It is no surprise that after winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best Script at the New Hope Film Festival that No More Goodbyes would be on the path for the success it has since seen. Two weeks ago No More Goodbyes showed at the Santa Fe Film Festival in New Mexico, included amongst the best and newest films of 2022.
No More Goodbyes won the Best Picture / Feature Audience Choice Award at the Santa Fe Film Festival.
Directed by James Ganiere, who recently directed Rekindling Christmas, written by USA Today bestselling author Rebekah Ganiere, and starring Ashley Atwood, Raini Rodriguez, Michael Patrick Lane, Christian Ganiere, Thomas Hobson, and Sal Velez Jr. The film was nominated for an Emmy®. Ganiere’s other film that showed at the Santa Fe Film Festival, his documentary Land of the Free: In the Shadows with Priscilla Presley, is under consideration for a regional Emmy®.
Ganiere is a member of the Producers Guild of America, TV Academy, and Alumnus of USC School of Cinema as well as a TEDX speaker.
No More Goodbyes is a coming-of-age movie that follows two young unrelated inter-racial foster brothers attempting to stay together in a system that would tear them apart. When the foster brothers’ foster mother dies, Mark (17 years old), and Tristan (9 years old) go on the run to keep from being split up by the foster care system that’s supposed to protect them. However, to keep their secret safe, the boys must put their trust in a gruff retired Army Colonial seeking redemption.
The film’s poster reads “Blood makes a relative, Sacrifice makes a family”. Is family those with who we share DNA, or is it something more? Is it those who are willing to sacrifice for everything each other? Who is your family?
Leading the cast are Christian Ganiere (9-1-1, Criminal Minds) as Tristan as well as Jequan Jackson as seventeen-year-old Mark (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, FBI). Mark is desperate to protect and not to be separated from his unrelated younger foster brother Tristan. Christian’s part in this film, a young boy with Autism and PTSD, explores new depths from his normal roles including Grey’s Anatomy as Gus Carter who was Autistic suffering from seizures with the rarest blood type in the world “golden blood” or Wish Man as Michael who was dying of Leukemia and inspired Frank Shankwitz to found the “Make-A-Wish Foundation” or Dylan on the NBC / Warner Bros Monica Potter sitcom pilot.
Tom Nowicki (The Blind Side, Remember the Titans) plays Stan, a retired military veteran that seeks redemption, goes against his nature and gets involved.
Oscar-nominated actor Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, Runaway Train) also stars.
Other actors and actresses that are featured in the film include Starletta DuPois (The Notebook, Friday After Next), Zuri Starks (This is Us, Chicago Fire), Ethan McDowell (The Walking Dead, Doom Patrol), Stacy Haiduk (True Blood, The Young and the Restless), Sal Velez Jr. (Black Summer, Gentrified), Michael Patrick Lane (Redemption Day, Unseen) and Oscar-nominated Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, Star 80).
No More Goodbyes is produced via James Ganiere’s Rio Vista Universal, a company focused on compelling characters and storytelling “at the crossroads of technology and entertainment, no matter the genre or medium.”
Plans on where to stream No More Goodbyes have yet to be announced. The film runs for 2 hours 4 minutes.