Candidate for
Recall of Gray Davis; State of California

Biography of Abner Zurd (Lori Fontanes)

Ms. Abner Z has written, produced and directed a range of projects in various media. She recently directed the digital feature "Scream at the Sound of the Beep," starring Katharine Towne, Tamara Mello and Merrin Dungey, which is currently in post. Her live-action 35mm short film "Independence Day", which she wrote and directed, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and also screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival, Vienna International Film Festival and the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, among other venues.

Ms. Z's directorial projects have also included a video documenting architect Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall which premiered at the Venice Biennale; one of the earliest digital features, "How to Get (Lucky) at the End of the World;" and the notorious underground digi-short, "How to Get a Head at Sundance." In 2000, she formed a new company, SMD Interactive, which developed a number of web-related projects. Other companies who streamed Abner's work included Bijou Café, iCast, ShortBuzz and Line-Up. In addition, Yahoo! chose her site as Pick of the Week for Humor and Movies.

As Lori Fontanes, her producing projects have included music videos with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; an award-winning HD version of Brecht/Weill's Seven Deadly Sins; the video component of Peter Sellars' production of Saint Francois d'Assise; and a documentary of the Los Angeles Festival.

Abner has written articles on film and video for publications such as RES Magazine and Cashiers du Cinemart. She guest lectured at the Maine International Film and Television Workshops and has spoken at UCLA, AFI and the Yahoo! Internet Life Festival on the art & commerc