ALIGN PICTURES US - Key Persons
Adrian is the Co-Founder and previous CEO of Umedia (2004-2019) where he grew the group organically with Nadia Khamlichi from a modest 3 person organization into the $100M+ turnover international film group with 200 staff. In 2020, he sold his stake in Umedia.
Politowski worked as a producer on over 450 films including such hits as the multi Academy Award winning THE ARTIST, GOOD LUCK TO YOU LEO GRANDE, MANDY, HBO's, MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, Paramount's PAWS OF FURY, SEVEN SISTERS (What Happened to Monday), GRACE OF MONACO, THE MUSTANG, YVES SAINT LAURENT to name a few. His films have garnered 25 Official Cannes Selection, 11 Oscar Nominations (5 wins) and 77 nominations (22 wins) at the French César Awards.
Adrian also sits on the Board of Directors of publicly traded VFX/gaming company Goodbye Kansas, as well as cutting edge medical company Nordic Executive Medicine and sits on the Advisory Board of WIFTI (Women in Film and TV International).
He holds Masters in Engineering and a Masters in Economics, both from Oxford University. He splits his time between Los Angeles, Brussels and Stockholm.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of Production
After starting his career at Disney in France, Martin Metz joined Umedia in 2008 where he worked on films such as THE ARTIST, ME MYSELF AND MUM and YVES SAINT LAURENT. His first film as producer, I KILL GIANTS premiered at TIFF in 2017 and he quickly followed with MANDY which opened in Sundance and went on to the Director's Fortnight in Cannes in 2018. Martin then joined Align as the team's SVP of Production where he helped the company board projects such as Searchlight's GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE, Paramount's PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK and the upcoming 10 LIVES. At Align he utilizes his vast knowledge of film financing both in the domestic and international marketplace with his many years of production experience to lead the team on all productions.
Nadia has been co-CEO of the Umedia since its creation. Originally, she was more specifically taking care of Brussels and Paris offices, supervising Umedia's fundraising operations and investments in Belgium as well as managing the French production company and the visual effects activity. As of 2019, with Adrian stepping down as co-CEO of Umedia, Nadia fully leads the 200 person organisation.
Natalie Corbin began her career as a Development Intern for both Umedia and Harbinger Pictures in 2017. After graduating college from The University of Georgia, she joined the Align team as the Executive Assistant in 2019, before moving to the role of Coordinator in 2021. Throughout her time at Align, Natalie has been an integral part of the production and legal team, seeing projects through from onboarding to distribution.
Nessa McGill - Chief Commercial Officer
Nessa McGill has worked as a lawyer specializing in film in television since 2002. She previously worked for a top 20 global law firm as head of their film and television unit based in the City of London. She specializes in the media industry, with particular emphasis all aspects of film and television production, financing and distribution. She also has considerable experience in other areas of content production including advertising, advertiser funded programming, sponsorship and product placement. Before joining Align, Nessa acted as Head of Legal at the Umedia Group and previous to that while in private practice, represented major studios, financial institutions, and leading production companies throughout the UK, the US, and Europe. She has also represented a number of government agencies throughout her career.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Production
Sierra Garcia began her career at Harbinger Pictures, the boutique production company behind the multi-academy award nominated THE HELP. It was there she worked to grow the development team and slate, bringing several projects to the screen including WALKING OUT the Matt Bomer and Bill Pullman survival thriller that premiered at Sundance Film. From Harbinger Sierra joined Umedia in 2017 where she worked on MANDY the Nicolas Cage thriller that premiered at Sundance and Cannes respectively. In 2018 she joined the Align team as the VP of Production, where she has worked to bring on board such films as Searchlight Pictures GOOD LUCK TO YOU LEO GRANDE and Paramount's PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK. Outside of Align she has melded her love for movie making with her strong desire to support women and poc in the entertainment industry through her work as a Co-Founder of The Lost Girls, a women in entertainment networking collective and as an Evolve mentor through Eric Garcetti and Ava Duvernay's Evolve Entertainment Fund.