Stephanie Angel is a filmmaker, director, and certified hospice volunteer who founded Angelight Films in honor of her younger sister, Ilana, who passed away from a brain tumor when she was five years old. She also serves as a Bereaved Sibling Coordinator for the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation, supporting children navigating loss and grief. With over 20 years experience working in the film industry on feature films, television, and more than 200 national commercials, Stephanie brings a high level of creative and production expertise to mission-driven storytelling. Stephanie has led the creation of 15 short films made by children with serious illnesses, helping them express their creativity, identity, and voice beyond their diagnosis. Her work transforms deeply personal experiences into uplifting, professionally produced films that inspire both participants and audiences.
Michele Kuvin Kupfer is a documentary filmmaker, behavioral therapist, and educational consultant with extensive experience supporting young people navigating medical and developmental challenges. She has worked in hospital settings focusing on the psycho-social needs of adolescents as they move toward independence. As the creator of Difference Diaries, Michele has built a powerful storytelling platform that amplifies the voices of young adults living with chronic and life-altering conditions, fostering empathy, awareness, and meaningful dialogue. Her work is also deeply personal, her son is a young adult living with a brain tumor, whose journey she captured through film. Michele brings a unique combination of clinical insight, lived experience, and storytelling expertise to the mission of Angelight Films.
Wendy Lobel is an accomplished producer, director and writer of documentaries, primetime specials and other television programming, Wendy Lobel has won EMMY, CableACE, Gracie and Peabody Awards for her work with Nickelodeon’s Nick News with Linda Ellerbee and Lifetime’s Intimate Portrait.Wendy is currently a producer and co-writer of specials for Nickelodeon’s Nick News with Linda Ellerbee. She has been a television producer for more than two decades with dozens of cable, network and public television credits to her name. Her credits include: several documentaries for public television nationwide, Uncommon Americans for A&E, The Mating Game for MSNBC, a dozen Intimate Portraits for Lifetime, Inside TV Land: Primetime Politics for TV Land, the real-life series Adoption for Hallmark Entertainment, and Driven: Jennifer Lopez for VH1. Wendy wrote and produced her first television documentary in 1986, The People vs. Mel Kramer.
One of Wendy’s proudest accomplishments is a fundraising video she developed and produced for the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation. This video, hosted by Sissy Spacek, was a labor of love, as it was produced in memory of her niece, Ilana.When Wendy’s niece, Stephanie, asked her to be Vice President of Angelight Films, Wendy was honored and has served proudly in that role ever since.
Ryan S. Curran became the Treasurer of Angelight Films, Inc. in July of 2008. He is involved with all financial aspects of the organization, including budgeting, tax compliance, and managing the Organization’s assets. Ryan is a certified public accountant in New Jersey and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance from Rutgers University.He is committed to using his financial and business expertise to grow the Organization’s programs and establish Angelight Films as an extensive, well respected, and successful non-profit organization.Ryan fully believes in Angelight Films’ missions and understands that in order for that mission to be ultimately fulfilled and the tremendous amount of love to be shared by those who Angelight Films seeks to serve, that cogent financial management is necessary.
Amir Arison can currently be seen as a Series Regular in the Apple TV + limited series DOPE THIEF for director Ridley Scott, after nine seasons as a Series Regular and fan favorite ‘Aram Mojtabai’ on THE BLACKLIST (NBC). He currently has a recurring role in the recently released Netflix series THE BEAST IN ME. Other TV credits include THE DROPOUT, RAMY, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, BILLIONS, GIRLS, BULL, and HOMELAND. In film, he can be seen in the features 20 WEEKS, THE VISITOR, JANE WANTS A BOYFRIEND, HANDLE WITH CARE (upcoming), BEFORE THE SUN EXPLODES, BIG WORDS, MERRY FRIGGIN CHRISTMAS, and VAMPS. Arison has an extensive theatre career and was honored with the 2023 Theater World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance in a Broadway Production for his turn in the leading role, ‘Amir,’ in THE KITE RUNNER. Arison also won a daytime Emmy for hosting the 2022 NBC/Telemundo special CLEAR THE SHELTERS, helping 171,000 rescue pets nationwide get adopted. Arison is also an award winning short film director: FORTRESS by Anna Ziegler and TATI’S FASHION SHOW for Angelights Films where he was recently named the Director of the Creative Advisory board helping Kids with Brain or Spinal Cord Tumors star in their own Short films. Upcoming, he is the director of the new Stage Play DEL VALLE, and his new talk show THE REEL ONES (EP, Creator, Host) will feature documentary filmmakers and their extraordinary subjects.
Jesse Scolaro is a Sundance-winning producer with experience creating multi-format content in various mediums including feature films, documentaries, branded content, digital series, music videos and short films. Over the past two decades, much of Jesse’s work has included collaborations with first-time directors, A-list actors, and producing stories from marginalized voices. His projects have ranged from award-winning independent films which premiered at major international film festivals and acquired by A24, Paramount+, and Netflix to branded content campaigns with Fortune 500 companies and short-form documentaries profiling individuals whose stories uplift and inspire. Jesse is currently in post-production on three feature documentaries and is a visiting producing professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Dr. Gary M. Kupfer is a professor of oncology and pediatrics at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University where he is a physician-scientist and directs a laboratory focused on cancer biology while maintaining a busy clinical practice, leading programs, and teaching. Gary is a board member of The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and Team Cancer America.
Dr. Marc Atkins is a prominent Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago holding key roles like Director of the Institute for Juvenile Research and focusing on children’s mental health, school-based services, and evidence-based practices, with extensive research published and cited globally.
