Lissa Carandang-Sweeney
Acting
Biography
Lissa Carandang-Sweeney is a mixed Filipino American actor, producer, and costume designer based in New York City, but raised in and around Philadelphia. Her first on-camera role-as a featured bar girl in the third season of Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel-kicked off her determination to pursue acting professionally. Her first leading role in a feature film, Alice-Heart, cemented her conviction to work on projects she believes in and to support the films she contributes to, both on and off camera, when invited. With Alice-Heart also being the first feature she lead-produced, Lissa was ecstatic to receive Slamdance 2025's Honorable Mention for the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize, as well as the festival's Outstanding Acting Award. Lissa hopes to rekindle the liberated spirit of independent, low-budget filmmaking and to encourage more Gen Z artists to tell stories that are true to them-no matter how seemingly trivial or grand. She firmly believe that film sets should be environments that foster collaboration and friendship, and she aspires to influence a future where this outlook becomes customary.
Known For
A jaded Japanese movie star stranded in NYC without money or phone meets a passionate indie filmmaker and his crew, leading to an unexpected creative journey that could reignite her love for cinema.
I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn
A young married couple (Luna and Jin) spend the first day of summer but the last day of their loving relationship together, trying to find a mug that has more value than its worth.
Please, Smile
Close friends Edwin and Steven advise each other on dating and drama — based on zero experience — while seeking a space to hang after school.
Practice Space
A pizza delivery girl discovers her neighbor is moving into a sorority house of vampires. It's a race against the clock to stop her crush from being sacrificed at midnight.
Super Hot
Alice-Heart is an aimless college student residing in Philadelphia. She aspires to be a famous writer but drops out of school in her last semester of senior year on a whim. Immediately cut off from her disappointed Filipino mother and dumped by her studious boyfriend, she finds that she has to pay bills on her own for the first time. Distraught, she takes solace in her neighbor Tony, a self sufficient freelance photographer. Tony encourages her to pursue her passions and hold onto her friendships. With this in mind, Alice-Heart navigates the beginnings of adulthood and combats “adult baby” allegations along the way.
Alice-Heart
Two immigrants living on the fringes of American society hit the road in search of the truth about a shared UFO abduction.
We Are Living Things
Two old college friends reconnect in East Falls Philadelphia, testing their friendship, artistic integrity, and patience with each other.
The Falls
Two high school friends, Nick and Sam, spend the afternoon in suburban Pennsylvania.
First Time
A pair of people experience some interesting, fleeting moments in Pleasantville, New Jersey.
Hazy, Hot & Stupid
Everything is falling apart for Hannah, a late-twenties aspiring actor, as she tosses and turns in the turbulent seasons of relationships, death, and the ever present oppressive gloom of trying to make something of herself before turning thirty.
Between Rivers
When a young college student lies to the girl of his dreams about being able to speak German, he must try and learn the language in one night to avoid revealing the truth.
Total Immersion
A newlywed and recent father wins $6 off a scratch-off, which kickstarts a “lucky week” of mismanagement as a wound on his leg slowly grows more infected.
Scratch-Off
A shore film about the suburbs.
Long Beach Island
During a writing retreat, an undermined member of an indie rock band discovers a connection to a supernatural presence.
Crescendo In
A Lutheran pastor travels from the Bronx, NY to Phillipsburg, NJ to visit a reclusive hoarder.
Always Nothing Much
A lonely claymation artist struggles with bad connection.
Fiber Optics
A slice-of-life story about the unlikely connection between an online sex worker and someone seeking company.
We Are the Vessels of Each Other’s Melancholies
An impressionable college sophomore finds her friend group in chaos when an older actor moves in.