Electronic Press Kit
TO DIE ALONE IS AN INDEPENDENT FILM WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY AUSTIN SMAGALSKI, STARRING LISA JACQUELINE STARRETT AND JAMES TANG.
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After suffering a terrible injury while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, Irving must find a way to escape the woods alive and confront her inner demons with the help of a stranger.
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TO DIE ALONE has concluded its festival run and will be widely released in March, 2025.
TRAILER COMING SOON
STILLS
BEHIND THE SCENES
KEY PLAYERS
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Austin Smagalski
Writer/Director
Austin Smagalski was raised in Sonoma County and has been passionate about filmmaking since childhood. His work often explores internal struggles, with frequent use of themes like trauma, family and isolation. While he has since made a career in TV editing, his passion is writing and directing independent films. Austin's latest feature film, To Die Alone, premiered at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival in 2024 to critical acclaim. His upcoming work includes a documentary focusing on dog rescues and a crime thriller currently in development.
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Lisa Jacqueline Starrett
Lead Actor
Lisa Jacqueline Starrett (Jacq) is an actor passionate about meaningful storytelling. Their deep care for each character has resulted in numerous award-winning films, including Nine Days (Sundance 2020) and Get Away (Academy Award Qualifying 2023.) Jacq attributes their love and thoughtful empathy for very role to their background in trauma psychology. Alongside acting, Jacq helps survivors of violence and abuse, works on sets as a Mental Health Coordinator, and is COO of Project Contrast, a non-profit empowering LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas.
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JAMES TANG
Lead Actor
James Tang is an international actor that has lived in Thailand, Canada, and Australia. Trained in the Meisner technique, he has worked on PUPPY PLACE for APPLE TV and appeared on NBC’s BROOKLYN NINE-NINE, opposite Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Funero, NCIS: LOS ANGELES, and BOSCH (opposite Titus Welliver). His goal is to improve Asian male representation and tell fun, entertaining stories that portray underrepresented people as three dimensional human beings.
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Shelby Lee
Director of Photography
Driven by a passion for authentic storytelling and a commitment to cinematic innovation, Shelby Lee Parks has a surreal, and renaissance approach to cinematography. She is fueled by her lifelong studies as a painter, considering light and a camera as her current paint brush and canvas. She offers viewers a window into the human experience through a lens that is both evocative and thought-provoking.
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Connie Jo Sechrist
Producer with Charming Stranger Films
Connie Jo Sechrist is a accomplished American Actress and Emmy® Nominated Producer from San Jose, CA, whose work has been recognized at prestigious festivals such as SXSW, Tribeca, and other Academy Qualifying Festivals around the world. She is well-known for her dynamic and complex roles in drama, action, and sci-fi genre films.
As a passionate advocate for mental health, Connie Jo has produced and starred in over 20 films that explore mental health and personal stories, with the goal of de-stigmatizing mental health issues and breaking down barriers. Her commitment to raising awareness about the prevalence of mental health problems and encouraging greater understanding and acceptance is evident in the impactful nature of her work.
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Noah "Rose" Diamond
Editor
Noah "Rose" Diamond has been closely collaborating with Austin since they both were in college, working together on many shorts and a feature documentary before making their first feature together. Rose was excited to work with Austin again, this time coming on at the early stages of development to be a part of building the story from beginning all the way through editing.
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Isabel Yanes
Editor
Isabel Yanes was born in Miami, FL to Cuban immigrants and raised in Georgia where her passion for storytelling and entertainment developed at an early age. Exposure to video production in highschool led her to pursue a degree in Entertainment and Media Studies at the University of Georgia and subsequently relocate to Los Angeles. Since then she has worked as a Freelance Editor and Assistant Editor for feature films and scripted television with a focus on drama, science fiction and fantasy. Her past work includes various TV shows such as For All Mankind, Superman & Lois, Homecoming, and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and films directed by Austin Smagalski such as Donovan Reid and his latest feature To Die Alone.
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Jared Newman
Composer
Jared Newman was raised in Sonoma County California and has been passionate about music and sound since childhood. A self taught music composer with a love for otherworldly sounds, Jared has scored music for many independent films such as Donovan Reid, Danny, and To Die Alone, his latest feature.
“TO DIE ALONE IS A STORY ABOUT SURVIVAL, BOTH PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL. Everyone on this project worked to make it a film that will have you laughing one moment, crying the next, and walk away changed FOR THE BETTER.”
— Austin Smagalski
Writer & Director of TO DIE ALONE
FUN FACTS AND CONNECTIONS
-The team includes several Sonoma County-raise filmmakers, including writer/director Austin Smagalski, Editor Noah “Rose” Diamond and composer Jared Newman, who have been frequent collaborators since they attended Santa Rosa Junior College.
-The GORP in the film was actually made without peanuts because of a severe peanut allergy among the crew.
-Director of photography Shelby Lee has a brief uncredited cameo in the film as "mysterious woman"
-Writer/director Austin grew up backpacking with the Scouts, sometimes as long as 50 to 75 mile-long trips.
-Principal photography was only 13 days, with 11 days in the forest. Because of the tight schedule, several scenes were reworked on set because of rainy conditions, which became integral to showing the harsh conditions of the trail.