love begins to fracture.
After fleeing a clinic mid-procedure—overwhelmed by surveillance, ID checks, and time constraints—Mila seeks refuge in the small flat above the autobody shop where she and Lucas often meet. Desperate to solve the problem without involving doctors or parents, Lucas turns to a dangerous solution he has pieced together from online research. What begins as an attempt to help soon spirals into a tense and volatile confrontation. Trapped and terrified, Mila fights to protect herself, and the night ends in irreversible tragedy.
State Crossed Lovers is an intimate and unflinching portrait of two young people caught between personal conviction and systemic control. Through their story, the film explores how love, desperation, and fear collide when the choices that shape a future are no longer truly theirs to make.
Key Personnel
Alyssa Rallo Bennett – Director | Co-Writer | Producer
Alyssa Rallo Bennett is an award-winning multi-hyphenate director, producer, and composer — known professionally as Rallo Bennett — from NYC, recognized for creating inclusive and socially conscious films.
Her directorial debut feature film, The Pack, accepted into Tribeca Film Festival and featured in over a dozen others, tackled personal responsibility with an open-ended narrative that pays homage to Twelve Angry Men.
The film, starring Lucie Arnaz, Elisabeth Moss, and Zach Galligan, streams on major platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, and Tubi, along with her second feature, Aberrant, a dramatic thriller starring Jack Quaid and Tibor Feldman, distributed by Green Apple.
Her feature film ReRUN, starring Christopher Lloyd, premiered as the closing night film at the 2018 Woodstock Film Festival, earning her a Maverick Award nomination and multiple festival wins and critical acclaim, streams on Amazon, Fandango, Plex, YouTube TV.
The Arrival, her fourth feature, released recently by Gravitas Ventures featuring Pooya Mosheni and Peter Bradbury, received critical acclaim, premiering as one of four films at the Martha’s Vineyard Women’s Film Festival, and subsequently as the closing night film at Big Apple Film Festival in NYC.
As a producer and actor, she developed and co-produced Rain Without Thunder, a dramatic film starring Jeff Daniels, Linda Hunt, Steve Zahn, and Ming-Na Wen, about reproductive rights.
Other acclaimed festival films include Compulsion, Crowbar, The Finance of Art, Floating Rectangles, and The Dishwasher, premiering in festivals such as Soho Film Festival, Sedona FF, and Beverly Hills FF, et al. Recently, she directed a new pilot, Scarecrow, starring Marin Hinkle, currently in development as a new series.
She has continued to produce, develop, and support emerging artists, diversity, equality, and inclusion at Stonestreet Studios, an independent film studio she co-founded with her partner, writer/director Gary O. Bennett. Known for its socially conscious films, the studio often creates work that deals with human rights alongside the renowned Stonestreet Screen Acting & Production Residency, a unique immersive program she created for NYU Tisch Drama actors, directors, writers, and producers. The program has given many actors and hyphenates their start: Rachel Sennott, Miles Teller, Rachel Brosnahan, Danny Ramirez, Idina Menzel, Nik Walker, Xosha Roquemore, Jocelyn DeBoer, Beanie Feldstein, Alberto Rosende, Coral Pena, Jack Martin, Ximena LaMadrid, Jack Quaid, et al.
Liz Ortiz – Producer
Liz Ortiz is a NYC-based casting director and award winning indie film producer/director credited on projects which have screened at hundreds of film festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, BAM Cinemafest, Toronto, IRIS Prize, GAZE, Brooklyn, Palm Springs, Austin, American Black, HBO Latino, NY Latino, Queen’s World, Reel Sisters, Harlem and Urban World among others. Projects have aired on CBS, HBO, Peacock, Apple TV, Amazon, Showtime, Netflix, and Lifetime Movies.
Casting and producing highlights include: Advantageous (Sundance award winner, Independent Spirit nominee), Barrio Boy (Peacock, Amazon, AppleTV, streaming all over Europe); And…Seen (writer/producer/director), a feature documentary commenting on misperceptions of disability in the entertainment industry. Current indie film projects (Casting and/or Producing) include Stateside by Dennis Shinners, an award-winning short currently in the festival circuit; The Black Dog Is Nipped At Your Heels, written/directed by Sundance Alumn Moon Molson; The Last Day of Byron Bay, by Michael Borrelli of West 52nd Street Films and produced by Peter McCann of the Publicis Group. She also casts special projects for various university film departments and festivals. Liz is an in house casting director and on the faculty of Stonestreet Studios/NYU, and enjoys giving live and virtual workshops for Princeton University, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Actors Connection other professional actor training programs
Gary O. Bennett – Co-Writer
Gary O. Bennett is a writer/director/producer, lawyer and co-founder of Stonestreet Studios, an independent film studio producing socially provocative films, pilots, and series. Using his knowledge of the law and narrative skills, he
wrote & directed the cult classic human rights feature film Rain Without Thunder, starring Jeff Daniels, Betty Buckley, Linda Hunt and Steve Zahn, released nationally by Orion Classics after premiering at the San Francisco Film
Festival, on the east coast in the NY Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and then The Berlin International Film Festival.
He wrote the screenplay ReRUN, featuring Christopher Lloyd, won awards nationwide including Best Screenplay at the Los Angeles Film Awards after premiering closing night of the Woodstock Film Festival, which also screened at the Northeast Film Festival. The film is now available on Amazon Prime, Roku, et al.
His scripted crime feature, Who Killed Juliet Matlin? won Big Apple Film Festival’s Screenplay Competition. His more recently produced screenplays, Compulsion, Line, Please and The Joke’s On Them, premiering at the Soho International Film Festival, Beverly Hills Film Festival and which he directed and Madness of Art, directed by Alyssa Bennett, are currently on the festival circuit with wins at Niagara Falls International Short Festival, Austin International Art Festival, Hudson Valley Film Fest, Manhattan Film Festival, and New York Cinefest.
Gary has written many festival shorts and Stonestreet’s branded MicroMovies, now streaming on ShortsTV and StonestreetTV. His latest play, Colorado, was presented in a staged reading at Playwrights Horizons. Gary holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Business from SUNY at Buffalo, and a Law Degree and a Master of Social Welfare Degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
Angela Mickey – CSA | Casting Director | Liz Lewis Casting Partners
Angela Mickey is the Managing Director of Casting at LLCP and the company’s longest-tenured team member. A 2019 Heller Award winner for Best Northeast Commercial and Voice Over Casting, Angela brings deep industry knowledge across commercial, voice over, film, television, and theater. She collaborates closely with both veteran and emerging creatives, guiding each casting process with a tailored approach while providing expertise in union regulations and talent payment standards. Known for her eye for fresh, undiscovered talent, Angela supports and mentors LLCP’s casting team to dig deeper and think beyond the expected.
Angela has cast hundreds of on-camera and voice over projects for major brands including AT&T, IHOP, Dell, Panera, Condé Nast, and Palo Alto, as well as Spanish-language campaigns for Volkswagen, Independence Blue Cross, Garanimals, VamosPay, and AmeriHealth New Jersey. Her work also includes extensive real-people casting, from high-profile bartenders for Redemption Whiskey to global fan communities for London Tourism (Royal Family, Harry Potter, and Rolling Stones fans), as well as numerous medical campaigns involving patients with psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, heart failure, and more. In film, her recent projects include The Girl Who Left Home, One Royal Holiday (Hallmark), A Year and Change, and Stalker’s Prey III. Committed to discovering new voices, Angela regularly leads audition classes with actors nationwide.
Mariano Flores – Director of Photography | Colorist
Mariano Flores is a Guatemalan Sound engineer and filmmaker. He graduated from NYU’s Film & Television program and obtained a Music Technology Master’s at NYU. He strives to enhance stories through the medium of sound and music.
Toon de Melker – First Assistant Camera
Toon de Melker a filmmaker and actor with deep roots in both performance and visual storytelling. For the past two years, he has served as the Resident Director of Photography at Stonestreet Studios, where he has DP’d over a dozen short films. Whether he’s the camera as DP or contributing alongside the crew in the Camera Department, Grip, or Electric, his commitment to the craft brings each story to life with intention, precision, and a strong visual voice.
Clara Spannaus – Production Designer
Clara Spannaus is a multi-hyphenate actor, writer, director, and Production Designer, and a graduate of NYU Tisch Drama. Passionate about building worlds that subtly reveal character through design, she has served as Production Designer at Stonestreet Studios for over 3 year, leading design for short films, pilots, feature films, and PSAs with an exceptionally fast turnaround. With dozens of shorts under her belt, Clara is known for her efficiency, creative solutions and strong visual storytelling instincts.
Amelia Annen – Script Supervisor | Editor | Production Manager
Amelia Annen is a NYC editor specializing in feature films, shorts & TV pilots. A few of her editing credits include “The Arrival” (Dir. Alyssa Rallo Bennett), Silent Cal (Dir. Claire McKey Berkman), and Sorry Not Sorry (Dir. Nick Mills).
SungChul Choi – Production and Post Production Sound
SungChul Choi is a Korean actor and sound engineer who bridges performance and sonic craft. A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a double major in Drama and Psychology, he brings a performer’s instinct to his work behind the scenes. Coming from an acting background, his work centers on elevating the actor’s voice as an instrument on screen, using sound and music to enhance it.
Shelbi Munoz – PR | Distribution
Shelbi Munoz is a multi-hyphenate actor and writer, and a graduate of the Florida State University School of Theatre. She has worked at Stonestreet Studios as a production assistant, assistant camera, assistant director, and script supervisor on short films, pilots, and PSAs in a fast-paced studio environment. She also assists with public relations, supporting the promotion and visibility of its projects and creative community. Her experience both in front of and behind the camera informs her collaborative approach to storytelling. Shelbi is especially passionate about character-driven stories and exploring the relationships that shape identity and human connection.
