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Haz Parakrama is a Masters student in Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His interest in film came
along with his love for music, art, technology, etc. when he was less than ten years old. He spent his teenage years in Oman,
where he attempted to film a short movie based on Star Wars: Episode I. Over thirty minutes of film could have resulted, including
a lightsaber fight scene between him and his older brother, had he the equipment necessary to edit it together. However, Oman's
lack of software availability made it difficult, and the footage eventually was lost.
In 2005 in the middle of his graduate degree, Haz teamed up with friend Ali Nejad to produce a short film for the campus
film festival. Their short film "5 Minutes" won second place and the Audience Award. They teamed up again the next semester in 2006,
this time with Haz more in control, for their short film "Gethsemane". It was submitted to a New York festival but did not receive
any awards.
In the summer of 2006, Haz decided it was the right time to make a full-length film, and gathered ideas from Paul Schrader, Ali Nejad,
Anton Naumov, and Ruwan Parakrama and eventually sat down and scripted out The Catch 23. It was a screenplay that would prove to be a
mammoth undertaking, with scenes that he had never filmed before involving effects that he had never done before. Finally on June 3, 2007,
The Catch 23 was finished. It's anticipated DVD release for free distribution and consideration is by June 29th. An online version
will be available as well via Google Video.
Haz Parakrama was born in Sri Lanka. He is 26 years old, and plays guitar, piano, and violin.
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