Documentary filmmaker Yale Strom (The Last Klezmer) makes his narrative feature debut with On the Q.T., a coming-of-age tale about a young violinist in New York. Newcomer Samuel Ball stars as Jari, an untrained twenty-five-year-old prodigy who ekes out a living playing subway platforms, or busking, while waiting to audition for a prestigious music school fellowship. James Earl Jones plays a wise old soul who takes Jari under his wing for life lessons as well as music tutelage, enabling him to muster the necessary aplomb to negotiate his initial encounters with the rarefied strata of the professional music world. Also in the film is Trudie Styler as Carla Cooper, a famous singer-songwriter who hears Jari play and soon lures him into a torrid affair.

"[The film is] loosely autobiographical," says Strom, 42, an accomplished musician who has released seven recordings and spent five years playing violin in the subways while working his way through graduate school. "I’ve always been a raconteur, and thought it was a challenge to do it on celluloid." Strom is best known in the film world for The Last Klezmer, a feature documentary about musician Leopold Kozlowski that premiered at Berlin in 1994 and was named one of the year’s top ten films by the New York Post. His other films include Carpati, a ’97 Spirit nominee for best documentary, and At the Crossroads. He’s also a photographer with six published books and countless shows to his credit and has composed a commissioned symphony that debuted with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1998. He wrote Q.T. with his wife, Elizabeth Schwartz, a former Hollywood production exec who makes her producing debut with the film. Schwartz says it took them two and a half years to get from an initial treatment to principal photography and a six-figure budget supplied through the efforts of a private businessman.

The 35mm Q.T. shot in Manhattan, Queens and upstate Armonk, New York for 23 days beginning in January. Q.T. should be complete by the end of this year and all rights are available.

Cast: Samuel Ball, James Earl Jones, Trudie Styler, Annie Parisse, Peter Stan, Tom Mardirosian, Sam Guncler. Crew: Producers, Donald Rabinovitch and Elizabeth Schwartz; Director, Yale Strom; Screenwriters, Schwartz & Strom; Cinematographer, Nils Kenaston; Production Designer, Petra Barchi; Costumes, Catherine George; Editor, Cass Vanini; Casting, Caroline Sinclair. Contact: Donald Rabinovitch, Andes Film Company, 543 Bedford Road, RD 3, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549. Tel: (914) 592-6100 x200.

Boyd’s Out - Dani Minnick
Follow Me Outside - John Sullivan
Kali’s Vibe - Shari Carpenter
The Magic of Marciano - Tony Barbieri
Maryam - Ramin Serry
On the Q.T. - Yale Strom
Slice & Dice - Rob McCall
Swimming - Robert J. Siegel
Waiting - Patrick Hasson