Who Is Zal Batmanglij And What Films Has He Directed?

“In a world of ruthless mafia rivalries, the Italian mafia, La Famiglia De Luca, has been embroiled in a brutal five-year war with the Mexican mafia, La Mano Roja (The Red Hand). Desperate for an advantage, Capo Ivan De Luca forges an unlikely alliance with the feared Russian Bratva, led by the powerful Pakhan Sergei Morozov. But at a steep price: his daughter's hand in marriage to the Pakhan's ruthless grandson, the future Pakhan. Meet Mikhail Morozov, a half-Russian, half-Cuban mafia heir with ice in his veins and blood on his hands. He rules with silence and steel, trusting no one and loving none. Raised in brutality, Mikhail believes emotions are liabilities and mercy is weakness. And Donatella De Luca, the sharp-tongued and fiercely independent second daughter of Capo Ivan De Luca. With a quick wit and sharp mind, she navigates the complex world of the De Luca famiglia with confidence and poise. When the Pakhan chooses Donatella as the bride, a complex web of loyalty, power, and forbidden love is set in motion. Will Donatella’s strength be enough to tame the devil, or will Mikhail cold heart consume her?”

Isla- a young, and underestimated warrior. After surviving years of traumatic abuse, she is left orphaned, and alone. She strives to prove to herself, and others, that she is not weak. Though she is beautiful and strong years of psychological abuse, she doesn’t believe she is worthy of love, or that the Moon Goddess will grant her a fated mate. Alpha Zac is the fair and strong leader of Clear Creek. Secretly a hopeless romantic, Zac wants his fated mate more than anything. But after waiting years to find her, he has accepted a playboy lifestyle. When a unique she-wolf warrior joins his pack, she does more than fulfill his fantasies, she tests how far he will go to protect from her past. “WEAK” he yells as he swiftly brings the whip at me. I quickly try to cover my face but am not fast enough. I hiss in pain as the unforgiving leather slices my hand and eyebrow.I try to swallow the sob that wants to escape me but instead I throw up. Maybe he would have stopped there if I would have missed his boots.** (ISLA) I feel a pang of jealousy, what she has is what I've always wanted. A loving family, support, friends, and stability. Audrie doesn't have to question if she belongs here or try to prove her worth. (ZAC)My whole chest tightens and my wolf presses forward. “MATE”. The urgency to hold her, to take away the pain intensifies. I reach out and lift her head, and that's when I see the gash trickling blood onto the already blood-covered rock. I scoop her up and head straight to the infirmary. I just found my mate, I can't lose her on the same night.

"We call him out God. Because we have no other choice." Discipline and order is not Jada's choice. And after graduation, she expects to become a slave to a prison warden for the rest of her life. Just like the rest of the delinquents. However, her fate takes a sudden change when an offer is put on the table. Enter a competition. One to become a Silent - a deadly assassin who works for Alpha Kael, giving their entire life to defend him. To succeed, her stubbornness will be put to the test. And a relationship with the Alpha himself, although forbidden, might be the ticket to the top.

He's a Mafia Boss's son. He's handsome and courageous. She's a Billionaire's daughter. She's finely educated, beautiful, and innocent. They fall in love in close proximity inside the Bratva cage as prisoners. They were tortured physically and emotionally. But, love prevails between them in another place and at another time.

Zoya is a girl who comes from a high class home, but is more interested in writing and reading rather than her world that involves attending various business meetings or planned hangouts with Sami, who has been obsessed with her for years and would rather die than not have her. Then she meets Ivandor and she started to feel all she has never felt before. But there is a societal problem here, Ivandor is from the poorest of families and Sami would kill anyone who tries to come in between he and Zoya. And he succeeded, he got her, against her will, one that was disguised as betrayal from her part to Ivandor who didn't know her predicament. And when Ivandor is back, bigger and better, he's not just back for fun, he's back for revenge, to make all the people who spat and looked down on him bite their tongues. But when Sami finds out about all of these, war breaks out, as he would rather die than let any other man have Zoya whether she likes it or not. So sleeves gets rolled up and guns get cocked. Clashes, tears and deaths ensues, secret affairs arises, the eternal love rekindles and it starts to cause chaos and war that seems to never end.

In an East London lock up, two film makers, Jimmy and Sam, are duct taped to chairs and forced to watch a snuff film by Ashkan, a loan shark to whom they owe a lot of money. If they don’t pay up, they’ll be starring in the next one. Before the film reaches its end, Ashkan and all his men are slaughtered by unknown assailants. Only Jimmy and Sam survive the massacre, leaving them with the sole copy of the snuff film. The film makers decide to build their next movie around the brutal film. While auditioning actors, they stumble upon Melissa, an enigmatic actress who seems perfect for the leading role, not least because she’s the spitting image of the snuff film’s main victim. Neither the film, nor Melissa, are entirely what they seem however. Jimmy and Sam find themselves pulled into a paranormal mystery that leads them through the shadowy streets of the city beneath the city and sees them re-enacting an ancient Mesopotamian myth cycle. As they play out the roles of long forgotten gods and goddesses, they’re drawn into the subtle web of a deadly heresy that stretches from the beginnings of civilization to the end of the world as we know it. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing