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CASINO!

In this docu-fiction short, a group of community theater actors create a casino through a sense-memory workshop and explore the workshop’s effect on their own histories, imaginations, and performances.

  • Izzy Leung
    Director
    Sometimes I Hear the Light Leak in Through the Corners of My Room (2023), CI: A BIOGRAPHY OF LIGHT (2025)
  • Izzy Leung
    Writer
  • Peter McCormack
    Writer
    I Think I Live Here (2023)
  • Jz Tinneny
    Writer
  • Gideon Berger
    Writer
  • Jz Tinneny
    Producer
    The Philosophy of Dress (2026), Something You Should Know About Me (2026), POWER (2024), Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (2022), The Blues Society (2023), Queer Futures (2023)
  • Jz Tinneny
    Director of Photography
  • Gideon Berger
    Theatrical Director
  • Sam Taffel
    Editor
    Empty Gestures (2025), S&M Diner (2024), Jews Harp or Harpaud (2023), Looking for Love (2022)
  • Izzy Leung
    Editor
  • Peter McCormack
    Assistant Director
  • Sarah Viviana Valdez
    Line Producer
    CI: A BIOGRAPHY OF LIGHT (2025), Sometimes I Hear the Light Leak in Through the Corners of My Room (2023), She Drank Vinegar from the River (2023)
  • Conor Williams
    Camera Operator
    Sometimes I Hear the Light Leak in Through the Corners of My Room (2023), She Drank Vinegar from the River (2023)
  • Izzy Leung
    Additional Cinematography
  • Peter McCormack
    Additional Cinematography
  • Lily Cunningham Perini
    Sound Recordist
  • Jeremiah M. Carter
    Additional Sound
    CI: A BIOGRAPHY OF LIGHT (2025), Sometimes I Hear the Light Leak in Through the Corners of My Room (2023), She Drank Vinegar from the River (2023)
  • Sarah Viviana Valdez
    Additional Sound
    CI: A BIOGRAPHY OF LIGHT (2025), Sometimes I Hear the Light Leak in Through the Corners of My Room (2023), She Drank Vinegar from the River (2023)
  • Jeremiah Carter
    Sound Design
  • Tom Dixon
    Sound Design
    injured? (2025), discrete kinesis (2024)
  • Tom Dixon
    Sound Mixing
  • Daniel Cochran
    Gaffer
  • Clara Harlow
    Art Department
  • Lucy Kilgore
    Art Department
    She Drank Vinegar from the River (2023)
  • Maddie Hopfield
    Production Assistant
  • Brigitte Seely-Messick
    Production Assistant
  • Kelby Clark
    Music
  • Sarah Valdez
    Finishing Editor
  • Mary Perrino
    Color
  • Liam Hamill
    Title, Credit, & Poster Design
  • Judith Shakespeare
    Key Cast
    All Day Elliptical (2024), The Power of Myth (2024)
  • Ellen Orchid
    Key Cast
    The Sopranos (2002)
  • Christina Britton
    Key Cast
  • Chris Glen
    Key Cast
  • Carol Johnson
    Key Cast
  • Leora Kalish
    Key Cast
  • Randi Lupo
    Key Cast
  • Ron MacCloskey
    Key Cast
  • John Sangiorgio
    Key Cast
  • Rbt. Sps.
    Key Cast
  • Andy Troy
    Key Cast
  • Terry-Ann Zander
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Docu-fiction, Experimental, Documentary
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 16 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 30, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    11,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Ithaca Experimental Film Festival
    Ithaca, New York
    United States
    January 31, 2026
  • American Cinematheque
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    March 25, 2026
  • Athens International Film + Video Festival
    Athens, Ohio
    United States
    April 15, 2026
  • Brooklyn Film Festival
    Brooklyn, New York
    United States
    May 30, 2026
Director Biography - Izzy Leung

Izzy Leung is a multidisciplinary artist originally from California and living in New York. Working between film, photography, & sculpture, she is interested in using acts of repetition to explore cultural narratives surrounding built environments.

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Director Statement

"So, we're going to build this casino."

CASINO! is an experimental documentary following a group of community theater actors as they create a casino through a sense-memory workshop. Oscillating between genres, CASINO! explores what it means to collaboratively create a film and build a fictional space together. The documentary form allows the production to extend beyond the cast and crew, to the pre-existing realities of the theater, casino, and beyond.

CASINO! began as an exploration of casinos and theaters as places of possibility, liminal spaces where we must suspend our disbelief in order to participate in the greater fantasy. I invited the actors to collectively imagine and build the space of the casino through improvisation, guided only by the idea that we would film in three parts; a sense memory workshop, interviews about gambling, and a scripted poker scene. We cast a group of performers, majority over the age of 60, and each arrived with entirely different characters and reasons for being on set. One of the cast members is my mother, who discovered her passion for stand up comedy in her early 60’s, a reminder that reinvention, risk, and performance are not limited by age. We asked the performers to embrace a sense of play, collaboration, and to bring a story about gambling. The film weaves together their truthful memories and fabricated narratives without distinction, allowing the improvisational process to direct the narrative that became the film.

CASINO! asks questions about desire, obsession, and performance: Why do we gamble? What are we hoping to win? What drives our need to be seen, to be witnessed, to leave something behind? And for myself, as a filmmaker, how many elements are required to create a convincing film, play, scenario?