Meet the Crew
Brett Levner
(Director/Story By)
Brett Levner is an award winning filmmaker and an Associate Professor of Film at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Brett received her BFA with honors in Film & TV Production from New York University and her MFA with honors in Directing from Columbia University.
Brett was the first woman to win the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker Award for her short film, Being Reel. The film went on to be screened on 21,000 movie screens across the country and was honored at the 2005 Association of Independent Commercial Producers show for “Excellence in Filmmaking.” It is currently included in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art.
Brett directed the music video for O.A.R.’s hit song Lay Down, which took home the MTVu Woodie Award for Most Streamed Video. In addition, she received the Comedy Central Award for Best Comedy Screenplay for her feature-length script, Snow Whites of Suburbia and has produced and camera operated on several hit shows including True Life (MTV), Diary (MTV), My Super Sweet Sixteen (MTV), Made (MTV), The First 48 (A&E), Bridezillas (WE), The Shift (Discovery ID), Flip This House (A&E) and Sister Wives (TLC).
Brett directed the feature film, The Track, about underage sex trafficking in Las Vegas, starring Sam Trammell (True Blood), Michael Muhney (Veronica Mars) and Missy Yager (Mad Men). The film had its world premiere at the Dances with Films Festival in Hollywood. It was also awarded “Best Local Feature” and “Best First Time Feature Film Director” at the Las Vegas Film Festival. In addition, Brett received the Charles Vanda Award for Excellence in the Arts for her work on The Track.
Brett recently directed a music video for R&B artist, Cam Calloway, China Blue. China Blue has screened at film festivals across the world including Dances with Films Festival and the London Music Video Festival. It has won numerous awards including the Grand Prize for Best Music Video at the Silver State Film Festival 2021, the Gold Award for Music Video at the Hollywood Gold Awards 2021 and the Best R&B Music Video at the California Music Video Awards 2022.
Brett currently serves on the board of the Nevada Women’s Film Festival and is the founder/faculty advisor of the UNLV student organization, Cinefemmes, which supports women in filmmaking. Under her tutelage, her students have gone on to win numerous awards including Pacific Southwest Student Emmy Awards, an Addy Award, a Best Nevada Filmmaker Award and a Spirit of Activism Award.
Rodabeh Boroumand
(Screenwriter/Casting Director)
Roudi Boroumand is an Iranian-American indie filmmaker and film studies writer. While her career focus is on film writing, producing, and directing, she has also been an arts and entertainment journalist and a freelance film studies translator and writer for two decades. She has published film analyses and work on major figures of cinema in both English and Persian.
A graduate of Portland State University and the Northwest Film Center in Portland, she received a B.A. in Film and an M.F.A. in Writing for Dramatic Media at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
May May Luong
(Producer)
May May Luong is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Film and a minor in Theater. She also holds an M.F.A. in Writing for Dramatic Media from UNLV. May May has produced seven feature-length films and numerous short films. Her films have played all over the world and have garnered notable awards including the Narrative Feature Special Jury Recognition for Independent Filmmaking at the Austin Film Festival for her first feature film, Thor at the Bus Stop. In 2017, May May was named the Nevada Women Filmmaker of the Year and March 24, 2017 was declared “May May Luong Day” by the City of Las Vegas. May May currently teaches film courses in production at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and is also working on the development of a number of feature film and television projects.
Ryan Galvan
(DP)
Ryan Galvan is a Las Vegas-based Director of Photography specializing in cinematic video production and inspired storytelling. Galvan received his degree in film at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where he worked on numerous projects and went on to become of the best cinematographers in town.
Jason Edmiston
(Editor)
Jason Edmiston received a Bachelor of Arts in Film from UNLV in 2002. He worked in the local Las Vegas media field, producing web content, educational features, and multimedia components for stage shows, before joining UNLV FILM full-time in September 2005.
As the Film & Media Specialist, he oversees the department's production equipment and studio facilities while assisting students on their journeys as filmmakers and scholars. He continues to edit features and shorts and to create experimental film and projection projects.
Bryce Stout
(Composer)
Bryce Stout is a Las Vegas based composer and UNLV Film alumni, whose past work with Brett Levner includes shorts such as UNLV Film Documentaries' "Windsor Park: The Sinking Streets," and "The Big Wish" (UNLV's finalist entry in the Coca-Cola/Regal Student Film competition). His primary goal in composing film music is to make life as tedious as possible for the dubbing engineer, followed by a commitment to enhancing the emotional and narrative layers of the project he's serving on.
Shahab Zagari
(Music Supervisor)
Shahab Zargari is an award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker and administrative faculty member of the UNLV College of Fine Arts. After years of creating original short-form streaming content, Shahab made his directorial cinematic debut with the Philip K. Dick adaptation, THE CRYSTAL CRYPT (2013), an official selection at the San Diego Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival.
He continued to hone his craft, creating original films, music videos, and a multitude of commissioned works. Shahab’s short films MY NAME IS ART (2018) and OH, THE GUILT (2021), both collaborations with Riot in Bloom DP Ryan Galvan, garnered a dozen awards from a variety of prestigious festivals, including official selection to Amazon’s inaugural All Voices Film Festival, a digital festival celebrating underrepresented communities. His connection to local record label GC Records, which he runs with his partner Heela Naqshband, was instrumental in beefing up the soundtrack for Riot in Bloom.
