Without A Doubt

Abbesi Akhamie is a Nigerian-American writer/director and producer born in Heidelberg, Germany. With an MFA in Film from New York University, Abbesi's work centers the experiences and stories of Africa and its diaspora. Her artistic journey began with the premiere of her debut short film, Still Water Runs Deep, at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it garnered critical acclaim and won the Best Student Short Film award at Aspen ShortsFest.

Her subsequent short film, The Couple Next Door, premiered at Aspen ShortsFest and garnered the Audience Choice Award at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival. It is now available for streaming on the Criterion Collection. She was also selected for the prestigious Black Rock Artist Residency in Dakar, Senegal, founded by Kehinde Wiley, the renowned Obama presidential portraitist. Abbesi’s talent has been recognized and supported by esteemed institutions such as the Chanel Writer's Network, Princess Grace Foundation, SFFILM Rainin Grant, Berlinale Talents, and NYSCA/NYFA, to name a few. Alongside her artistic pursuits, she teaches and mentors across West Africa, providing knowledge and skills to aspiring storytellers.

Melanca Clark leads a consulting practice that partners with nonprofits, funders, and creative leaders to shape strategy and drive impact. She served as the President and CEO of the Hudson-Webber Foundation from 2016 to 2023, overseeing the administration of more than 240 grants totaling over $36 million to improve the quality of life for Detroiters, and launching the Michigan Justice Fund, a funders’ collaborative advancing effective and equitable justice policy in the state of Michigan. She previously served in several senior positions in the Obama Administration, including Chief of Staff of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services at the U.S. Department of Justice and senior policy advisor with the White House Domestic Policy Council. She also served on the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Team.

Prior to her government service, Melanca held several positions as an advocate, including at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Brown University. Today she is dedicating significant time to honoring her father, abstract painter 
Ed Clark’s legacy. She lives with her husband and two children 
in Boston, Massachusetts.

Born in Chicago in 1977, Rashid Johnson is among an influential cadre of contemporary American artists whose work employs a wide range of media to explore themes of art history, individual and shared cultural identities, personal narratives, literature, philosophy, materiality, and critical history. Johnson received a BA in Photography from Columbia College in Chicago and studied for his masters at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Johnson's practice quickly expanded to embrace a wide range of media—including sculpture, painting, drawing, film making, and installation—yielding a complex multidisciplinary practice that incorporates diverse materials rich with symbolism and personal history.

Emmy nominated and noted entrepreneur + creative executive Robert Profusek’s eclectic career charts a diverse professional path encompassing roles and projects across multiple industries in the entertainment and lifestyle space, integrating people and products into the convergence of storytelling, technology, digital media, and entrepreneurship.

To combine his marketing/branding experience with a passion for high quality creative content, in 2011 Profusek founded Harvest Media, a unique development and execution stage digital incubator. Harvest Media partners with creative entrepreneurs seeking to engage audiences through exceptional entertainment concepts. Harvest Media’s slate of projects features a diverse collection of innovative content in various states of development, production and distribution, including wide releases for KUSAMA: INFINITY (Magnolia, Sundance), BORN FREE (Roco Films/Film Platform), QUEEN OF NEW YORK (Traverse32, Newfest) and TED & NOEL (BFI/DocSociety, Them, DocNYC). Harvest Media is currently in production on WITHOUT A DOUBT: ED CLARK (Hauser & Wirth), ON/OFF: DAVID LA CHAPELLE (Chapelle Studios), OBSCENITY: CHUCK CLOSE (New York Times) and ABSOLUT DOCUMENTARY (Absolut/Pernod Ricard) and is in post-production on 8X10 (Leica, NYS Council for the Arts), HALLELUJAH EVERYWHERE (Black Public Media) and KETCHUP & WATERMELON (Film Independent).

Maritza Cayo is a Brooklyn-based independent producer. Over the past couple of years, she has produced short and feature-length films, branded content, social originals, and live events. She has worked closely on editorial video at Conde Nast with brands including Architectural Digest, Conde Nast Traveler, and SELF. She recently made her film debut in the 2024 Cannes official selection short film Three.

Maritza is a Haitian-American artist who is drawn to stories that feature and highlight BIPOC, Women, and the African Diaspora. Through her work, she explores how her interests converge to push the boundaries of traditional storytelling and imagine new futures. She aims to share urgent, unique, and genre-defying narratives.

Daniel Hilsinger is an Oakland-based filmmaker. He believes deeply in the power of storytelling as a catalyst for change. Daniel met Ed in 2011 and spent 5 years interviewing and filming him in New York City and Chicago.

He’s produced, directed and edited 2 short films about Ed - one for Ed’s memorial at the Whitney Museum in October 2021 and the other for Hauser and Wirth’s “Without A Doubt” Ed Clark Exhibition in London (January - April 2022). As a bone cancer survivor, Daniel offers a unique lens on life. He’s passionate about telling stories that inspire people to follow their dreams and is excited to help share Ed Clark’s life story with the world.

Sam Pollard is an accomplished feature film and television video editor, and documentary producer/director. 2022 and 2023 have been very productive years for Pollard. In December 2022 Peacock began streaming Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, a film Pollard co-directed with Gandbhir, which tells the story of the courageous campaign of citizens and activists who faced violence and oppression in the struggle for the right to vote.

Pollard's two-part documentary, Bill Russell: Legend, about legendary Boston Celtic and civil rights icon premiered on Netflix on February 8. Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, a film that Pollard co-directed with Ben Shapiro, had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 12. The film follows Roach across a rich and complicated life and epic musical journey -- from the revolutionary Jazz of the 1940s to the Civil Rights years.