Délé Ogundiran, is a multi-faceted producer of Nigerian lineage, born and raised Brooklyn, New York. With over 15 years as an entertainment professional in front of the camera, her start behind the scenes was in casting for the award winning short film “Spoonful of Sugar”. In April 2009 she began writing and producing films under her own production company, Āpphia Productions. Délé starred in, produced and co-wrote her company’s first film, “Bathroom Vanities.”
She also produced episodes of the webseries “Double Cross” and the short film “The Encounter” (Winner: Best Short Award – White Sands International Film Festival award), by award winning writer/director Angela Matemotja.
To date Délé’s projects have successfully toured the national and international film festival circuit.
Most recently Délé was the cinematographer and editor of the short films “Casualty of Time” (by award-winner writer/director Jeremiah Jahi) and “Last Supper”, which she directed. The feature film “Elevate”, which she produced and was happy to again team up with Angela Matemotja, will be released in late 2018.
WRITER/DIRECTOR
My name is Anjela Danielovna Matemotja, born in the former U.S.S.R. and living in Los Angeles. Because I was born into into a bi-cultural and bi-racial family, my perspective and experiences in this world have never been quite “ordinary.” My black South African Father was a part of the political arm of the ANC, which helped him escape from the political oppression to study in the former U.S.S.R. He also plays the South African character, SIPHO in my first feature film, ELEVATE. In Kiev is where my Father met and married my Mother, a young Russian woman whose family settled there after the war. Kiev is also my birthplace. As a consequence of my Father having to live in exile, by the time I was eight years old I’d lived in Kenya, Tanzania and Russia. Arriving in America speaking only Swahili and Russian, I immediately realized that I did not fit in with other kids.
These early experiences coupled with my empathic nature helped me form my unique outlook on culture, society and race. My mission as a filmmaker is to explore the social, sub cultural and international aspects of our nation, one story at a time. I believe stories that shine a light on issues such as racism, homophobia, mental illness, religion discrimination, addiction, equal rights; can help educate, inspire change and elevate our consciousness. Our world is in crisis and I beleive that art can heal.
My short films, THE ENCOUNTER and THE UNTIMELY CONCURRENCE have both been awarded various accoloades and have been official selections at film festivals world wide. I am so incredibly grateful for my friends, family, backers, producers, actors and amazing crew for helping to make my first feature film a reality: ELEVATE.
CO EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Producer Brianna Brown
Brianna has produced multiple onstage musical benefits and events where all proceeds went to humanitarian causes. On camera, she co-produced a web series, Retail Therapy, featuring an all-female cast, a music video benefiting a local environmental organization, TreePeople, as well as the socially-conscious film The Encounter, which was accepted into over 25 different film festivals worldwide and won Best Short, Making a Difference and Audience Choice. Brianna is also an Executive Producer for the socially-relevant feature film Elevate, which will be premiering in 2018.
Brianna is the Chair Ambassador for the National Women’s History Museum where she has co-hosted multiple benefits alongside ALMA winner Ana Ortiz. For years she was a board member and co-host for the annual Hollywood Gives Charity Event, which benefited Toys for Tots, and has been an ongoing host for The Blank’s Young Playwrights Festival.
Over the last several years Brianna began speaking at numerous conferences and events, such as the Sustainable Business Council, Women Game Changers, and various schools and festivals across the country. Using her musical talents, Brianna has helped raise money by singing at benefits such as Free to Express to help stop human trafficking, The New Hollywood Benefit Cabaret at Rockwell, What A Pair, and Broadway Sniffs Out Cancer at Joe’s Pub in New York City alongside Broadway legends.
CO-PRODUCER
Producer Jesica Andres
A native of the Philippines, Jesica’s obsession with storytelling began at the age of two when she would orate tall tales from atop a bench at the local market.
She spent her childhood between the Philippines and California. After graduating from university, she went on to film school, where she developed her passion for producing.
Her love of producing took her to her first job at Academy Award Winning production company GK Films (The Departed, Hugo) followed by Lionsgate (The Hunger Games), where she worked with their international sales teams at both companies.
The opportunity to move into production presented itself at Arclight Films (upcoming Jungle, Reclaim, Crash), where she is currently Manager of Creative and Operations. At Arclight, she’s learned first-hand, from development to release, how various market forces, creative elements, and producing partners cooperate, and oftentimes compete, throughout the lifecycle of a film and more importantly, how to overcome challenges as they arise. She puts that knowledge to practice. Jesica also produces projects that best represent her tastes; she’s always on the lookout for fearless talent and riveting content.
Audiences and coaching clients worldwide, from Los Angeles to London, from Sydney to Hong Kong and from Auckland to Kilimanjaro, are always inspired in action by Pina’s commitment: empowering each individual to live their fullest potential and experiencing quality of life. She is the president of GratitudeInternational.com.
Through her book “Fit From The Inside Out” and her CollegeSpeakingWithPina.com, her commitment is to empower students, and end date-rape on campus. Her message is not only an inspirational dialogue on date-rape awareness and sexual assault prevention, it is life-saving!
Her passion project is something her dog Wellington inspired her to start when he was alive, and that she continues on: honoring #MissionWellington and his TreatsForPups.com, she gifts “doggie bags” with pet food, blankets and supplies to pups living out in the streets. Follow that journey on Instagram @LifeAccordingToWellingon. She is also serves on the board for TheNewHollywood.org.
KEY CREW
FILM & SOUND EDITOR
Andre Lamb is a film editor, songwriter, keyboardist, producer and engineer. His editorial film credits include, the feature film AS EVEIL DOES with Bill Cobbs, Falling Slowly and he was also film and sound editor for ELEVATE.
Alexa L. Borden is an L.A.-based composer from Philadelphia. Alexa has studied music since the age of five, attended both Berklee College of Music and Moravian College for her bachelors degree in Music Composition, and holds an MFA in Music Composition for the Screen from Columbia College Chicago.
She has used her training in both classical and modern piano, voice, and composition to compose music for a wide variety of projects including short films, features, musicals, and video games. Some of her most recent and upcoming works include Angela Matemotja’s award-winning drama, Elevate; short thriller, Her First Kill, written and directed by Níke Kadri; sci-fi romance Limerence, written and directed by Dan Pedersen; family feature, Project: Puppies for Christmas, written by Charidy Wronski and directed by Dan Hewitt Owens; and orchestrations for the new folk musical, The Civility of Albert Cashier, written by Jay Paul Deratany with music by Joe Stevens and Keaton Wooden. www.alexabordenmusic.com
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Dana Rice is a director, cinematographer, editor, and colorist, capable of specializing in one or performing multiple of the aforementioned roles on any given production. He owns a RED Epic-W 8K camera with many lenses and accessories, as well as a small lighting & grip package. He is proficient in Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Davinci Resolve, and many more. He specialize in keeping costs low for his clients by providing his own high end, industry standard gear, and has the ability and experience to work with little to no additional camera crew when needed.
He has almost 10 years of experience shooting and editing feature films, short films, TV series’ and more. He can take a film or other project through principle photography, post production, to final deliverables almost single handedly. His work has appeared on networks such as Showtime, Cinemax, TMC, ESPN, MTV, BET, The History Channel, NetFlix, and many more. As a music video director, cinematographer, and editor, his work has recieved more than 50 million views on YouTube. He is located in Los Angeles but available to work anywhere in the world. My rate is negotiable depending on the scale of the project. For more info please visit danariceproductions.com
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Kenneth Yeung specializes in commercial and narrative cinematography. His list of commercial clients includes AT&T, Alpine Restyle, Marc Ecko, the San Francisco 49ers, the Atlanta Hawks, the New Jersey Nets and more. His feature Baby Steps was an LA/Taipei co-production that had a theatrical release in Asia. On top of Elevate, he currently has a feature called Cockroaches in postproduction. Ken on IMDB.COM
