OPEN CASTING CALL!

A nationwide search for new Asian American talent for an upcoming film, THE FLOATING WORLD is currently underway. Although casting is for all the parts listed in the casting breakdown below, there is especially interest in finding candidates for the lead role of Olivia-at the ages of 12 and at 17. Actress at those ages are difficult to find so we are broadening our search and hoping to discover some new talent. Acting experience is preferred but not required. We are looking for young girls who can pass for the ages of 12 or 17 and who have natural acting ability, spunk, and charisma. Auditions are on August 21 and 22, so we'd appreciate your help in getting the word out as soon as possible.

About the project: THE FLOATING WORLD is a 35mm, color, feature-length film, THE FLOATING WORLD. The film is based on Cynthia Kadohata's acclaimed novel of the same name. The novel began as a series of short stories in The New Yorker and later expanded to became the award-winning novel. It was a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year and a Whiting Writers Award winner, one of the nation's most prestigious creative writing awards. THE FLOATING WORLD screenplay was selected from over 2,000 entries nationwide for project development at the prestigious Sundance Screenwriters Lab. The film is being produced by Shiho Ito and Laurie Parker (producer of Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho" and "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues"), and directed and co-written by Kayo Hatta, who co-wrote and directed the film PICTURE BRIDE. PICTURE BRIDE won the Audience Award for Best Dramatic Film at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Distributed worldwide by Miramax Films, it was also an official selection at the 1994 Cannes International Film Festival.

THE FLOATING WORLD tells the story of Olivia Osaka, a 12-year-old Japanese American girl traveling cross-country in the 1950s with her family following the end of the war. They have just been released from Heart Mountain internment camp, and unlike the strict confines and enclosed community of the camps, the rest of America has become as alien and mysterious as a dream. Like thousands of other Japanese American families the Osakas head East rather than to return to the racially volatile West Coast. Without work, home or community, Olivia and her family only have an old used car which becomes their own "floating world" as they drive from Arizona to Arkansas trying to find a place to start all over again. A deeply personal story, THE FLOATING WORLD, is about young Olivia's search for a father she's never known, and her desire to understand her beautiful mother's mysterious past with him. As she struggles to define on her own terms the meaning of love, family and stability, she embarks on a journey that is at once brutal and magical, moving across specificities of time, place and culture.

Thank you for your assistance in our search for new Asian American talent. If any questions, please leave a message on our Casting Hotline at (415) 951-2465 or email us at: floatingpictures@hotmail.com.

Asian American actors and actresses urgently sought for the following roles:

OLIVIA, 9-13ish:
Spirited, sensitive, inquisitive, strong, confident, direct, intelligent, expressive, charismatic.

OLIVIA, 16-early 20's:
Adventurous, sensitive, lovely, observant, strong, likes to be challenged. Magnetic presence.

CHARLIE-O, 35 - 45:
Olivia's stepfather. Earnest, responsible, humble, jovial, colorful personality. "Go-for-broke" type.

also

MARIKO, 25 - 35 (lead):
Olivia's mother. Glamorous, dreamy, sensual, former beauty queen.

OBAASAN, 55 - 64 (lead):
Grandma. Once beautiful, now tough, earthy, fierce, smokes cigars.

JACK, 30 - 44 (lead):
Olivia's birth-father. Dark, handsome, slick, mysterious, playboy

GRACE, 30 - 44: Jack's wife.
Beautiful, brittle, long-suffering.

WALKER, 6-12:
Olivia's brother. Engaging, sweet, enigmatic, sensitive, able to do uncanny imitations

BENJAMIN, 8-14: Oliva's brother.
Playful, aggressive, rough, comic, expressive.

TOSHI, 30s/40s:
Earthy, no-nonsense, female barnyard worker.

BILL , 40s:
Warped gambler who drinks and says way too much, bizarre mannerisms.

To be booked for an audition please submit a recent photo or headshot first along with your contact information to:

Floating Pictures
PO Box 210373
San Francisco, CA 94121-0373

Auditions will take place
Friday, August 21st, 9-5pm &
Saturday, August 22nd, 9-5pm

at

NAATA
346 Ninth St. 2nd Floor (bet. Folsom & Harrison)

Photo submissions should be received by Wed. August 19th!

If you are not in the Bay Area, please send your head shot anyway, and we will contact you. We are doing a nationwide search for our talent.

For further information:
Call (415) 951-2465

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