Raul Barcelona is a filmmaker based in New York City.  

Born in Spain to Cuban exiles, he developed a strong desire to express himself artistically during his teenage years, when his family relocated first to Florence, Italy, then to Houston, Texas.  Art became a way of overcoming not just his teenage angst, but the language barrier as well.  Despite his artistic inclinations, however, his parents encouraged him to pursue a career that would provide him with a stable financial future.  In 2001 he obtained an electrical engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and upon graduating he relocated to Houston, Texas. 

On September 11th, 2001 he interviewed for an engineering job with a space robotics contractor for NASA. The company called back with a job offer months later, but by then his artistic aspirations had resuscitated and there was no turning back: behind the wheel of a truck packed with all his earthly belongings, the Houston skyline fading in the rearview mirror, he headed north to New York City to seize his dream of a filmmaking career.

The Promise of New York marks the beginning of that dream.

Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Cassandra Hohn is a singer and actress in New York City who has performed in over 70 productions of Theater and Musical Theater.

Cassandra attended the Argonauts School of the Performing Arts in Salem, Oregon, and Graduated from Portland State University with a B.S. in Theater Arts. She is trained in both Classical Singing and Jazz.

She recently performed her latest show Bathing in Bette, a tribute to Bette Midler and her shows at the Continental Baths, at The Duplex theater in the West Village. She will be performing her show again in the Fall of 2008.

The Promise of New York is the first film she has produced.