Susan Rockefeller, PRINCIPAL PARTNER

Susan Rockefeller is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, artist, and conservationist. She is founder and CEO of Musings (http://www.musingsmag.com), a digital magazine that curates ideas and innovations for a better world. A longstanding philanthropist, Susan sits on the boards of Oceana, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, We are Family Foundation, and Land and Garden Preserve. Susan is a principal partner of Louverture Films and a member of the Film Committee at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Her films have aired on HBO, PBS, Netflix and the Discovery Channel. Susan is a member of the Documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

TONY TABATZNIK | Bertha Foundation, PRINCIPAL Partner

Tony Tabatznik is a world renowned philanthropist for social justice, with an abiding passion for documentary. He is the co-founder of the Bertha Foundation (berthafoundation.org), which dreams of a more just world and supports forms of activism that aim to bring about change. The Foundation champions those using media, law and enterprise as tools to achieve their vision, envisioning a society where stories come from many different voices, where law is used as a tool for justice and where business delivers positive social impact. 

Sawsan Asfari, Principal PArtner

Sawsan Asfari is a British Lebanese citizen based in London. A seasoned executive producer, Sawsan joined Louverture Films with a history of producing and co-producing acclaimed films via the UK production company Cocoon Films (formerly Cactus World Films) which she co-founded in 2007. Though originally focused solely on the Middle East region, Sawsan’s vision at Cocoon expanded its area of focus to deal with a multitude of subjects and countries, while retaining its original values of justice, tolerance and struggles for freedom. Among the films she has been involved with producing are Annemarie Jacir’s “Wajib”, which premiered at Toronto, “When I Saw You”, which premiered at Berlin, and “Salt of This Sea” which premiered at Cannes-Un Certain Regard; Hany Abu-Assad’s “The Idol” which premiered at Toronto; and the documentary “Aquarela” by Victor Kossakovsky, which premiered at Venice and was Oscar® shortlisted in 2019.  Sawsan is currently producing Farah Nabulsi’s debut feature film “The Teacher”.  Sawsan is also a co-founder of two foundations that deal with education and civil society: the Asfari Foundation and the Galilee Foundation. She is a board member of the USMEP, a Washington-based think tank, and a member of several philanthropic organisations.

JEFFREY LEWIS CLARK, PRINCIPAL PARTNER

Jeffrey Lewis Clark is a native son of California’s San Joaquin Valley, and fell in love with film in the popcorn-scented arthouses of Berkeley while a student there. An original founder and program director of the Nevada City Film Festival, Jeff also owns the Onyx Theatre, one of the premier arthouse cinemas in Northern California. In 2023 Jeffrey produced the feature music documentary “Louder Than You Think”, which premiered to acclaim at SXSW. He does not disagree with author Henry Miller's sentiment: “… art teaches nothing, except the significance of life.”

MELONY LEWIS, PRINCIPAL PARTNER

Melony Lewis is Co-Founder and General Partner of Canyon Echo Capital, a world-positive, multi asset class investment firm. In addition, she heads their family foundation, focusing on environmental protection, education, human rights and equality, mental health, and the arts.

Melony is actively engaged with numerous social service organizations within her local community and throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. Currently, she is Co-President of the Aspen Art Museum, a trustee of the Aspen Institute, Aspen Community Foundation and Aspen Country Day School. Her passion for documentary film as a medium for transformative change has also been realized through her work as an Executive Producer of myriad films. In this arena, she is a partner of Gamechanger Films and Impact Partners. As a partner of Bridge Builders Collaborative, she invests in creating mindfulness and wellness solutions through technology.

Joslyn Barnes, PARTNER, CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT

Joslyn Barnes is a WGA award-winning, Oscar and BAFTA nominated screenwriter and three-time Oscar nominated and Emmy award winning producer of over 60 feature and documentary films, series and artworks shot in 26 countries. Among the feature films Joslyn Barnes has been involved with producing since co-founding Louverture Films with Danny Glover and partners Susan Rockefeller, Sawsan Asfari, Tony Tabatznik, Jeffrey Clark, Melony Lewis and Adam Lewis are: the César nominated BAMAKO by Abderrahmane Sissako; Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES, CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR, Cannes Jury Prize winner MEMORIA and the forthcoming JENJIRA'S MAGNIFICENT DREAM; Deepak Rauniyar’s WHITE SUN; Lucrecia Martel’s ZAMA; Nadine Labaki’s 2018 Cannes Jury Prize winner CAPERNAUM, nominated for the César, BAFTA and Oscar® awards for Best Foreign Film; Tatiana Huezo's PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN; Paz Encina's EAMI; and RaMell Ross's NICKEL BOYS which opened the 62nd New York Film Festival and was nominated for Best Picture as well as Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars as well as WGA, DGA, Golden Globes, BAFTA, Gotham and Film Independent Spirit Awards. Among the documentaries Barnes has produced are: Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner and Emmy® and Oscar® nominated TROUBLE THE WATER; Göran Hugo Olsson’s BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975, CONCERNING VIOLENCE and THAT SUMMER; Eugene Jarecki’s Sundance Grand Jury prize, Peabody and Grierson winner THE HOUSE I LIVE IN; Tala Hadid’s HOUSE IN THE FIELDS and the forthcoming BARDI; the Oscar® nominated and Emmy® winning STRONG ISLAND by Yance Ford; the Oscar® and Emmy® nominated HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING by RaMell Ross; AQUARELA, GUNDA and TRILLION by Victor Kossakovsky; Camilla Nielsson's Sundance Special Jury Award winner PRESIDENT; TWO STRANGERS TRYING NOT TO KILL EACH OTHER by Jacob Perlmutter and Manon Ouimet, and Lucrecia Martel’s NUESTRA TIERRA. Among the series Barnes has Executive Produced are: SELF-PORTRAIT AS A COFFEE POT by William Kentridge, Debra Granik's CONBODY VS EVERYBODY and the forthcoming THE STORY OF DOCUMENTARY FILM by Mark Cousins. In 2017, Barnes was the recipient of both the Cinereach Producer Award and the Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producer Award. Barnes serves as an Executive Committee Member of the Documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and is a Co Founder and Advisory Board member of DOC-A (Documentary Africa), an ecosystem-building initiative based in Nairobi that supports interconnected initiatives in content creation, mentored fellowships, labs, audience engagement and distribution assistance across the African continent.

FRANK LEHMANN, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Frank Lehmann began his career in 1990 at Dresdner Bank AG, then the second-largest private German bank, where he held a range of positions over more than fifteen years. Among these, he was part of the team that created tax-driven closed-end funds channelling structured investment into feature-film and television production — his first bridge between capital markets and cinema. In 2002 he became CFO/COO of an animation film production and distribution group owned by the Dresdner Bank / Allianz Group, where he led the restructuring of the group and its projects and carried responsibility for every reporting line to the shareholder.

From 2006 he served as CFO of an established international film production company, simultaneously acting as CEO of several of its affiliates. He built the group’s organisational structures, process management and human-resources functions, and designed its finance models for both company and project financing — becoming the point person for structuring co-production finance across feature films and documentaries. Productions that drew on his financial structuring include the Academy Award–nominated THE LAST STATION by Michael Hoffman, the Golden Globe–winning series CARLOS, RUSH by Ron Howard, FILTH by Jon S. Baird, BLACK DEATH by Christopher Smith, HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS by Peter Chelsom and BIG GAME by Jalmari Helander. He also structured gap financing for other financial institutions active in the film-finance business.

In 2008 Frank co-founded Alcina Media GmbH as its CEO, turning fully to consulting in 2015. Working at both the corporate/administrative and project level — with a focus on international documentary and fiction films and series — he assesses, structures, finances and supervises productions. As Executive Producer he has realised Victor Kossakovsky’s Oscar-shortlisted AQUARELA and Berlinale-competition ARCHITECTON, Rahul Jain’s Cannes-premiered INVISIBLE DEMONS, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Venice-competition feature HARVEST, the German Film Award–winning THE PATH by Tobias Wiemann, and — most recently — Mark Cousins’ Sundance-premiered epic THE STORY OF DOCUMENTARY FILM.

SARISA Middleton, Administrator & operations EXECUTIVE

Sarisa Howard Middleton is the Louverture Films executive responsible for the company’s financial and administrative operations. She is a longtime US certified public accountant who has served in an advisory and fiduciary capacity on behalf of her clients. Sarisa was the Vice President of financial and business operations for Danny Glover’s former company Carrie Productions in California.

MAYA E. RUDOLPH, VICE PRESIDENT NON-FICTION

Maya E. Rudolph is a producer and filmmaker committed to building community and expansive cinemas through artistic collaboration. Her projects as a nonfiction producer include the critically acclaimed features The Tuba Thieves (Alison O'Daniel, Sundance '23) and Shirkers (Sandi Tan, Sundance '18). She is a co-EP of the 2026 documentary Edward Said: Between Worlds. Maya has produced archival-driven nonfiction series including the Emmy-nominated The Andy Warhol Diaries (Netflix, 2022) and The Devil Next Door (Netflix, 2019) and has been a post-production supervisor on over a dozen feature films and series. She is an associate producer of The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot, Sundance '19) and produced the short film Cablestreet (Meredith Lackey, Sundance '19). Maya began her filmmaking career in Beijing where she first made short films and music videos in the Beijing music and independent film world, and later became the bilingual lead producer of the Chinese co-production of Sesame Street. She has led workshops on producing and post-production for organizations such as the IDA and BlackStar. She lives in Los Angeles.

DIANA BUSTAMANTE, INDEPENDENT PRODUCER

Producer, director, and cultural manager. Bustamante's career began while she was studying film at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Her filmography as a producer includes outstanding films such as: LOS VIAJES DEL VIENTO, EL VUELCO DEL CANGREJO, LA SIRGA, LA TIERRA Y LA SOMBRA, and MEMORIA, which projected contemporary Colombian cinema into transnational currents, debates, and production models. Diana was the artistic director of the FICCI from 2015 to 2018, during which time the festival was known as a disruptive space that also ensured affectionate treatment of its own traditions. Bustamante's directorial debut, the documentary NUESTRA PELÍCULA (2022), was a return to one of the central concerns of her career: the link between art, memory, and society.

WILL FRANK, DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Overseeing Louverture's development slate, Will aims to collaborate with and produce daring and distinct cinema from filmmakers intent on imagining new worlds, new understandings, and new ways of living. As Louverture Films' Development Coordinator, his attention is divided across the slate in support of a variety of projects, such as audio-anime series Black Caesar's Revenge, graphic novel and series New Frontier, and he is a co-EP on the 2026 documentary Edward Said: Between Worlds. Will is committed to strengthening the artistic community in the NY film scene and to preserving filmmaking as an ethical, sustainable practice. Will has worked in development and acquisitions roles at First Look Media, Symbolic Exchange, Oscilloscope Laboratories, and Cinereach. In 2021, he worked at the prolific marketing and PR arm of Cinetic Media. Based in Brooklyn, Will has directed and produced short films, music videos, and a web series.

SARAH D’HANENS, INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Sarah D'hanens is a producer whose work spans across documentary, animation, interactive games and VR productions. Among the award-winning films she has associate produced for Louverture Films are RaMell Ross' 2019 Oscar® and Emmy® nominated feature documentary HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING; Ross' short EASTER SNAP, Deepak Rauniyar's WHITE SUN, Hilal Baydarov's IN BETWEEN DYING and CRANE LANTERN, and William Kentridge's SELF-PORTRAIT AS A COFFEE POT. Forthcoming are Tala Hadid's BARDI and Ljubomir Stefanov's PINKY. Sarah is credited as a production associate on Yance Ford's 2018 Oscar® nominated and Emmy® Award winning STRONG ISLAND; Göran Hugo Olsson's THAT SUMMER; Victor Kossakovsky's AQUARELA and Lucrecia Martel's ZAMA. She produced the award-winning projects CE QUE JE VOIS (ANIMA 2026), CATHEX (Siggraph 2025), THE GOLDEN DONKEY (Ensor Awards 2025), WHITE BOX JACKET, SULTANA'S DREAM, AT THE DOOR OF THE HOUSE WHO WILL COME KNOCKING, PLAYLAND, ORLANDO, SPERMACETI, FIGHTING PABLO, WHY, WHAT I WILL, BECAUSE SUPERGLUE IS FOREVER! and HITCHCOCK DIDN'T HAVE A BELLY BUTTON. Forthcoming are Eva Küpper's ICARA, Anne Verbeure's A SLEEPING FIRE and THE PIANIST, Robin Leveroos' VONK N' VOID, Georden West's COLORADO CLOUD CHASING SOCIETY, Jacky De Groen's BLOOD FROM A STONE, Mariana Cadenas' EXIT TALE, and Nia Alavezos’ GHOSTS OF YESTERDAY. Sarah is part of the Berlinale Talents alumni- and Women in Games communities, and an active European Film Academy, Women in Animation and ASIFA-Hollywood member.