Bronwen Hughes – Director & Writer

 

Bronwen Hughes is a New York and Hollywood-based film director of Canadian and British origin.  The Journey is the Destination is her fourth feature film.  Her previous films include Forces of Nature (Dreamworks), Harriet the Spy (Paramount), and Stander, nominated for Best Director at the 25th Genie Awards.  For television, Hughes has directed world-renowned shows including Breaking Bad (AMC), Hung (HBO), L-Word (Showtime) and the pilot episodes of White Collar, Fairly Legal, and Motive.

 

Jan Sardi – Writer

Acclaimed Australian screenwriter, Jan Sardi, has been recognized for his work on various notable projects.  He received an Academy Award® nomination for his screenplay for Shine, as well as BAFTA, Writers Guild of America and Golden Globes nominations.  Jan wrote and directed Love’s Brother starring Giovanni Ribisi, an Australian/UK co-production.  He also adapted the hit films The Notebook based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, and Mao’s Last Dancer.  His most recent adaptation is the award winning mini-series The Secret River (co-written with Mac Gudgeon), based on the Man Booker Prize listed novel by Kate Grenville.

Martin Katz – Producer

Martin Katz is Founder and President of Prospero Pictures.  One of the most prolific feature film producers in Canada, Martin’s credits include Hotel Rwanda, which was nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards, four features with celebrated director David Cronenberg, including Spider, A Dangerous Method, Cosmopolis and Maps to the Stars, and Bronwen Hughes’ Stander, which the London Observer called “the greatest heist film since Reservoir Dogs.” Martin’s television project Spectacle: Elvis Costello With… is an Award-winning series co-produced with Rocket Pictures and his series Ice Road Truckers is among History Channel’s highest-rated-shows.  Martin holds degrees in law from the University of Toronto and the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne).  He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, a Director of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and Chair of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

 

Kweku Mandela Amuah – Producer

Kweku is a partner and president of Out of Africa Entertainment, and the co-founder of the Africa Rising Foundation.  His responsibilities within Out of Africa Entertainment include developing a wide range of Film and Television production content, which entails forging strategic partnerships, nurturing new talent, and building relationships in the international film market.  He’s produced many notable films and documentaries, including The Bang Bang Club (2010), Inescapable (2012), Lucky (2011), and his latest project, Madiba (2016).

Richard Arlook – Producer

Richard Arlook is an American film producer, talent manager and the President of The Arlook Group, a talent management, production and consulting company he founded in 2008.  Last year his film I Smile Back, starring Sarah Silverman, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.  The role earned her a SAG nomination for Best Actress.  He also produced the film GOATS with David Duchovny and Vera Farming, It Had to be You starring Cristin Milioti, which is due to be released this Fall by The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and Waiting for Forever with Richard Jenkins and Blythe Danner.  He has also produced the documentaries Turn it Up! with Kevin Bacon and Lucky Ducks.  In development he has Rodham, which he is producing with Temple Hill Entertainment and Lionsgate, and The Kingdom of the North Sudan with Disney.

Kathy Eldon – Producer

Kathy Eldon is the mother of Dan Eldon and founder of Creative Visions, a production company that has produced a number of documentaries and features including the award-winning Dying to Tell the Story about front line correspondents, hosted by her daughter Amy Eldon Turteltaub; Soldiers of Peace, a Children’s Crusade, a PBS series, Global Tribe and Extraordinary Moms, a special for the Oprah Winfrey Network featuring then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Julia Roberts and Christiane Amanpour.  Kathy has written 17 books including a memoir, In the Heart of Life.  She is also the editor of the collection of Dan’s journals, The Journey is the Destination.  Together with Amy, Kathy launched Creative Visions Foundation, inspired by Dan’s life.  CVF has helped hundreds of “creative activists,” using media and the arts to ignite positive social change.

 

Adam Friedlander – Producer

South African Adam Friedlander began work in the film industry in 1994, and quickly became known as one of the finest assistant directors in the field.  Currently, he is a producer, and CEO of production company Out of Africa Entertainment.  His most notable work includes long-running drama series The Devil’s Whore, Generation Kill and Life is Wild.  And film, The Book of Negroes, Wild at Heart and The Bang Bang Club, which tells the true story of a group of South African photojournalists who fearlessly covered the violent apartheid years in South Africa.

 

 

 

Ben Schnetzer – “Dan Eldon”

As a talented actor on the rise, Ben Schnetzer brings dynamic characters to life in a wide range of ilm, theater and television roles, consistently elevating his body of work.

Ben will next be seen in Oliver Stone’s biographical political thriller, Snowden.  The film debuts at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and Open Road Films will release Snowden on September 16, 2016.

Also in September, Ben will be seen in Andrew Neel’s Goat.  Ben’s performance ultimately led to him being named one of Sundance Film Festival’s breakout stars of the year.  Paramount Pictures and MTV Films are releasing Goat on September 23, 2016.

Ben most recently wrapped production on Miranda de Pencier’s The Grizzles in Iqaluit, Nunavut in Arctic Canada.  Prior to that, Ben completed production on Bronwen Hughes’ The Journey is the Destination, in which he will star opposite Maria Bello.  He portrays ‘Dan Eldon,’ a Reuters photojournalist who was set upon by an angry mob while covering Somalia’s Civil War and went on to be stoned to death in Mogadishu in 1993 at age 22.  The film is set to make its debut at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Ben was most recently seen in Duncan Jones’ Warcraft, an epic fantasy adventure based on the popular video game series.  In 2014, he starred in the period dramedy, Pride, directed by Mathew Warchus.  The film received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy in 2015.  The same year, he was also seen in The Riot Club, an adaptation of Laura Wade’s West End play, “Posh.”  In 2013, he co-starred in Brian Percival’s The Book Theif.

First making his film debut in the indie drama Ben’s Plan, Ben played the lead role of “Ben Stephens,” a 14-year-old boy living in New York whose mother disappeared three weeks earlier while shopping for Christmas gifts.  From there, he went on to appear as a series-regular on ABC’s Happy Town, a mystery thriller around the decade-long kidnappings that occurred in a small town in Minnesota.

Ben studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he appeared in numerous productions including “Oedipus”, “As You Like It”, “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Widower’s Houses”, among many other stage credits.  He first began acting at age eleven when he played the Artful Dodger in a production of “Oliver”.

 

Maria Bello – “Kathy Eldon”

Maria Bello is an internationally renowned actor, activist, author and producer.  She has starred in and garnered awards for her performances in The Cooler, David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center and Coyote Ugly, along with more than 40 other feature films and television projects.

In April 2015, Bello released her first book Whatever… Love is Love.  In her book, Bello expands on her news-making “Coming Out as Modern Family” column which ran in the New York Times.

She is the co-founder of We Advance, an NGO based in Haiti that advocates for women throughout the country to have full political, economic and social participation and is the Goodwill Ambassador for the Women of Haiti.  She is a member of Artists for Peace and Justice, founded by director Paul Haggis.

Bellow is a leader in the movement in Hollywood for equal pay and equal participation of women in front and behind the camera.  As a member of the Systemic Change project through Women in Film and the Sundance Institute, she is helping to find solutions to gender parity issues in the industry.

She began her career as an activist at Villanova University, where she majored in Peace and Justice Education and worked at the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia.  She was voted one of Variety magazine’s most powerful women in Hollywood for her activism with women in Darfur.  She speaks around the country on Women’s rights Equality and Social Impact Investing at venues such as TedWomen, the UN and the State Department.

She is currently starring in the David Kelly series Goliath  for Amazon and the James Wan movie Lights Out.

 

Ella Purnell – “Amy Eldon”

London-born Ella Purnell began her training at weekly classes at the Sylvia Young Theatre School.  Her big break came in 2008, when she was chosen to perform in “Oliver!” at the Theatre Royale, Drury Lane in London.  With a cast containing only a few girls, this was certainly a notable achievement.  Later, she bagged the role of Young Ruth in feature film, Never Let Me Go.  After filming, Ella was cast in Ways to Live Forever.  She later landed an integral role in the film Intruders, which was shot in 2010 between London and Madrid.  In 2014, she appeared in Maleficent as a younger version of the titular character.  This year, Ella will be seen in three feature films playing leading roles: Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children for Fox, the independent film Access All Areas and The Journey is the Destination.  She believes that The Journey is the Destination should be a learning piece, showing all young people how to live their lives.

 

Kelly Macdonald – “Duff”

A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Kelly Macdonald is perhaps best known as Margaret Schroeder on Boardwalk Empire, the voice of Merida in Brave and for pivotal roles in work by some of the most influential filmmakers of our time – No Country for Old Men by the Coen brothers, Robert Altman’s Gosford Park and Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting.

Macdonald next stars in the StudioCanal/HanWay Films of the UK classic book Swallows and Amazons for director Philippa Lowthorpe.  Macdonald most recently completed production on Bronwen Hughes’ independent feature The Journey is the Destination, a story based on the life of Dan Eldon, a young British Reuters photographer, artist and avid adventurer.  Macdonald plays Eldon’s mentor Duff, a photojournalist who travels to Somalia to report the erroneous bombing of a village peace council.  Ben Schnetzer and Maria Bello also star.

Later this summer, Macdonald begins shooting Goodbye Christopher Robin for Fox Searchlight and director Simon Curtis.  Macdonald made her acting debut as Diane, Renton’s (Ewan McGregor) one-night stand in Trainspotting(1996).  In 2001, she played Mary, the visiting servant who works for Maggie Smith’s countess in Gosford Park (SAG, Critics Choice Awards for the ensemble).  More recently, Macdonald garnered the London Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actress, a BAFTA nomination and a SAG Award (ensemble) for her performance as Carla Jean Moss, wife to hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) in No Country for Old Men.

In 2012, Macdonald gave voice to Merida, the tomboyish princess/heroine of Brave, Pixar’s first feature with a female protagonist.  Macdonald’s screen credits also include The Decoy Bride, Choke, Nanny McPhee, Lassie, All the Invisible Children, Intermission, Cousin Bette, Elizabeth, Strictly Sinatra, Splendor, Entropy, The Loss of Sexual Innocence, My Life So Far, Stella Does Tricks, and Some Voices.  For Two Family House, Macdonald received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead.

Macdonald also made cameo appearances as Ravenclaw’s ghost, The Grey Lady, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Marc Foster’s Finding Neverland (as Peter Pan), Michael Winterbottom’s Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

For television, Macdonald is currently filming an episode of the acclaimed anthology series Black Mirror (Channel 4/Netflix), entitled “Hated in the Nation.”  Macdonald garnered an Emmy Award for her performance as the title character opposite Bill Nighy in the HBO original film The Girl in the Café.  In 2010, she received a Golden Globe Award nomination and shared a 2011 and 2012 Screen Actors Guild Awards with the cast of Boardwalk Empire, the critically acclaimed HBO series for creator Terence Winter and executive producer Martin Scorsese.  Macdonald starred for all five seasons as the complicated Irish widow and mother who captured the attention of Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), the undisputed ruler of Atlantic City during Prohibition.

Macdonald currently plays Eric Bana’s radio station colleague in Ricky Gervais’ Special Correspondents, which debuted on Netflix this spring.  She also co-starred with Tim Roth and John Simm in Skellig for Sky and portrayed journalist Della Smith in the groundbreaking BBC mini-series State of Play.

 

Sam Hazeldine – “O’Reilly”

London-born actor Sam Hazeldine studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) before pursuing a career in music.  Sam returned to acting in 2003 with a debut role in BBC’s Prime Suspect 6 alongside Dame Helen Mirren.  Since then he has appeared in numerous theatre, television and film productions, most notably The Raven (2010), The Monuments Men (2014), Peaky Blinders (2014), and The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016).