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OSCAR®-WINNING BREAKWATER STUDIOS PROMOTES
NANA ADWOA FRIMPONG
TO EXECUTIVE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
AND CHIEF OF STAFF
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, July 19 2023 —The Academy Award® winning Los Angeles based production company Breakwater Studios, a leader in short documentaries, has promoted Nana Adwoa Frimpong to Executive Media and Communications Director and Chief of Staff, effective immediately. She will simultaneously join the company’s executive management team, reporting directly to C.E.O. Ben Proudfoot.
Led by Oscar® winning director 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, a business model that has grown the company for 11 years to a headcount of nearly twenty staff.
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. 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.
In addition to producing what has been called “the gold standard” in short documentary filmmaking, the company creates splashy impact campaigns (often backed by a celebrity executive producer) that champion the storytellers in their films like Lucy Harris in The Queen of Basketball (EPed by Shaquille O’Neal and Stephen Curry), Patsy Mink in MINK! (EPed by Naomi Osaka) and Terence Alan Smith in The Beauty President (EPed by Lena Waithe), which will now come under Frimpong’s purview.
Earlier this year, Frimpong led a panel on Capitol Hill hosted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi including Naomi Osaka for the release of Proudfoot’s MINK!. Prior to that, Frimpong moderated conversations with Shaquille O’Neal, Kris Bowers and President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige.
“I fortuitously met Nana when she moderated a panel with Kris Bowers and I when A Concerto is a Conversation was nominated in 2021,” says Proudfoot. “I was blown away immediately by her warmth, poise and the incisiveness of her language. I was not surprised to find out that she came from a lineage of diplomats and pretty much hired her immediately. We very much see eye to eye and I am thrilled that she has taken on this new, broader role at the company to help champion the format of short documentary, our films and the storytellers at their center.”
An award-winning short documentary filmmaker herself with an M.F.A. in Cinematic Arts, Film & Television Production from the University of Southern California, Frimpong is a believer in the short documentary, Breakwater Studios’ milieu.
“I have always believed that films are a vessel for truth-telling. I became a filmmaker because I wanted to see the people and places I knew reflected back to me onscreen. In film school, short documentaries were my direct way into honoring that intention. The films we make at Breakwater Studios are no different. Every film we make is centered around love, honesty, and a deliberate intention to put the storyteller and their unique perspective first. I am grateful to be part of a team that understands the specialness of all of our stories, and works to amplify voices that have been historically unheard or ignored. I look forward to the expansion of my role, and remain eager for what is to come.”
The company’s upcoming releases are “Forgiving Johnny,” which grants rare access to an active case being handled by the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office, and “The Last Repair Shop,” from Proudfoot and Bowers.
ABOUT BREAKWATER STUDIOS
Breakwater Studios is an Academy Award®-winning, vertically integrated entertainment company specializing in humanist short-form documentaries and brand partnerships.
Founded in 2012 by filmmaker and entrepreneur Ben Proudfoot, the craft-first company is rooted in the principle of housing all creative departments on the same physical campus, which is currently spread between three locations in the historic Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, including Walt Disney’s original studio. Since 2014, Breakwater Studios has partnered directly with sophisticated brands to conceive and create short documentary series as a more effective and affordable alternative to traditional interruptive advertising.
With a dedicated full-time staff, and a growing family of in-residence artists, Breakwater has emerged as a leader in the traditionally unprofitable short documentary space. With noteworthy and award-winning collaborations with The New York Times, Charles Schwab, UNICEF, Amazon, Publicis Sapient and different original projects selected at HotDocs, Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, and Telluride Breakwater is poised to continue to establish itself as an industry leader and innovator.
Led by Oscar® winning director 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, a business model that has grown the company for 11 years to a headcount of nearly twenty staff.
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. 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.
In addition to producing what has been called “the gold standard” in short documentary filmmaking, the company creates splashy impact campaigns (often backed by a celebrity executive producer) that champion the storytellers in their films like Lucy Harris in The Queen of Basketball (EPed by Shaquille O’Neal and Stephen Curry), Patsy Mink in MINK! (EPed by Naomi Osaka) and Terence Alan Smith in The Beauty President (EPed by Lena Waithe), which will now come under Frimpong’s purview.
Earlier this year, Frimpong led a panel on Capitol Hill hosted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi including Naomi Osaka for the release of Proudfoot’s MINK!. Prior to that, Frimpong moderated conversations with Shaquille O’Neal, Kris Bowers and President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige.
“I fortuitously met Nana when she moderated a panel with Kris Bowers and I when A Concerto is a Conversation was nominated in 2021,” says Proudfoot. “I was blown away immediately by her warmth, poise and the incisiveness of her language. I was not surprised to find out that she came from a lineage of diplomats and pretty much hired her immediately. We very much see eye to eye and I am thrilled that she has taken on this new, broader role at the company to help champion the format of short documentary, our films and the storytellers at their center.”
An award-winning short documentary filmmaker herself with an M.F.A. in Cinematic Arts, Film & Television Production from the University of Southern California, Frimpong is a believer in the short documentary, Breakwater Studios’ milieu.
“I have always believed that films are a vessel for truth-telling. I became a filmmaker because I wanted to see the people and places I knew reflected back to me onscreen. In film school, short documentaries were my direct way into honoring that intention. The films we make at Breakwater Studios are no different. Every film we make is centered around love, honesty, and a deliberate intention to put the storyteller and their unique perspective first. I am grateful to be part of a team that understands the specialness of all of our stories, and works to amplify voices that have been historically unheard or ignored. I look forward to the expansion of my role, and remain eager for what is to come.”
The company’s upcoming releases are “Forgiving Johnny,” which grants rare access to an active case being handled by the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office, and “The Last Repair Shop,” from Proudfoot and Bowers.
ABOUT BREAKWATER STUDIOS
Breakwater Studios is an Academy Award®-winning, vertically integrated entertainment company specializing in humanist short-form documentaries and brand partnerships.
Founded in 2012 by filmmaker and entrepreneur Ben Proudfoot, the craft-first company is rooted in the principle of housing all creative departments on the same physical campus, which is currently spread between three locations in the historic Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, including Walt Disney’s original studio. Since 2014, Breakwater Studios has partnered directly with sophisticated brands to conceive and create short documentary series as a more effective and affordable alternative to traditional interruptive advertising.
With a dedicated full-time staff, and a growing family of in-residence artists, Breakwater has emerged as a leader in the traditionally unprofitable short documentary space. With noteworthy and award-winning collaborations with The New York Times, Charles Schwab, UNICEF, Amazon, Publicis Sapient and different original projects selected at HotDocs, Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, and Telluride Breakwater is poised to continue to establish itself as an industry leader and innovator.