SCA Alumni Screening Series Presents: QUID PRO QUO

Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) is a Public Radio reporter in New York City. When he was eight, his mother and father died in an automobile accident that left him in a wheelchair. On air, Isaac recounts how he recently received an anonymous tip from someone identified only as "Ancient Chinese Girl." She tells him a perfectly able-bodied man walked into an emergency ward downtown, and attempted to bribe a doctor into amputating his leg. As Isaac investigates the eerie tip, he encounters Fiona (Vera Farmiga) who, through her own quandary, leads Isaac to a netherworld of people afflicted with a perverse desire to be disabled. Like a contemporary noir detective film, Quid Pro Quo follows Issac as he embarks on a dream-like journey to pull back the layers of what makes people feel whole.

Through the lives of two people on a search for the truth, Quid Pro Quo explores the human psyche and asks disturbing questions about what it means to be injured, and what it means to be healed. Directed by USC alum Carlos Brooks.

Rated R, Running Time: 82min. Releases on Friday, June 13th, 2008.


To learn more about the film, click here.

Print provided courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.


ABOUT THE GUESTS

Carlos Brooks (Writer/Director) grew up outside Seattle, Washington, hiking extensively in the Pacific Northwest, and took time off from college to walk from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. He studied journalism at Western Washington University in Bellingham, and later attended USC on a merit scholarship to study English and filmic writing at the School of Cinema-Television, where he won the Abraham Polonsky Award for screenwriting. He has written for both independent and studio projects. Brooks lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters.

Midge Sanford (Producer) formed Sanford/Pillsbury Productions in 1981 with Sarah Pillsbury. Together they have produced ten feature films including Desperately Seeking Susan, directed by Susan Seidelman with Rosanna Arquette and Madonna, Eight Men Out, directed by John Sayles with John Cusack and David Strathairn, How to Make an American Quilt directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse with Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Winona Ryder and Alfre Woodard, and River's Edge, directed by Tim Hunter, which won the 1986 Independent Spirit Award. She has also produced four television films including the Emmy Award-winning HBO film And the Band Played On. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Sanford began her film career at New American Cinema, an independent film production company. Sanford has been a panelist and speaker at film festivals around the world, including Sundance, Toronto, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro, Australia and Puerto Rico. She is on the Advisory Boards of Project Involve, a film mentorship program for minority filmmakers and the Alliance of Women Directors. When not in production, Sanford facilitates a support group for mentally ill women in Santa Monica, California.


This screening is presented free of charge and is open to all USC students, faculty, staff and alumni. The theater will be OVERBOOKED to ensure capacity and the RSVP list will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis, with no reserved seating. Please bring a photo ID or print out of your reservation confirmation, which will be automatically sent to your e-mail account upon successfully making an RSVP through this website. Check-in will begin at approximately 6:15PM.


The USC School of Cinematic Arts is located at 850 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007. Parking passes are available for Parking Structure D and Lots M & V (across the street from the George Lucas Building) for $8.00. You must pull into Gate 5, located at the intersection of McClintock Ave. and W Jefferson Boulevard and purchase your parking pass with the booth attendant. Street parking is also available along W Jefferson Blvd.

To view the full schedule of films during the Alumni Screening Series, click here.