Cast & crew

At the convenience store, Feb. 20, 2007. Left to right : Alexandra Aileen, Kevin Hardiman, Anthony Haviland (kneeling), Mercedes Danekas, Ryan Litton, Desiree Duclayan-Parsonson, Ely Kalilikane.

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Read the following bios of our cast and crew! Without the hard work and dedication of this team, EMPTY STREETS would still exist in notebooks.

George Baker (Co-Producer) helped set up the casting and locations. George is the founder of the Shockerfest International Film Festival, now in its 11th year.

Karma Outlet (Editors and Sound Editors) is a small-scale video production company located in Grass Valley, Calif. The company is run by Ryan Litton and Chris Keefer. Karma Outlet provides a variety of video-graphical services to suit the customer's needs, from documentaries and independent films to special events and weddings.

Eve Hands (Executive Producer) is a producer and writer. Eve founded her Kaua'i-based company, Paradise Production Studios. Her most recent production credit is co-producer of the motion picture “Immortally Yours”.

Alexandra Aileen (liquor store girl #1) is a 18-year-old (at time of filming, now 23) starting to make her way into film acting. She feels extremely honored to have Empty Streets be one of her first bigger film projects, considering that it has such meaning and impact. She will be leaving for college in Southern California next fall, and hopes to continue acting throughout her life. She would like to thank Paul for taking such risks to bring an often overlooked problem to the surface of his audience's hearts and minds.

Mercedes Danekas (liquor store girl #2) is an aspiring actress from Elk Grove, Calif. Mercedes is a professional Angus rancher and works on her family farm in Wilton.

Paul Bruton (police officer) works as a copy editor in the town of Lodi, Calif. When he's not red-penning reporters' words he is likely doing something outdoorsy or playing sports.

Kris Price (liquor store clerk) is an actor and filmmaker living in Modesto, Calif. He is the owner of thinkboxfilm productions and a student at Modesto Junior College. Kris worked as a production assistant and had a small acting part. Kris says, "What I learned from it is that it's great to know what happens to the military person who comes home from war, and that we need to take care of them and find them jobs instead of lose them in the shuffle. I think this will be an eye opener …"

Cody Leroy Bartlett (parking lot punk #1)
He provided a few tapes we shot the film on. Additionally, Cody works as a Mortician, is father of two with his wife Charito, and avid bird-watcher in Sacramento, California.

About Kevin

Kevin (Director of Photography) was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. He worked 2004-2012 in Whistler, B.C., conceptualizing, shooting, editing, and producing content for Whistler Resort Television. He has worked on projects as a camera operator in Canada, The United States, Thailand and Costa Rica.

Production Stills

Here are some various photos from behind the scenes of EMPTY STREETS.
Top: Paul talks on the phone with co-producer George Baker, at a bus stop off Crows Landing in Modesto.
Center: Convenience store rehearsal. Alexandra Nystrom, Ryan Litton and the mom of our other actress Mercedes Danekas.
Bottom (left to right): Director of Photography Kevin Hardiman, actor Anthony Haviland, Ely Kalilikane, and Paul Booth at the convenience store in Lodi.

About Anthony

Anthony Haviland (Stars as Johnny) is 33 years old and has worked in various areas behind the scenes in TV and film.

About Dez

Being a part of Empty Streets for me was an honor. I wasn't crazy about my character but the message in the movie was important to me and that was why I decided to be a part of it all. Being a Mom and having sons turning 20 and 18 gave me good reason to want to be a part of the message.

I am thankful for the opportunity and am glad to have met a group of fine people in the process, I felt Kevin is an awesome camera man with a great eye for film, Tony is an exceptional talent, Kendyce was a huge help in the process, Ely is a man with a heart of gold and Paul …

I am an aspiring actress with little experience but huge ambition. Because Paul knows me so well, he had an amazing ability to help me use my own experiences to bring out certain feelings and emotions in me for my parts. Paul is an excellent writer, director and producer and I know he will only continue to succeed in this journey and path.
— Desiree Duclayan-Parsonson (Stars as Carol)

About Paul

Paul (Co-Writer, Producer, Director) is a graduate of Kauai Community College, the Vancouver Film School, a multi-award nominated, multi-award winning feature film producer (including a Telly and Davey) and multi-award winning director (for his work in public access television he received a W.A.V.E. award). Paul's work has been produced with a company on the Universal Studios lot, shown in film festivals around the world, screened in multiple art house cinema venues and broadcast worldwide on web-casts.

On television, it has been produced for Time Warner Cable (5-episode mini-series and multiple segments for a weekly series) and screened on Comcast cable in Sacramento, West Sacramento, Davis and Grass Valley, Nevada City and Nevada County in Northern California. Other California screenings include Eureka, Arcata, Humboldt, Palo Alto, E. Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton and Stanford. It has also aired on public access channels in Columbia Missouri, Cambridge Massachusetts, Manchester New Hampshire.

DVD distribution of his work included (before closing) Blockbuster Hawaii and Hollywood Video (U.S. nationwide), with current distribution on Netflix.com, Amazon.com and Public Libraries in Hawaii (5-islands) and California (Sacramento/Orange County). Two (of five) feature films he Produced are national (U.S.) releases.

Paul was the founder of the Hawaii Student Film Festival in 1999 and directed the event until 2003 when it closed, after showing 230 films from 30 schools on 5 Hawaiian Islands. In 2003 the festival was recognized on the floor of the Hawaii State Senate with a proclamation honoring it as the First (ever) Student Film Festival in the State's history. The festival also received a proclamation from the Kauai County Council in 2003 (the island the festival started on).

Paul currated the Lihue Library Film Club at the Hawaii State Library (Fall '09-Fall '11), wrote Classic DVD reviews and covered film festivals (including Turner Classic Movies Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival) for the Garden Island newspaper in Kauai, Hawaii (Dec.'09-Dec.2012) and then wrote for Influx Magazine (March 2013-April 2015), covering film festivals, reviewing indie films and interviewing film industry professionals. As a rock writer in 2013 (with press credentials) he covered Keb Mo', Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Alice Cooper, The Beach Boys, Leann Rimes and the legendary Jazz pianist McCoy Tyner.

He has interviewed current and past Oscar winners including Thalberg Oscar winner and 5-time nominee Norman Jewison,  two-time Oscar winner Ron Judkins (Jurassic Park/Saving Private Ryan). Oscar Nominees Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) and Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska). He has had the privilege to interview Grammy winners Jimbo Mathus and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Makana (nominated for the Soundtrack of the Oscar-winning The Descendants). His pull-quotes have been used on eight different 'Official' movie posters, DVD covers including Beau Bridges' RUSHLIGHTS and in a theatrical trailer for COLD TURKEY (starring Peter Bogdanovich, Cheryl Hines and Alicia Witt). His quotes are also used on the DVD box, posters and or promotional materials for  the multi-award winning indie features Missing Child, Seahorses and The Historian (with William Sadler).

Among more than 10 known actors, he has interviewed Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Jon Polito (The Big Lebowski) and William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption). Along with William Sadler his most recent interviews were with Alicia Witt from the hit FX series Justified (guest star season 5) and Oscar Nominee, Emmy Nominee, Emmy Winner Tom Berenger as well as Emmy Winner Gil Bellows of Kill the Messenger and the recent award-winning-indie-gem Girl on the Edge. He has also written for Hawaii Film and Video Magazine.

Paul's work has been covered in Asian Cult Cinema magazine, Filmmaker Magazine and mentioned multiple times in The Honolulu Star Bulletin, The Honolulu Advertiser, The Modesto Bee, The Grass Valley Union, The Garden Island News and in TV interviews on the Central Valley Report (Comcast Cable, Modesto), KGMB (CBS Hawaii Affiliate), Hawaii News Now, KITV (ABC Hawaii Affiliate) and KHON (Fox Hawaii Affiliate). On the radio he has done interviews for Sacramento's Capitol Public Radio (NPR), KOIC radio in Southern California, Kauai Hawaii's Kong Radio, KKCR and the online show Solutions Now Radio.