Ladies and gentlemen, the Oscar-qualified short, THE HEART OF TEXAS is about an aspiring country singer Janie May (Lauren Noll) who races to the studio after her overnight diner shift when she collides with an undocumented worker — changing the course of both their futures. This is a film in the art of storytelling. Mirroring the lives of two people who are chasing the American dream, one an aspiring singer dreaming of stardom and an undocumented worker whose dream is to provide a better life for his family who is still living in Mexico. Their lives collide, leaving one dying to make it and the other dying to survive. This film is compelling, tense and heartbreaking. 13 minutes and 56 seconds that will leave you on the edge of seat and your heart in your hands. Writer/director Gregory Kasunich and producer/co-writer and actress Lauren Noll and their powerful and compelling Oscar-qualified short THE HEART OF TEXAS. Director and co-writer Gregory JM Kasunich is an award winning filmmaker. His body of work includes projects for Taylor Swift, The Pentatonix, The Summer Set, DreamWorks, Disney, Lucas Film and many others. His editorial and portrait photography has been published in several publications. His films have been nominated and awarded in festivals all over the world. Lead actress, co-writer and producer Lauren Noll is a filmmaker with a Master’s Degree in Acting from Harvard University. Her curiosity around other roles in filmmaking led her to write, direct, and star in her first award-winning short film, HONOR in 2020, a personal drama about the encounter of a queer student with Brigham Young University’s honor code office. She followed that filmmaking debut with GEN V, CLEAN SLATE, which was awarded a grand jury prize at the Collaboration Filmmakers Challenge, and THE HEART OF TEXAS, which has won over 20 awards. #shortfilms #shortfilm #oscars #academyawards #americandream #landofopportunity #filminterview #filmreview #filmbreakdown #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #actress #immigrant #musician