Musical Film KILLIAN & THE COMEBACK KIDS Featuring Taylor A. Purdee & More to Arrive on Digital Platforms in August

In August, film distributor Hope Runs High will release its latest feature film across VOD platforms - bringing the much-lauded "Killian & the Comeback Kids" to a national audience outside of its 30 city theatrical release. For composer-writer-director Taylor A. Purdee, "Killian & the Comeback Kids" is a passion project that has united a dynamic team of creatives both onscreen and off. Concurrently with digital release, the film's screenplay will be preserved by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' permanent archive.

With the film's initial theatrical releases, Purdee became the youngest director in 2020 and 2021 to have a film playing in major American exhibition circuits. He is also the first bi-racial director-star of African American descent to have a film theatrically released in the United States in the 21st century.

'Killian' is the story of a young mixed-race musician forced to return to his rural hometown, burdened by the expense of his college degree. A chance encounter with a childhood acquaintance takes his summer in a new direction as the pair enlist a rag-tag band of other struggling locals to play a music festival coming to their once-prosperous steel town. With youthful ambition and an unflagging passion for folk-rock, Killian and the band take a shot at uniting their divided community and setting the stage for their futures.

Purdee discusses the film's resonance in the current moment. "Folk music has always represented three things: a lot of self-determination, social responsibility, and a DIY spirit that happens to run through most younger generations. In a moment where the culture seems increasingly divided, when higher education could be viewed as more of a corporate scheme than a ticket to prosperity, and when one-third of our young people remain suspended in an elongated adolescence, our view of professional and personal identity is worth reimagining."

The film's music by Purdee and his The Cumberland Kids bandmate Liam Higgins garnered Oscar buzz, and Purdee's original screenplay will be preserved in The Academy's permanent archive. The film stars Taylor A. Purdee, Kassie DePaiva, Nathan Purdee, John Donchak, Shannon O'Boyle, Shane Andries, Emily Mest, Yael Elisheva, and Andrew O'Shanick, and features Maddi Jane and Academy Award-winner Lee Grant.

"With a cast built of new faces, street musicians, Broadway mainstays, daytime superstars, new media darlings, and a living legend of classic Hollywood, our disruptive star power is the perfect mixture for an unconventional film in unconventional times.

Hope Runs High is thrilled to make the film available digitally after its covid-era theatrical run. For a current list of VOD platforms, visit the film's website.

Hope Runs High

Hope Runs High is a New York based film distribution company bringing reappraised classics and new releases to screens of every size. Working with legendary filmmakers and the freshest talent, all our films come from groundbreaking voices in both documentary and narrative cinema. Dedicated to diverse stories we strive to find new films and revive overlooked classics from female directors, people of color, and LGBTQ+ filmmakers, as well as artists from the traditional cannon. Other notable titles include the six film re-release of screen legend Lee Grant's documentary work, including Oscar winner Down and Out in America, the final onscreen appearance of Orson Welles in Someone to Love, the Oscar-shortlisted docu-musical Wallowitch & Ross: THIS MOMENT, and the legendary indie darling Tarnation.

Karmic Release Ltd.

Karmic Release Ltd. is a family run minority owned production company. Our films have received multiple Emmy awards, the Peabody, Dupont-Columbia, and a place on the Academy Award shortlist. We try, through our work in both television and feature film production and preservation to shine a light on many films and filmmakers that might otherwise have been overlooked by commercial cinema. And after over 30 years, our family business has produced numerous films now preserved in The Academy of Motion Picture's permanent archive, as well as ongoing legacy of uniquely intersectional and truly independent filmmaking. Favorite projects include HBO's Baghdad ER (emmy award) Praying with Lior, A Father...A Son...Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Wallowitch & Ross: THIS MOMENT an intimate look at NYC cabaret legend John Wallowitch and his partner onstage and off, Martha Graham's co-director, Bertram Ross (oscar shortlist).

BIOS

Writer/Director/"Killian Raison": Taylor A. Purdee's next film, This is Honduras, is a
documentary exploration of the relationship between humanitarian aid workers and the post-coup government of Honduras, the "murder capital" of the world. The film premiered with the most financially successful screening of the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival. As a producer he has overseen the protection and re-release of screen legend Lee Grant's documentary work, curating "the world's first virtual repertory series" (NPR wbur) with 20th Century Woman: The Documentary Films of Lee Grant. As an actor he's appeared on hit TV shows like Gotham, Marvel's Iron Fist, and the surprise Finnish hit Nerd: DragonSlayer666. His folk-rock duo, The Cumberland Kids, provided both the original score and original songs for the film. His work is seen by someone, somewhere, every day, and has been awarded by the Young Arts organization, New York University, Fordham University, The Friars Club, and SAG. His original screenplay for Killian & the Comeback Kids is now being preserved in the Academy of Motion Pictures's permanent collection.

"Cassandra Raison" - Kassie DePaiva stars as Eve Donovan on Days of Our Lives. Kassie grew up deep in Kentucky, one of four children in a Southern Baptist family, where she studied dance and sang at school and church and 4-H talent shows. "Music has always been my strength," says the four-time Emmy Nominee, who has portrayed the character Blair Cramer on ABC's One Life to Live and appeared previously in Evil Dead II and on CBS's The Guiding Light as Chelsea Reardon during the late-'80s. "It doesn't matter," she says, "what kind of camera you put in front of me, whether it's 35-millimeter or video or highdef: I'm going to try to present the most real and honest performance that I can."

"Nathan Raison" - Nathan Purdee is one of the leading Daytime Television actors of his generation. A key player on some of America's most beloved serials, from his ground breaking role as Nathan "Kong" Hastings on CBS' The Young and the Restless, Santa Barbara's Jed (in whose skin Purdee performed the first inter-racial kiss on Daytime Television) to straight shooting District Attorney Hank "The Cannon" Gannon on ABC's One Life to Live. He revived the classic 70's character Superfly in the 1990 motion picture The Return of Superfly. Purdee has been honored with seven NAACP image award nominations, two AUDELCO Award nominations for his efforts in New York's historic "Black Theatres," as well as having played a starring role on The Young and the Restless and One Life to Live over the years of their combined five nominations and three wins of the Daytime Emmy's "Outstanding Drama Series" award.

"Sam Amico" - John Donchak is a NYC actor with Chicago roots. Since graduating
from Fordham University's theatre program John has enjoyed finding the earnestness
in the characters he plays from theatre to film. You can catchJohn's more physical side behind the masks of character's like The Tick's"Overkill" performing the death defying stunts that keep your favorite shows nerve-wracking as well as stunt choreographing film's like executive producer Wong Kar Wai's One For the Road.

"Rose Jackson" - Shannon O'Boyle is a Broadway actress and proud member of Actors
Equity. Most recently she's been seen on Broadway as Nicola in Kinky Boots and as Girl in Once the Musical. She has also worked regionally in such renowned companies as Playhouse Square, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Great Lakes Theatre and Idaho Shakespeare Festival. She originated the title role in Lizzie, the Lizzie Borden rock-opera.

"Tristan"- Shane Andries born and raised in Houston, TX, hung up his baseball mitt and went on to attend The University of North Carolina School of the Arts receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Drama. Upon graduating, he was awarded the Kenan Fellowship at Lincoln Center in New York City and shortly thereafter landed a job with Blue Man Group where he performed with the show Off-Broadway (NYC), as well as shows in Boston, Orlando, and as a cast member of the National Tour. His screenplay The Delegation won the Slamdance Writing Competing's Grand Prize.

"Melanie"- Emily Mest is a Los Angeles based actress and singer/songwriter. She toured with the Broadway productions of Spring Awakening and Oliver and can be seen in upcoming Paramount film The Malibu Tapes and on American Horror Story and Netflix's Ratchet. Her singles and music videos are released under her pseudonym "Harlie".

"Josh" - Andrew O'Shanick is a classically trained baritone from Midlothian, VA. He most recently appeared as the Soldier and Bartender in the Huntington Theatre Company's Sunday in the Park with George. An avid performer of operatic repertoire, Andrew is also an accomplished violinist and has performed at the Kennedy Center, The Strathmore, and the Spoleto Festival. As an actor/musician he has appeared in The Office, The Blacklist, and Pitch Perfect.

"Rowan Raison" - Genesis McCaulley. This marks the 11 year-olds film debut, she's currently looking forward to both the "And Introducing"title before her name, and the 5th grade.

"Rachel" - Maddi Jane is a young star on the rise. Her work as a singer and songwriter has been discovered by hundreds of millions of fans on YouTube. Her work as an actor has led her to films playing opposite legends like Lou Gosset Jr. and Burt Reynolds.

"Ms. Raison" Lee Grant is an Academy Award winning actor and director as well as an icon of the New Hollywood era. Adding her stamp to now classic films like In the Heat of the Night, The Landlord, The Valley of the Dolls, and Shampoo, she was thrilled to lend her voice to Killian & the Comeback Kids.

Producer: Roberta Morris Purdee began her career working with Academy Award winning Actress and Director Lee Grant. After producing many of Grant's films she opened Karmic Release, Ltd. with husband Nathan Purdee. Since then Karmic Release and Feury/Grant have joined forces to make such ground breaking documentaries as the Emmy Award Winning Baghdad ER. Morris-Purdee has produced more than 18 films with Karmic Release Ltd. since it began in 1992. Her works have been honored with Emmy, Peabody, DuPont-Columbia, and Cine Golden Eagle awards, as well as a place on the 1999 Academy Award Short List, for her personal favorite, the new queer cinema gem, Wallowitch & Ross: THIS MOMENT.

Executive Producer: Suzanne Ordas Curry has owned a PR firm since 1988, it was through her clients that she became involved in film and scripted series. She was co-producer of the award-winning film Equity (Sundance 2016), starring Anna Gunn and Alysia Reiner. Current projects include An Acceptable Loss with Jamie Lee Curtis and Tika Sumter and Egg (Tribeca) starring Alysia Reiner, Anna Camp, Christina Hendricks and Gbenge Akinnagbe.

Executive Producer: Liam Higgins started his film career composing, producing, performing, and directing the music for Killian & the Comeback Kids. One half of the folk-rock duo The Cumberland Kids, Higgins is a bio-engineer.

Composers: Liam Higgins, Taylor A. Purdee - Both the film's score and original soundtrack were written, produced and performed by folk-rock duo The Cumberland Kids. The film's soundtrack made up of original songs and new renditions of traditional tunes will be released with the film.

For more information visit: https://www.killianandthecomebackkidsmovie.com/

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