ABOUT THE FILMMAKING TEAM

All three producers of The Last Drop are survivors of relationship abuse.
Our Executive Producers and Advisory Board are leaders in the field of abuse prevention, advocacy, education, & social work— we consulted these experts on our project goals, screenplay, and discussion guides to make this film as accurate and impactful as it can be. Of the 76 cast & crew members behind this film, 51% were POC and 47% were female or non-binary.

Adam Joel smiling

Writer | Director | Co-Producer

Adam Joelis an impact-driven filmmaker and a survivor of relationship abuse. After co-founding Aggressively Compassionate, a production company that makes films for good causes, Adam launched his campaign against abuse as the Writer & Director of The Last Drop — a short sci-fi film about relationship abuse inspired by the memories of real survivors. To make The Last Drop asimpactful as possible, Adam consulted dozens of other survivors and an Advisory Board of experts in the fields of abuse prevention, education, and social work. Adam is leading an international campaign with this film and speaking engagements to help people identify and react to the lesser known forms of abuse that tend to occur BEFORE a relationship turns violent. He has been featured as a keynote speaker on abuse prevention at over 70 events, including TEDx, international conferences, universities, fundraisers, and training sessions for judges, advocates, military bases, police officers, & more!

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

ADVISORY BOARD

*Please note that our Advisory Board is a collection of individuals who were consulted on the film, and does not necessarily constitute a formal partnership with the organizations that employ(ed) them above. For a complete list of the individuals we consulted, see the Advisory Board credits below.

To improve the accuracy of this film and maximize the surrounding impact campaign, we consulted a variety of experts with experience at leading organizations in the fields of abuse prevention, advocacy, and education.

  • The One Love Foundation
    A national nonprofit with the goal of ending relationship abuse by empowering young people with the tools and resources they need to see the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships.

    The Safe & Together Institute
    A global network of DV-informed child welfare professionals, communities, and systems. With an internationally recognized suite of tools and interventions, S&TI helps child welfare professionals become domestic violence-informed.

    Becca E. Davis from Defiant Arc Entertainment

  • ADVISORY BOARD:

    Leslie Morgan Steiner
    New York Times best-selling author, columnist for The Washington Post | TED Talk: Why Domestic Violence Victims Don't Leave — 4+ million views

    Gretchen Shaw
    Deputy Director | National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

    Deb DeBare
    Capacity Technical Assistance Senior Deputy Director | National Network to End Domestic Violence

    Julia Saladino
    Senior Staff Attorney | National Network to End Domestic Violence

    Leah K. Vejzovic
    E-Learning & Events Development Coordinator | Safe & Together Institute

    Radhika Sharma Gordon
    Manager of Education & Outreach | Apna Ghar

    Vickie Smith
    President & CEO | Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence

    The Network
    A collaborative membership organization to end domestic violence | The Network

    Maggie Arthur
    Director of Education & Training | Resilience

    Emma Gonzalez
    Senior Prevention Educator | Resilience

    Gina Manlove
    Psychotherapist / Licensed Clinical Social Worker

  • Production Company: Aggressively Compassionate is an impact-driven filmmaking company that specializes in producing films for nonprofits and other good causes.

    Writer / Director / Producer: Adam Joel is an impact-driven filmmaker and a survivor of relationship abuse. After graduating with a film degree from Northwestern University, he co-founded Aggressively Compassionate, a production company that makes films for good causes. His directorial debut, Under the Weather, screened at universities to spark mental health discussions between students and faculty. He was the Impact Manager for an education film called No Small Matter, by Kindling Group, where he coordinated 1,300+ screening events for advocates, educators, and legislators in all 50 states. To write The Last Drop, he consulted dozens of other survivors and experts.

    Impact Producer: Sydney Bauer is the Client Success Manager of Storybolt, a company that uses documentaries to curate programming around DEI for their clients. She also hosts a podcast on relationship abuse called Love is Not and freelances as a documentary filmmaker, focusing on impact campaigns. In 2018, Sydney was a Member of the Obama Foundation’s Community Leadership Corps. 

    Co-Producer: Max Asaf is a Chicago-based freelance documentary filmmaker. Max served as the development coordinator at Kartemquin Films, helping raise over $5 million for the organization and its films. In the fall of 2019, Max left Kartemquin to freelance full-time, producing projects from award-winning documentary and fiction filmmakers - including as the Co-Producer on the documentary short The Sebastopol Siege and as the Co-Producer on The Last Strike, an upcoming feature documentary by Kindling Group on the 1981 PATCO strike. Max is in post-production on his feature documentary directorial debut, Within the Box, an early version of which screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner.

    Director of Photography:  Madelyn Momano is an award-winning cinematographer based out of Chicago.  Her experience covers a vast spectrum of genres in the narrative, commercial, and documentary space, including working  as a steadicam operator for popular artists like Chance the Rapper. Her recent film, Jack & Anna, won several awards at 30+ festivals for its portrayal of an LGBTQ+ couple in the 1900s, based on true events.

    Awards for Jack & Anna (shot by Madelyn Momano): Cannes Lions YDA 2020 shortlist; Best Global Short: Beyond the Rainbow Award at the 2019 SCAD Savannah Film Festival; Best LGBTQ Short Platinum Award, Platinum Award, Best Student Short Gold Award at the Independent Short Awards, Los Angeles; Best Film, Best Drama and Best Production Design at the GSF Awards - Global Short Film Awards; Best Student Film at the European Cinematography AWARDS (ECA). It was an official selection of the Academy Award®-qualifying 28th St. Louis Film Festival. The most recent selections include the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award®-qualifying Indy Shorts International Film Festival.

    Intimacy Coordinator: Kirsten Baity - “I’m a Black, queer, theater artist working toward creating empowering space that creates lasting social change... I am a writer, deviser, intimacy director, and sex educator who is passionate about creating art that excavates the history that has been washed out and swept under the rug.”

  • Lead Actress:Molly Hernandez is a bilingual actress raised in Chicago. She was the 2017 recipient of the Award of Excellence in Musical Theater from the IL Theatre Association and was nominated for a Jeff Award for a principal role in a musical. Molly also appeared in the Chicago Tribune: Fresh Faces top 20 Performances of the Year. Credits include Alice Through the Lookingglass (Lookingglass Theatre); American Mariachi (Goodman Theatre); Chicago Med (NBC), and Chicago PD (NBC)

    Lead Actor: Forrest Weber stars as "Junior" in Netflix's limited series, Black Rabbit. He is also known for his roles in: NBC's The Blacklist, NBC's American Odyssey, Fox's Gotham, Cinemax's The Knick, A&E's Unforgettable, Hulu's Castle Rock, the NBC pilot, Hatfields & McCoys, and the ABC pilot, Broad Squad, and more. Film credits include: Spotlight (SAG Award, Best Cast Ensemble), the third lead in Tater Tot & Patton (on Amazon Prime, from the producer of Napoleon Dynamite) and the short film, Pike County (also on Amazon Prime). 

  • Entertainment 2 Affect Change
    Entertainment 2 Affect Change (E2AC) connects award-winning creatives, nonprofit causes, and philanthropic funders who want to share their impact through the power of story. You can donate to The Last Drop through our Donation Page on their website.