Week Ahead
To your calendars
𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗔 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘂𝗺
Dublin, Ireland
26-27 February
Mark your calendars, this is the event you don’t want to miss.
Register here.
What role will data play in the future of aviation?
Find out at the 𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗔 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘂𝗺.
Radiant Media Studios Uses Green Energy Tax Credits to Finance a Film
My Dead Friend Zoe
This coming Friday, 28 of February, a dark comedy, "My Dead Friend Zoe", the film that won accolades at SXSW and was financed using green energy tax credits will be in theaters across the US. It is the story of a friendship between two women soldiers deployed to Afghanistan.
"My Dead Friend Zoe" brings together an award-winning cast with Merit, the main character played by Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales as Zoe, Ed Harris as a grandfather who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Morgan Freeman as the psychiatrist working with veterans, Utkarsh Ambudkar as the lovely love interest, and Gloria Reuben, the mother of Merit, played by Sonequa Martin-Green. They are all perfectly cast.
I interviewed one of the lead producers, Ray Maiello, from Radiant Media Studios, to speak about the use of green energy tax credits to finance the film. A first.
The story is based in events that the director, a US Army veteran and film maker, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, experienced upon his return from service. He was deployed to Iraq. The brilliantly paced script was written by him and AJ Bermudez.
The idea behind "My Dead Friend Zoe" is to tell the story of veterans and how vulnerable to mental health issues they are when they return from the battlefield. To bring awareness to the number of deaths given unaddressed mental health issues that happen — after serving in war zones. 1
Studies show that more soldiers died after service in Iraq and Afghanistan than in the battlefield. But that is changing, as mental health issues are being addressed at scale by NGOs that are taking care of reintegrating veterans in civilian life.
Innovation in Film Financing
This is the first independent film that is using green energy tax credits to offset its carbon footprint, not net zero, carbon negative, said Maiello. The film is being released in theaters only, in the US, on the 28th of February. International distribution by Universal will follow.
Part of the financing was through the sale of surplus tax credits by Mike Field, a solar energy investor, and led by Ray Maiello of Radiant Media Studios, alongside American football star Travis Kelce, also a producer. Kelce is now a household name across the globe as Taylor Swift’s sweetheart. (Variety reported that Kelce will be going full fledged into movie producing, once he retires from football).
Radiant Media Studios
Ray Maiello is an award-winning film producer and entertainment executive with 20 years' experience in film, television and music. Ray launched his career in NYC's Lower East Side clubs where he discovered the indie bands Longwave and Wheatus. He founded Moontower Entertainment to manage and produce a slate of recording artists in a resurgent NY rock scene. Among Moontower's releases in 2000 was the single "Teenage Dirtbag" - a global hit with multiple RIAA certified Platinum & Gold records.
Building on his success in music, he expanded to film & television production and relocated to Los Angeles. He was at Netflix and Paramount Pictures, where he held top business affairs positions for over a decade. In 2016, he started developing and producing film projects for Moontower Entertainment.
In 2023, he co-founded Radiant Media Studios with Mike Field to unite his passion for bold storytelling. Ray and Mike pioneered carbon-negative film production to finance film projects in an environmentally sustainable manner.
In 2024, Mike and Ray received the Audience Award at SXSW for producing their debut film "My Dead Friend Zoe" and were recognized by VARIETY as the "first" to use green energy credits to finance a film.
Travis Kelce’s Debut as Film Producer First Movie Financed Using Biden’s Green Energy Tax Credits by Tatiana Siegel, Variety
"My Dead Friend Zoe" is scheduled for a wide theatrical release in the US, on the 28th of February. The film is currently rated 100% on Rotten Tomatoes by Top Critics.
Ray is a graduate of William & Mary and Columbia Law School.
ITU: The Amazing Life of Cells
You must watch this video.
The collective intelligence of cells will revolutionize medicine.
Regenerate frogs’ legs.
Cure cancer.
And much more that will blow your mind.
Lecture given by Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor in the Biology department and Vannevar Bush Chair at Tufts University, for OTU AI for Good online series.
“The fusion of robotics and regenerative biology enables adaptive, self-healing machines, with AI decoding bioelectric signals for biomedical and environmental breakthroughs. Michael Levin will present how bioelectricity powers living robots like Xenobots, which self-assemble, navigate, self-repair, and even replicate.”
