A NEW DARK COMEDY FROM WRITER/DIRECTOR LILIANA TANDON

WINNER of “BEST THRILLER” at the Imagine This Women’s International Film Festival

Two best friends deal with the fallout of a shocking event and test the limits of their friendship over the course of a single night.

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We’ve all said it. That seemingly innocent phrase after your friend gets dumped by their scumbag boyfriend: "want me to kill him for you??" But you don’t really mean it… right?

“Ride or Die” is about a woman trying to take control of her narrative after a traumatic experience and her best friend who helps her reclaim that control. When someone has stripped us of our power, how do we take it back? This darkly funny film is a love letter to supportive, complicated female friendships, starring two of my real life best friends absolutely *killing it* in my directorial debut. "Ride or Die" also explores perception and the lengths we go to appear the way we crave (both to ourselves and others), an impulse I strongly relate to, especially as a woman.

I was inspired by films like “Thelma and Louise” and “Promising Young Woman”: movies with strong female leads that blend humor and heart (and a bit of terror) in a way that constantly keeps the audience on their toes. DP Bryant Littrean and I chose to film a lot of the movie handheld so the audience feels like they are in cahoots with the characters. These women are relatable, complicated people, and I am excited to explore what their journey looks like in a feature version.

I was eager to step into the director role for this film because I, like our heroine Gaby, want control of my own narrative. While it may have been my first film as a director, it certainly won’t be my last.

CREW BIOS

Liliana is an award-winning bi-racial Indian American actress, writer, and filmmaker who is passionate about women-led stories exploring identity and empowerment, told with a mix of humor and heart. Her directorial debut short film Ride or Die premiered at the 2025 Imagine This Women’s International Film Festival, where it won “Best Thriller.” Break/Fix (writer/producer/lead), a short film about bi-racial identity and beauty standards, premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Cleveland International Film Festival and won “The Next Great Filmmaker Award” at the Berkshire International Film Festival. She is the proud writer/lead of three feature films that had network television premieres: Discovering Love (co-starring SNL’s Cheri Oteri), Harmony in Paradise and A Ring for Christmas (co-starring Lorraine Bracco and Michael Gross). She created Period Piece, an award-winning comedic web series that explores women in different periods of history... having their periods. Seasons one and two have over 1.6 million views on YouTube, and were featured on Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Women's Health, Marie Claire France, India Today, and many more. Period Piece won Best Original Comedy Web Series on Elizabeth Banks' comedy site WhoHaHa. Additionally, Liliana was one of five finalists on WhoHaHa for Favorite Impersonation alongside fellow nominees Kate McKinnon and Melissa McCarthy. She is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
Maria is a multilingual Mexican American New York City based actor, singer, podcaster, producer, director, writer and creator. She’s lived in New York, Minnesota, Mexico, and France.
Growing up in Minnesota, I sang with the Minnesota Opera starting at 10 years old which snowballed into theater and musical theater — she was disciplinary from a young age. She went to Columbia University for undergrad on an almost full ride.
As an actor, Maris has worked with Two River Theatre, the Lark, The Civilians, Teatro LATEA, Tantrum East Theatre, The Latinx Playwright Circle, and more. She recently won the NBC Nosotros Org Ya Tu Sabes Monologue Slam. The short film DIVR which Maria co-produced and starred in was directed by Zoey Martinson and won various awards at several of the 20+ festivals it was screened at.
Maria was also one of the eight fellows in the first ever iHeart Radio NextUP Initiative. That led to her podcast When You’re Invisible being sponsored by Toyota, produced by iHeart Radio and My Cultura Podcast Network. In its first 6 months, it reached over 33,000 downloads. Season 2 is coming soon!
Bryant (IMDb) is a NYC-based cinematographer, producer, and photographer. He studied Communication Design at New York City’s FIT, Fashion Institute of Technology. FIT introduced him to the fascinating world of beauty and fashion, leading to photography and videography. Bryant has created hundreds of fashion videos on YouTube from September 2017 to Spring 2021. During that time, he was the other half of the OneDapperStreet YouTube channel, amassing a following of one million subscribers within four years by strategizing, shooting, and editing over 90 videos a year.
His current focus is producing narrative films and fashion photography. Check out some of his recent short films or contact him to collaborate.
Julian Joslin is a New York-based writer, director, and editor.
His short film, No Longer Suitable for Use, was EP'd by Academy Award-winner Sam Rockwell, premiered at the Tribeca Festival, and was acquired by The New Yorker. The story was informed by Joslin’s eight years working for public defenders in New York, during which he assisted with the defense of eleven alleged terrorists. He is currently in pre-production on the feature version with Rockwell's Play Hooky Productions.

Joslin directs and edits for W magazine, where he is the lead editor for all digital series, including Screen Tests with Lynn Hirschberg, Skin Talk with Laura Love, My Life In Parties, and #ASMR. He has edited several short narrative films, including Chasing The Party, which received a Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Festival.

Joslin's viral comedy short, The Ira Glass Sex Tape, was featured in Vulture, the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and A/V Club. He has also consulted on the Shonda Rhimes legal drama For The People and the HBO documentary The Newburgh Sting. As a creative executive for former Focus Features President of Production John Lyons, Joslin worked on the productions of the Academy Award-nominated documentary All The Beauty and The Bloodshed, HBO’s The Young Pope, and Netflix’s The Pentaverate.
The newest member of the Grammy-winning ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Andrew Griffin is an award winning violist, composer, and orchestrator. He has performed in such diverse settings as Saturday Night Live, the Met Gala, Radio City Music Hall, and in the viola sections of the New York Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Since 2019, Andrew has held chairs for multiple Broadway shows, and has performed as guest principal violist of the New York Pops. He was also a laureate at the 2012 Washington International Competition for Strings.
As an active copyist and editor, his credits include: Kidding (Showtime, feat. Jim Carrey); For Colored Girls (Broadway, Booth Theater - where he was the first black supervising copyist in Broadway history); Ride the Cyclone (Off-Broadway); Planet Earth 2 (BBC); Lempicka (Williamstown Theater); Witness Uganda/Invisible Thread (Off-Broadway) and many more.
Andrew has had the honor of performing and recording alongside acclaimed artists such as Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Coldplay, De La Soul, Shawn Mendes, Lauryn Hill, Jennifer Lopez, Pete Townshend, Cynthia Erivo, and Yolanda Adams amongst others.
His original compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations have also been commissioned by notable entities including the Tonight Show (feat. Miley Cyrus & The Roots), the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Sphinx Virtuosi, the Queens College Orchestra, Traverse City Dance Company, and Simply Three. He is the composer for the horror play The Hollow, which premiered in New York in fall 2024. www.thehollowlive.com
Andrew received his bachelor’s degree with honors as a double major from Carnegie Mellon University under Toby Appel (viola BFA) and Nancy Galbraith (composition BFA), and a master’s degree (viola MFA) from Rice University under Ivo-jan van der Werff.