Meet our esteemed panel of jurors for the 2022 Ida B. Wells Short Film Fund. Each juror is a member of the chromatic black™ collective. Check back regularly for updates.
2022 SHORT FILM JURORS
Portrait by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
In 1991, he founded Ken Sunshine Consultants (later to become Sunshine Sachs) and over the past three decades his firm has represented clients ranging from leading corporations, nonprofits, and unions, to some of the most prominent names in entertainment. Sunshine Sachs has 200 employees, with offices in with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. Atlanta and Austin, and specializes in media relations, corporate image programs, crisis communications, reputation and issues management, event promotion, and communications skills training.
Ken Sunshine currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Community Service Society, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, the Type Media Center, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC and is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In addition, he has recently been appointed to both the Governor’s and Mayor’s Task Forces on Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the course of his career, Sunshine has received many accolades for his achievements, which include the City and State Responsible 100 Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the National Action Network’s Presidents Award and its Dream Keepers Award, the Amsterdam News Friendship Award, the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute’s Bella Fella Award, among other honors for his leadership in the civil rights movement.
handmade food company, Sticky Acres.
Golden Globe® winning Producer working under the banner of Antidote Films, the
company he founded in 2000. He has also directed two documentaries.
Kusama-Hinte's latest production was John Turturro's FADING GIGOLO, starring Mr.
Turturro, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Liev Schreiber, and Vanessa Paradis. Prior to this,
his most recent production was Lisa Cholodenko's THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT,
starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo. This film received four
Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture, and four Golden Globe®
nominations, winning two Golden Globes® for Best Actress (Annette Bening) and Best
Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy).
Kusama-Hinte directed and produced the documentaries CHARLOTTE: A WOODEN
BOAT STORY and SOUL POWER, which screened at the Toronto and Berlin
International Film Festivals, and won the Los Angeles Film Festival Audience Award.
Kusama-Hinte also produced the documentary THE DUNGEON MASTERS, directed by
Keven McAlester, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and
Marina Zenovich’s ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, which received
five Primetime Emmy® Awards nominations, winning two Emmys® for Outstanding
Writing and Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming. Kusama-Hinte’s other
productions include the critically acclaimed eco-horror thriller THE LAST WINTER
directed by Larry Fessenden, the Jon Reiss-directed graffiti documentary BOMB IT,
Julian Goldberger’s THE HAWK IS DYING, Gregg Araki’s MYSTERIOUS SKIN,
Catherine Hardwicke’s THIRTEEN, Lisa Cholodenko’s LAUREL CANYON and HIGH
ART, and Larry Fessenden’s WENDIGO.
Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte resides in Brooklyn New York, with his spouse and two children.
He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves as
Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for Type Media Center and as Treasurer of Board of
the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival.
A native of Toronto, Canada, Lisa has lived in Boston since 2013. An enthusiastic traveler, dancer and yoga practitioner, she will be returning to live in London in 2023.
Hardrict got his first big break when he landed a role in Fox 2000 Pictures’ Never Been Kissed. From here his career flourished appearing in a multitude of films from drama to comedy including Crazy Beautiful, Grammy nominated feature Gran Torino, and He’s Just Not That Into You opposite Justin Long and Ginnifer Goodwin. In 2011, Hardrict co-starred as Cpl. Jason Lockett in the action film Battle: Los Angeles. He has also held supporting roles in numerous high profile projects including Lovelace, Warm Bodies, and Transcendence opposite Johnny Depp.
In 2015, Hardrict starred opposite Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller in the Oscar nominated film American Sniper. Additionally, he was one of the leads in the hit independent film, Brotherly Love. Earlier this year he was seen in Summit Entertainment’s Tupac Shakur biopic “All Eyez On Me”. He will next be seen in “November Criminals” opposite Chloe Grace Moretz, the Netflix original film “Naked,” “#211” opposite Nicholas Cage, and “Labyrinth” with Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker. His film, “Destined” premiered at the LA Film Festival last summer as their Official Selection and it continues to sweep awards during its festival run winning Best Feature and Best of Festival at UrbanWorld, Best Film at the International Black Film Festival of Nashville, and was the official selection at Chicago International Film Festival. Hardrict took home the award for Best Actor at the American Black Film Festival, Peachtree Village International Film Festival, and IBFF of Nashville. Destined is set to release in theaters the fall of 2017. In 2018, you can see Hardrict in Sony Crackle’s “The Oath,” executively produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit Film & Television Inc. Hardrict will next be seen in the film "The Outpost" with Orlando Bloom and Scott Eastwood as well as executive produce. Hardrict also has four Completed feature films for release in the Upcoming 2023 year. The Hit TV show All American Homecoming he’s currently on is back for Season 2 Oct 10th on the CW first season on Netflix.
Hardrict currently lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife and two beautiful children. In addition to working in film and television, he loves to play basketball in his down time, travel to exotic places, and explore new cultures while spending time with his family.
As a former corporate director of Reliance Group Holdings, a publicly held fortune 500 holding company; with 10 years as the first Black to serve as a Trustee on the Board of The Wharton School of Business; and as an advisor for board development for RRE an Information Technology Venture Capital firm with $1.3 Billion under management recognized and respected for building industry-leading companies; her, depth of experience and range of contacts have been key elements in her effectiveness.
Ms. McCabe currently serves on or has been a director on the boards of: Reliance Group Holding; the New York City Investment Fund, L.I.C. (1996-2001); The Wharton School of Business; Bard College; The Deloitte & Touche Diversity Advisory Board; The New York City Partnership (founding member 1981-2001); Research America; New York City Commission on the Status of Women (1982-2002); and The Economic Club of New York. She is currently board president of The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) ifp.org.
As President of Jewell Jackson McCabe Associates – a bi-lingual (English-Spanish) management consulting firm specializing in strategic communications, executive coaching and competitiveness training -- including Diversity and Inclusion – she has advised a wide range of corporations in the private and public sector.
These corporations include: American Express; Time Warner; The Coca-Cola Company; Matsushita Electric Corporation of America (Panasonic); International Business Machines Corporation (IBM); Tyco International; The Williams Capital Group; The Royal Bank of Canada; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc; Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and The College Board. Her strategic communications company is a full service minority owned organization, combining a broad range of marketing skill, competitiveness training on effective internal and external management capabilities.
Ms. McCabe was appointed by President Clinton to the United State Holocaust Memorial Council with oversight of the Holocaust Museum, where she was a member of the Holocaust Council’s congressionally-mandated Committee on Conscience. Governor Mario M. Cuomo appointed Ms. McCabe to the New York State Council on Fiscal and Economic priorities. She was also appointed chair of the New York State’s Job Training Partnership Council federal employment block grant, which spends $250 million dollars annually to train the disadvantaged.
Ms. McCabe is the recipient of two honorary doctorates and numerous awards. She distinguished herself in 1993 as a candidate on the “short list” for the presidency of the NAACP becoming the first woman in 84 years to be considered for chief executive officer of America’s venerable civil rights organization.
Ms. McCabe has been a featured guest on news and general interest programs including Charlie Rose and the Today Show, notably interviewed by Katie Couric, with New York Times columnist and senior writer for The New York Times Magazine, Frank Rich and former Republican National Committee Chair, Haley Barbour, analyzing, President [43rd] Bush’s State of the Union Address.
Jewell Jackson McCabe is the founder and chair of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, which has a membership of 7,000 women in 35 states and the District of Columbia. It was established in 1981 to engage professional black women in a network to meet their career needs and facilitate their access to mainstream America; her overriding objective, as noted in an article in Fortune Magazine, “Is to establish common ground for women-of-color between the public and private sectors.”
Thorne made her feature film debut in Academy Award winning writer/director Barry Jenkins’ IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, playing the role of “Sheila Hunt,” the petulant younger sister of “Fonny Hunt” (Stephan James). The film, which premiered at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival, received critical acclaim and accolades including: AFI Awards Movie of the Year, Independent Spirit Awards Best Feature, NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Independent Motion Picture and one of National Board of Review’s Top Ten Film of 2018. Thorne starred opposite Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield in Warner Brothers’ Academy Award Nominated feature JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, directed by Shaka King, and Executive produced by Ryan Coogler and Charles D. King. The film follows the story of Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and his fateful betrayal by FBI informant William O’Neal. Thorne plays “Judy Harmon” a fictional character who is a member of Fred’s security team.