Amanda Sthers
CEO IDEA(L)
Amanda Sthers is a French artist living in Los Angeles.
She has written more than a dozen novels translated into twenty languages and awarded with multiple literary Prizes.
As a playwright, she has written nine plays that have toured internationally, including her 2006 play The Old Blonde Jew, which was included in the Harvard University curriculum. She also wrote Le lien (The bond), which premiered at the Avignon Festival.
She is the writer and director of four feature films, the last three in English language. MADAME, starring Rossy di Palma, Toni Collette, and Harvey Keitel, followed by HOLY LANDS, adapted from her novel HOLY LANDS, (Bloomsbury) the last film of the legendary James Caan, also starring Tom Hollander, Rosanna Arquette, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. PROMISES starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Kelly Reilly, and Jean Reno, premiered at the Rome Film Festival, won numerous awards worldwide.
On television, she was the lead writer for the legendary French series CAMERA CAFÉ, for which she wrote over seventy episodes. More recently, she created a one-off COUP DE FOUDRE A NOËL for TF1 with Tomer Sisley and Julie de Bona, which attracted more than 6.4 million viewers, making it the largest French fiction audience for 2017.
Amanda Sthers is also a producer and CEO of IDEA(L), a company that creates opportunities for new voices and female filmmakers, as well as bridges between Europe and the United States. BONNIE, a documentary celebrating one of the most prestigious casting directors, was screened in the official selection of the 2022 Venice Film Festival and the Deauville American Film Festival. She co-produced MAFIA MAMMA directed by Catherine Hardwicke, based on her original idea, with Toni Collette and Monica Bellucci in the lead roles, released in American theaters in April 2023. Two animated films are in production LOVEBIRDS with the Tat studio and MOTH, for which Jean Paul Gaultier will be artistic director.
Amanda also explores contemporary art. Her first exhibition which was exhibited at Galerie 75 in December 2022 and was repeated at Galerie Huit during the 2023 Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles under the direction of curator Laura Serani. The exhibition will soon travel to Venice for the Biennale.
In 2024, Amanda Sthers was promoted by the French Government to the rank of Officer of « Arts et lettres » for her significant contributions to the arts and literature.
Rafael Maman
CEO IDEA(L) Content
Rafael Maman is a French writer, director and producer freshly graduated from the Film & Television Production programme at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Driven since childhood by a passion for film telling dark stories of characters bigger than reality, Rafael has written and directed over 10 short films and produced a variety of films at USC over the last two years including the LA Shorts award-winning Surrender and the student feature The Optimist, exploring themes of dreams, self-belief and grief through thriller and drama genres.
Prior to his filmmaking career, Rafael graduated from a Bsc in Management at the City University of London and a Masters in Global Management from the London School of Economics, with a specialization in Entrepreneurship fostered during his exchange at Chicago Booth’s MBA programme. Over the course of his studies, he developed a keen interest in managing teams from diversified background, and developed communication, financial management and creative problem-solving skills, that he applied as a consultant for the Zoological Society of London’s and SEO London and as financial analyst for the media focused M&A boutique consultant Stella EOC (now GCA Altium).
This first experience in the media industry convinced Rafael to pursue a content-focused career in this space, which led him to become a production coordinator for Alef One in Paris, where he spent a year overseeing the development of TV series and documentaries such as MH 370 and CARLOS GOHSN: THE LAST FLIGHT in partnership with the Middle Eastern company MBC. He later became director Gilles Bannier’s assistant for a year, shadowing him during the preproduction of the show The Beautiful Game. This first insight into the creative side of the business turned out to be a one way ticket towards his directing passion.
Leon Hesby
Art Director IDEA(L) Content
Leon Hesby is an artist who draws upon his experiences growing up in Paris to inform his present excursion into Los Angeles. His songwriting and depth of vocal range earned him accolades on the iTunes Pop Charts in France for the singles “1 2 3” and “Only You .”
“1,2,3” was featured in Netflix hit series Heartbreak High Season 2.
As an actor, Leon Hesby was solicited at a very young age being on of the voice overs in the motion picture “Snoopy and the Peanuts”. He then starred opposite Jean Reno in “Promises”.
Ideal content has helped him get exposure through social media content and music video production.
His expertise in the music world will help artists build the most valuable content.
