CAA has signed Hana Kuma, the media and production company founded by tennis star Naomi Osaka and her longtime agent and business partner Stuart Duguid, for representation, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The company launched in 2022 in partnership with The SpringHill Company, the media venture from NBA star LeBron James and Maverick Carter, and spun out on its own last year in conjunction with a $5 million seed round that included SpringHill, Epic Games, Japanese conglomerate Kinoshita Group and Fenway Sports Group.
Hana Kuma launched with a number of projects, including the New York Times op-doc Mink!, from director Ben Proudfoot, about Patsy Mink, the first woman of color elected to Congress, and the author and sponsor of Title IX, which prohibited sex-based discrimination in schools that receive government funding; as well as Footsteps, a Bloomberg original about the Haitian Woman’s World Cup team.
The company also produces the video...
The company launched in 2022 in partnership with The SpringHill Company, the media venture from NBA star LeBron James and Maverick Carter, and spun out on its own last year in conjunction with a $5 million seed round that included SpringHill, Epic Games, Japanese conglomerate Kinoshita Group and Fenway Sports Group.
Hana Kuma launched with a number of projects, including the New York Times op-doc Mink!, from director Ben Proudfoot, about Patsy Mink, the first woman of color elected to Congress, and the author and sponsor of Title IX, which prohibited sex-based discrimination in schools that receive government funding; as well as Footsteps, a Bloomberg original about the Haitian Woman’s World Cup team.
The company also produces the video...
- 1/30/2024
- by Alex Weprin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Oscar-winning Breakwater Studios, a leading maker of premium short documentaries, has promoted Nana Adwoa Frimpong to Executive Media and Communications Director and Chief of Staff.
The appointment takes effect immediately. Frimpong, a Ghanaian-Canadian filmmaker, joins Breakwater’s executive management team and will report to CEO Ben Proudfoot, the Oscar-winning director of The Queen of Basketball.
“Frimpong started at Breakwater in the Office of the C.E.O. and quickly moved up the ranks to Chief of Staff before her current position,” a release noted. “She has been a key driver in managing Breakwater’s bustling slate of dozens of original and branded short documentary projects and speaking engagements on behalf of the company.”
Ben Proudfoot attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party March 27, 2022 in Beverly Hills.
Led by Ben Proudfoot and backed by Gigi Pritzker among others, “Breakwater Studios is a world leader in short documentaries and often partners with brands to underwrite their projects,...
The appointment takes effect immediately. Frimpong, a Ghanaian-Canadian filmmaker, joins Breakwater’s executive management team and will report to CEO Ben Proudfoot, the Oscar-winning director of The Queen of Basketball.
“Frimpong started at Breakwater in the Office of the C.E.O. and quickly moved up the ranks to Chief of Staff before her current position,” a release noted. “She has been a key driver in managing Breakwater’s bustling slate of dozens of original and branded short documentary projects and speaking engagements on behalf of the company.”
Ben Proudfoot attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party March 27, 2022 in Beverly Hills.
Led by Ben Proudfoot and backed by Gigi Pritzker among others, “Breakwater Studios is a world leader in short documentaries and often partners with brands to underwrite their projects,...
- 7/19/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The upcoming HollyShorts Film Festival in Hollywood will now be an official Oscar qualifying festival in not three but four categories.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences notified HollyShorts that the winner of the festival’s prize for Documentary Short will now qualify for Oscar consideration. HollyShorts’ Best Short Film Grand Prize, Best Short Animation and Best Short Live Action already qualify for the Oscars.
The 19th edition of HollyShorts is set for August 10-20 in Hollywood. It’s “known for being the catalyst for films to qualify for and go on to win Oscars,” a release from the festival noted. Riz Ahmed’s The Long Goodbye, directed by Aneil Karia and written by Karia and Ahmed, won an Oscar-qualifying award at HollyShorts and went on to claim the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2022.
Ben Proudfoot’s The Queen of Basketball also screened at HollyShorts en...
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences notified HollyShorts that the winner of the festival’s prize for Documentary Short will now qualify for Oscar consideration. HollyShorts’ Best Short Film Grand Prize, Best Short Animation and Best Short Live Action already qualify for the Oscars.
The 19th edition of HollyShorts is set for August 10-20 in Hollywood. It’s “known for being the catalyst for films to qualify for and go on to win Oscars,” a release from the festival noted. Riz Ahmed’s The Long Goodbye, directed by Aneil Karia and written by Karia and Ahmed, won an Oscar-qualifying award at HollyShorts and went on to claim the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2022.
Ben Proudfoot’s The Queen of Basketball also screened at HollyShorts en...
- 7/3/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s been 50 years since the passage of Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination in institutions that receive federal funding, and the new short Mink! is a reminder of how circumstances easily could have limited the scope of its impact on sports.
Mink! tells the story of the first woman of color elected to Congress, Patsy Mink, who was a key driver of of the legislation. Directed by Oscar-winner Ben Proudfoot, the Breakwater Studios short was screened earlier this week on Capitol Hill, with guests including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-il), Rep. Ed Case (D-hi) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-ca), as well as Naomi Osaka, who serves as one of the project’s executive producers, and Mink’s daughter Wendy, who is interviewed extensively for the film.
“I loved her so much. She was so eloquent and she just knew how to get the job done with a smile,...
Mink! tells the story of the first woman of color elected to Congress, Patsy Mink, who was a key driver of of the legislation. Directed by Oscar-winner Ben Proudfoot, the Breakwater Studios short was screened earlier this week on Capitol Hill, with guests including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-il), Rep. Ed Case (D-hi) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-ca), as well as Naomi Osaka, who serves as one of the project’s executive producers, and Mink’s daughter Wendy, who is interviewed extensively for the film.
“I loved her so much. She was so eloquent and she just knew how to get the job done with a smile,...
- 12/9/2022
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
Compton-based filmmaker Victor Gabriel is among a select group of filmmakers to punch their ticket for the Oscar race, after scoring wins at the HollyShorts Film Festival.
Gabriel’s 13-minute film Hallelujah won the Grand Prix for Best Short at the festival’s awards ceremony on Saturday afternoon. HollyShorts is an Oscar-qualifying festival, so the win for Hallelujah makes it immediately eligible for Oscar consideration. Producer Duran Jones won the festival’s Best Producer prize.
Two other winners qualified for Oscar consideration: Mulaqat/Sandstrom, directed by Seemab Gul, won Best Live Action short, and Scale, directed by Joseph Pierce, won the award for Best Animation (scroll for full list of winners).
Hallelujah touches on the loss of someone to gun violence, a tragedy with ripple effects on several members of a family.
“After an inexplicable event, two brothers have to take on the guardianship of their nephew and niece,” Gabriel...
Gabriel’s 13-minute film Hallelujah won the Grand Prix for Best Short at the festival’s awards ceremony on Saturday afternoon. HollyShorts is an Oscar-qualifying festival, so the win for Hallelujah makes it immediately eligible for Oscar consideration. Producer Duran Jones won the festival’s Best Producer prize.
Two other winners qualified for Oscar consideration: Mulaqat/Sandstrom, directed by Seemab Gul, won Best Live Action short, and Scale, directed by Joseph Pierce, won the award for Best Animation (scroll for full list of winners).
Hallelujah touches on the loss of someone to gun violence, a tragedy with ripple effects on several members of a family.
“After an inexplicable event, two brothers have to take on the guardianship of their nephew and niece,” Gabriel...
- 8/21/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka is getting into the entertainment business, launching a media company in partnership with LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The SpringHill Company.
Osaka and her longtime agent and business partner Stuart Duguid are behind the production banner, which is called Hana Kuma. Osaka and Duguid also launched their own athlete representation banner in May.
Hana Kuma (hana means “flower” and kuma means “bear” in Japanese) “will produce stories that are culturally specific but universal to all audiences; playful and bold in its approach to tackle important issues of society,” the company says.
“There has been an explosion of creators of color finally being equipped with resources and a huge platform,” says Osaka. “In the streaming age, content has a more global perspective. You can see this in the popularity of television from Asia, Europe, and Latin America that the unique can also be universal.
Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka is getting into the entertainment business, launching a media company in partnership with LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The SpringHill Company.
Osaka and her longtime agent and business partner Stuart Duguid are behind the production banner, which is called Hana Kuma. Osaka and Duguid also launched their own athlete representation banner in May.
Hana Kuma (hana means “flower” and kuma means “bear” in Japanese) “will produce stories that are culturally specific but universal to all audiences; playful and bold in its approach to tackle important issues of society,” the company says.
“There has been an explosion of creators of color finally being equipped with resources and a huge platform,” says Osaka. “In the streaming age, content has a more global perspective. You can see this in the popularity of television from Asia, Europe, and Latin America that the unique can also be universal.
- 6/21/2022
- by Alex Weprin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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