Zenith
TFI Suppport
Logline
An adopted Black Mennonite woman leaves the rural white community she was raised in and travels to an inner-city neighborhood in Philadelphia to find her biological mother. ZENITH explores how we choose to construct our identities through race, faith and family.
Ellie Foumbi
Screenwriter, Director
Ellie Foumbi is a writer/actor/director born in Cameroon, West Africa. She graduated from Columbia University’s School of the Arts with an MFA in Directing. She’s a Student Academy Awards Semifinalist and an African Movie Academy Award Nominee. Ellie was the recipient of the New York Women in Film & TV Filmmaker Scholarship and the Jesse Thompkins III Award in Screenwriting. She was also handpicked to be one of four IFP Marcie Bloom Fellows and is a Film Independent Screenwriting Lab Fellow. In the Fall of 2018, she was invited into New York Film Festival’s prestigious Artist Academy. Ellie made her TV directorial debut on BET’s hip-hop anthology, TALES.
Joseph Mastantuono
Producer
Joseph Mastantuono’s first feature film as a producer AS YOU ARE (dir. Miles Joris-Peyrafitte), starring Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg & Mary Stuart Masterson won the Special Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic category at the Sundance film festival, and had its international premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival. He also produced MY LAST FILM (dir. Zia Anger), a short film starring Lola Kirke, Patricia Arquette & Kelly Rohrback, which premiered at New York Film Festival & co-produced ZENITH (dir. Ellie Foumbi). He is currently working with Begoña Colomar & Ellie Foumbi on their feature directorial debuts. As the founder of Good Post, a Brooklyn based post-production facility that specializes in color grading independent films and providing post services, Joseph brings over 14 years of experience in post-production. He has an insightful and detailed understanding of how to deliver a final product that is rare in independent film.