Angel Funding

Adetokumboh “Ade” M'Cormack is an award-winning actor and filmmaker originally from Sierra Leone and lived in Nigeria and Kenya before moving to the United States. He graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Acting from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts & Film at SUNY Purchase. His acting credits include the Oscar-nominated film, Blood Diamond as well as Battle: Los Angeles, and Captain America: Winter Soldier. He has a series regular role on the hit Netflix animated series, Castlevania receiving two Voice Arts Award Nominations for voicing the character ‘Isaac.” He also won the Best Actor Award at The Oregon Cinema Arts Film Festival for his portrayal of Henry “Box” Brown, a 19th-century Virginia slave who escaped to freedom by having himself mailed in a wooden box. M’Cormack has also starred in The Chosen, Blood of Zeus, NCIS, Lost, and Heroes.
Irish Goodbye, the powerful short film he wrote, directed, and produced, tells the story of a young Syrian refugee who escaped persecution by coming to the United States. The film screened at the Cannes Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, won numerous best of festival awards, and is currently on Amazon Prime Video. His short, The German King, was executive produced by NCIS star Pauley Perrette. M’Cormack also wrote the epic graphic novel Orishas: Legacy of Shango about African mythology that is set to release in the Fall of 2022.

Award-winning filmmaker Chris W. Freeman began his career under iconic directors Wolfgang Petersen, Michael Mann, and Tim Burton. Since then, he's written and directed 5 features, produced over a dozen, and has worked intimately with executives from Fox, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros, and Universal. His dystopian graphic novel, So...I Survived the Zombie Apocalypse and All I Got Was This Lousy Podcast, was published by Dark Horse Comics to rave reviews, and his latest feature film was an official selection of Grimmfest and awarded Best Horror Feature (Toronto Independent Film Festival), Best Comedy Feature (Kapow) and the Silver Award at The Hollywood Independent Film Festival. Chris recently adapted the best-selling novel The End of Temperance Dare for the screen with Kathryn Nawrocki and is currently developing several episodics with Shaun Redick (Get Out) and Yvette Yates (Dayshift) of Impossible Dream Entertainment.

Hanna Sturwold was born and raised in Chicago before moving to Los Angeles. She is an accomplished Producer and Editor who has worked for the top production studios and advertising agencies such as Disney, Killer Films, and Warner Media.

She began her producing career under Don Murphy, Producer and Founder of Angry Films Productions, working in their producing department on titles such as Transformers. Sturwold transitioned her producing focus to productions showcasing diverse stories that shine a light on the underrepresented. There she began her producing partnership with Loma Mansa Productions. Sturwold’s titles with Loma Mansa have gained worldwide recognition, screening at the world’s most prestigious film festivals such as Cannes (Irish Goodbye 2019, The German King 2020), RIFF (The German King), Hollyshorts (The German King).

Sturwold is an accomplished film and commercial editor. Her narrative work has been screened at over 300 film festivals such as Cannes, RIFF, and Tribeca. Her most recent feature documentary, Under The Influence (Killer Films), had its world premiere at SXSW this past spring for their 2022 Feature Documentary Showcase.

During Covid-19, Sturwold launched Hustler Editorial, a post-production studio and equipment rental business. The mission is to provide top-of-the-line equipment rentals and spaces for post-production professionals, to preserve in-person collaboration in our post-pandemic times. Hustler Editorial is also a community made of post-production professionals, building in-person engagement through networking events and creative showcases, hosted on Hustler’s rooftop in Santa Monica. The mission simply is to help modern creatives and companies grow in our ever-changing world.

Glenton Richards is a Writers Guild nominated television and film writer living in Los Angeles, California. During his time in Los Angeles, he has had the opportunity to work on TV shows such as the Emmy award-winning show Fargo and on the Emmy-nominated TV show American Crime, under the supervision of Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley.

Glenton attended Texas Christian University where he received a B.S. in Radio, Television, & Film and a minor in English. After graduating, Glenton began pursuing his dream in Los Angeles and most recently served as a writer on the Amazon Prime series, The Expanse, and the spin-off web series, The Expanse: One Ship, for which he received a nomination from the Writers Guild of America.

Justin Janowitz’s love for cinema and image creation was ignited as a child by the aisles of his local video store in southern New Hampshire and the family 35mm still camera that his father taught him to shoot. A firm believer in the power of the visual language of cinema, Justin strives to create images that accentuate and punctuate the emotional and artistic impact of the projects he photographs.

Justin’s most recent projects include the Netflix documentary, Bloog Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali, which tells the story of the little-known friendship and relationships between these two men, and the Hulu 6-part docu-series City of Angels, City of Death that documents the chilling 1970s-1980s era of rampant serial killers in Los Angeles and the detectives who brought them to justice.

Other projects include the Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries, the documentary The Wizard, chronicling hip-hop super-star Future, feature length films A Reckoning with Lance Henriksen (Aliens, Terminator), and Alone We Fight with Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law, Major League, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), and award-winning and Academy Award qualifying short films The German King, Justice for Vincent, and Sutter the Doors. Brand clients include Cadillac, Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, Geico, Honda, Infiniti, Live Nation, LA Galaxy, SONY/NBC, and more. Justin graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in cinema and photography. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife.

Aaron Hale (Ph.D.): Aaron straddles both policy research and academia with a passion for the African Continent and the diversity that it offers. He currently serves as Head of Business and Development and Survey Development at the Institute for Governance Reform (IGR) as well as Adjunct Professor of International Relations and Diplomacy, Seton Hall University. Aaron has worked in a number of African countries such as The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Tanzania Mali, Senegal and Ghana among others. He was previously a Fulbright Scholar to Sierra Leone (2017-2019) and Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He holds a Ph.D. (2009) and M.A. (2007) in Comparative African Politics and a minor in Research Methodology and Public Policy from The University of Florida, and a M.A.S.S. (Social Science) in Globalization & Environment studies (2001) from Humboldt State University. He has worked as an academic at four different universities as well as a consultant for a variety of international organizations on a range of development issues. He happily lives and works in Freetown, Sierra Leone with his wife and four children.

Professor Cecil Blake formerly of the Department of Africana Studies and the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania served as Chair of The Africana Studies Department for five years. Dr. Blake also served as Chair of the Communication Department at Indiana University North West in Indiana. He once served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Chief Government Spokesman in Sierra Leone. He also held senior research and administrative positions in the international system, with responsibilities for development projects in several sectors mainly in Africa and Asia. Widely traveled, he has authored several journal articles and books focusing on communication, as well as African development. Dr. Blake was a founding member of the Africa Leadership Forum, together with General (Rtd.) Olusegun Obasanjo former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He served on the TOEFL Advisory Board of the Educational and Testing Service at Princeton, New Jersey, and the Board of Directors of Panos Institute, West Africa. Dr. Blake has been working ardently to resuscitate the African Council on Communication Education (ACCE), in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee of Elders. Most recently he was the recipient of the Idowu Sobowale Conference Award of Honor "In recognition of his contribution to communication, education and African national development”.

Princess Marilyn was born in Cameroon in 1957. One of the aims of her work is to honor the historical role of her great-grandfather Rudolf Manga Bell (1873-1914), the leader of an important resistance movement against the German colonial power. In doing so, she aims at contributing to ongoing debates on the politics of memory in Cameroon and beyond. She studied development economics in Paris and has been working as a development expert since 1994, among others for the World Bank and the European Commission. She is co-founder of the doual’art Contemporary Art Center in Douala, which opened in 1991, and is committed to the future of African museums and the restitution of cultural artifacts from colonial contexts. In 2016, she took part, as African expert, in the conference held by the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg on the conception of the Humboldt Forum. In 2019, she co-curated the project Burden of Memory at the Goethe-Institut Yaoundé, which brought together artistic explorations of German colonial rule in Africa from various African countries. Her most recent initiatives include the exhibition project Kamerunstaat, which tours schools in Cameroon with an accompanying educational program. She also curated the exhibition, Hey Hamburg! Do you know Duala Manga Bell? (running until 31 December 2022) at the Hamburg Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt (MARKK), which opened in April. Princess Marilyn Douala Manga Bell lives in Douala.

Jenny Pont, owner and CEO of Pontact Productions, served on the Board of Kenya Film Commission from its inception in 2006 until 2012, and more recently a 3-year term on the Kenya Oscars Selection Committee. She is a founder member and long-serving Committee member of the Kenya Film and Television Professionals Association.

Pontact Productions is the most experienced production service provider in Kenya handling features, documentaries, TVCs, TV, dramas and series, music, and stills. Its local reputation is impeccable. Pontact is the only Service Company in Africa that has facilitated two Oscar winners for Best Foreign Language Feature, and one Golden Globe in the same Category.

Since 1987, Pontact has worked on 25 feature films and a similar number of TV films, series and Reality shows, as well as numerous TV commercials and countless documentaries.

Kathryn Nawrocki is an award-winning fiction writer living in Culver City CA. In between creative endeavors, the Boston native keeps busy raising a wild-hearted 11-year old son she (aptly) named Maverick.

Kathryn attended the University of Arizona's prestigious Creative Writing program with an emphasis on fiction & was published in literary journals such as The Sonora Review & Story before moving to Los Angeles for TV & film. She frequently collaborates with (Producer/writing partner) Chris Freeman & consults & develops projects for Impossible Dream Entertainment Producers Shaun Redick & Yvette Yates Redick (Get Out, Blackkklansman, Day Shift). She has projects & adaptations in various stages of development for series, ranging from dark comedy to historical biopics.

Alvin Charles is a production designer who specializes in providing clarity and artistic direction to a variety of couture projects. Exceeding expectations and capturing “the vision” for clients such as Atlantic Records, BET, Bad boy Records, Sony, Disney, Apple, VaynerMedia and The New York Times to name a few. known as a visionary artist, Alvin has led his team through a multitude of projects centered across the US, Japan and the U.K.

Adam Croasdell is a British actor, writer and producer who was born and raised in Africa. He lived and worked extensively in the UK and currently works in the United States. His first professional job was with Dame Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman in Anthony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre in London. Adam has worked on London's West End and appeared in numerous British television shows, including Peak Practice, The Chase, EastEnders, and Agatha Christie's Poirot. In the US he is known for his work on Preacher, Reign, Once Upon A Time, NCIS, and Supernatural. Adam has starred and guest-starred in films for Universal and Sony.

Adam is also a voice artist, performing lead characters for major video game franchises including James Bond, Dead Island, Middle Earth, Call Of Duty, Borderlands, and Final Fantasy. For television, he has voiced characters in The Witcher, Castlevania, and Blood Of Zeus. Adam is nominated for 3 BTVA Video Game Voice Acting Awards, including Best Male Performance for Final Fantasy XV.

Constance Ejuma is an award-winning actress and producer. Born in Cameroon and raised in the Washington DC area, she started acting in her teens and went on to study theater at the University of Toronto. Constance has credits in theatre, film and television and her work has given her the opportunity to collaborate with prolific artists like Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and Academy Award Nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo. Constance is best known for Ben & Ara, a feature film in which she starred and subsequently received an AMAA award (fondly referred to as the African Oscar) for her efforts as a producer. Years later, she had a role in Marvel’s Black Panther as a Dora Milaje warrior for which she received a SAG Award. She has also been featured in music videos for artists like Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce.

Constance's television credits include a recurring role on TNT's Proof as well as guest star roles on Scorpion, Seal Team, The Good Doctor, and others. In 2019, she wrote and performed a one-woman show titled Ghost Town about the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon which premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

As an American of Cameroonian descent, Constance believes that stories like The German King are hugely important; not only as a reminder of her heritage but also as an invitation to the world to learn more about Cameroon, the colonial wounds she endured and the heroes that were forged as a result. To have the privilege of participating in the telling of this story certainly makes her ancestors proud.

Stephanie Filo, ACE is a two-time Emmy and Peabody Award-winning TV/Film Editor and activist with over 15 years of experience editing and producing both Scripted and Unscripted content. She is based in Los Angeles, CA and Sierra Leone, West Africa, and also serves on the board for Girls Empowerment Sierra Leone, a social impact and feminist-based organization for Sierra Leonean girls aged 11-16. She is one of the co-founders of End Ebola Now, an organization created in 2014 to spread accurate information and awareness about the Ebola Virus and its impact through artistic community activism.

Aside from editing television and film, with a passion for bringing a voice to social issues and telling stories of the under-represented, Stephanie spends much of her spare time producing and editing social action campaigns and documentaries, primarily focused on the rights of women and girls worldwide. Some of her notable campaigns include her work with the United Nations, International Labour Organization, and the Obama White House Task Force's It's On Us campaign to combat campus sexual assault. Her charitable work has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, Telegraph UK, Yahoo, Al Jazeera, XWhy Magazine, and various others. Her work on the news documentary series Mental State earned her an Emmy nomination for the episode "Aging Out" about youth aging out of the American foster care system. She earned an Emmy win for her editing on the Mental State episode "Separated" which covered ICE deportations, making herself and Nzinga Blake the first Sierra Leonean woman to ever win an Emmy award. Most recently, she won a Primetime Emmy award for her work on HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show, making her team the first all-Women of Color editing team to be nominated for and to win Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming.

Mark Batson is a classically trained pianist and music producer who has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide in the genres of Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, Rock, Jazz, and Classical. Mark has collaborated and acted as a musical advisor with a wide array of stellar artists on chart topping and Grammy-winning projects, including Eminem, Beyonce, Nas, Alicia Keys, Anthony Hamilton and Dave Matthews Band and award-winning films and tv shows including American Hustle, I, Tonya, Sharp Objects, and Empire.

As a songwriter, Anthony’s notable song placements include Hulu’s Future Man, The Ellen Degeneres Wildlife Fund, Tet’Emcombo (King of Kings) co-written with producing partner and Grammy Winner Jeeve Ducornet (Todrick Hall, Bruno Mars) in the award-winning short film, The German King, “I Begin Again” co-written with Grammy Winning songwriter Bill Grainer and recorded by Britain’s Got Talent Winner Jai McDowall (hit #1 on iTunes Music).

Anthony is currently writing and developing two original musical shows Hashtag America with a book by Nik Walker (Broadway’s Hamilton) and co-lyricist Kyle Carter (Disney’s The Lion King tour) and TV pilot Proud Marys written by Jennifer Paz, (Peabody, GLAAD Media, and Emmy Award-winning Steven Universe) Winner of the inaugural Outstanding Screenplays TV Pilot Competition, and was a top selection with Peabody Award and WGA Award-Winning writer/producer Susan Soon He Stanton (HBO’S Succession).