AJAX FILMS: The Masterminds

When not escaping tyrannical regimes, Suzan Al-Doghachi is making movies. She is a one person production company. She writes, acts, produces and edits -- all with skill and charm. Her Iraqi/German background blends East, West and NYC into a knockout figure with brains. Emotion and passion are her driving forces. Sometimes sweet, sometimes nasty, always lusted after; Suzan has appeared in numerous films.

Combining courage, street smarts, and an alluring smile, Suzan embodies the perfect film noir femme fatale as Simone in 4 O'Clock. For those who enjoy Suzan's comic abilities, look for her as The Maiden in Love and Death at the Romp.

Whether giving one of her transfixing performances or mixing cocktails for the cast, Suzan fills each film with sophistication. Audiences anxiously await the release of her next project.

Robert Flanagan lives to entertain while digging for bigger answers. He uses humor to capture and disarm his film-going audience, but they experience much more than a simple comedy. They get a glimpse of life itself.

Born in south Florida, Robert spent his childhood among the exotic beasts of the subtropics: lizards, alligators, tourists and bikini-clad beach bunnies. It was here, in late night sessions, that he began to make Super 8 animated monster movies with his friends.

His family moved to North Carolina where he gleaned a good old-fashioned redneck education. High school, TransAms, beer and nights spent naked in the woods were enough to drive any young man to paint. Soon Flanagan began a serious artistic career.

His studies led him to London, England and the British Museum, where he wandered the great halls in an opiated haze conversing endlessly with the ancient relics of civilization.

Returning to America, he eventually found himself in New York City with a movie camera once again in his hands. Moving away from his earlier animated experiments to live action, he has spent the last nine years making movies.

After establishing AJAX FILMS, he teamed up with Suzan Al-Doghachi. Robert has directed several shorts, including the infamous Bottleneck, and two features, the cult spy noir 4 O'Clock and the soon to be released Pink Hill.

Flanagan rarely uses professional actors in his films, preferring friends and people off the street. "Professional acting has little to do with my movies; I am interested in humanity, not craft." Craft is employed for the technical aspects of the films however. The photography is striking, and the sound and staging are carefully controlled.

Influenced deeply by Ed Wood, Mike Kuchar, the great Italian filmmakers, and Hollywood, Flanagan has found a way to express the sublime through the ridiculous with a visual style than transfixes the viewer. Currently in production with several projects, Robert Flanagan and AJAX FILMS are making movies that delight fans and newcomers as they fill the silver screen.