Valley of Angels

Plot

The Grand Prize winner of the 2004 WriteMovies.com International Screenwriting Contest, Valley of Angels follows a twenty-something drug dealer who falls into the dark side of the underworld after realizing that the City of Angels has lost its soul. Zachary "Zeus" Andrews is a Chicago transplant who moved to Los Angeles as a young boy, and quickly realized that he would never fit in there. A stranger in a hostile landscape, Zeus quickly became the go-to guy for rich kids in search of drugs. One day, after meeting a girl, he receives a glimpse of his destiny. Now, just as Zeus becomes convinced that he is finally on the path to enlightenment and begins preparing to leave his old life behind, the harsh reality of his grim existence strikes back with vengeance.

Cast

Production

Casting for Valley of Angels started in March 2005. The film was shot between Thanksgiving and Christmas of that year with a budget of only $200,000. It debuted in March 2007 at the NY International Independent Film & Video Festival where it took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Picture. The film was released in North America on DVD in February 2008.

Awards

Reception

Independent Film Quarterly says that the film is "a debut feature that is both as confident and skillful as Reservoir Dogs, while containing the spiritual contemplation often inherent in Scorsese’s films."