Production Team
Diem Van Groth - Director, Producer, Writer
Diem Van Groth is a seasoned executive and trailblazer with twenty-plus years of global experience and expertise in corporate strategy, business development, enterprise sales, and project management. At sixteen, Diem started in the mailroom of Midwest Federal Bank and then interned in the Corporate Finance Department of investment bank Dain Bosworth, now Royal Bank of Canada, two years later. Diem has worked across the US and globally in Hungary, Vietnam, Namibia, and New Zealand.
David Massey - Producer
David Massey is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications & Education from Ohio Dominican University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Advanced Film & Television from the American Film Institute. He is the first African American nominated for an Oscar in the Live-Action Short Film category for "Last Breeze of Summer" (1992).
Massey has produced and directed several films and television shows, including "Men of Courage," an hour-long docudrama that received an NAACP Image Award and aired on BET. He produced "Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win," a documentary on the 31st of December Women's Movement in Ghana, and "Fespaco," a feature documentary narrated by Danny Glover about Africa's largest and oldest film festival. His short film "Island Song" won the Audience Award at the Pan African Film Festival in 2013, and " When Justice Isn't Just," a documentary on law enforcement shootings of unarmed African-Americans, was distributed by First Run Features in 2015.
Massey’s recent projects include "Where We're From," a feature documentary on the LA independent hip hop movement in the early 90s, distributed by Shout Studios, and "Not All Lost," a PBS reality-based, celebrity-driven television program. He also worked on "Hinika," a documentary about the opening of a new hospital and medical school in rural Ethiopia, "Conscience of the Congress," a historical overview of the Congressional Black Caucus, "Passage," a live-action film set in 1600 Western Africa, and "Golden Flower," a narrative short film depicting Taino culture and history.
Kevin Smith - Cinematographer
Smith was born in New Orleans and graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1983 with a BA in Mass Communications. He interned as a video engineer at a local cable station and then worked as a news photographer at WWL-TV, a CBS affiliate in New Orleans. 1989, Smith was accepted into the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles, earning an MFA and the 1991 Remy Martin Student Scholarship Award.
Smith's career took off as a camera assistant, collaborating with industry giants like Oliver Stone and Robert Richardson, ASC. His work on projects such as JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, and Any Given Sunday, where he was responsible for all second unit work, including directing several sequences, showcased his talent and dedication. He further honed his skills on A Few Good Men with Rob Reiner and Meteor Man with Robert Townsend.
Smith's recent projects include the second unit, DP/A-Cam Operator on Fallen with Denzel Washington, the reality TV series Not All Lost, and the documentary Breast Cancer: An African American Perspective. He lensed the feature film Let the Church Say Amen, directed by Regina King, and the Peacock series Bel-Air, executive produced by Will Smith. Smith is focused on a career in Hollywood as a Director of Photography and is committed to projects that inspire, entertain, and are authentic.
