Activist Artists Management Hires Grant Pennel As Talent Manager, Signs ‘Io Capitano’ Star Moustapha Fall

EXCLUSIVE: Activist Artists Management has brought on Grant Pennel as a Talent Manager, also signing Moustapha Fall, the Senegalese actor who earned praise for his debut performance in Matteo Garrone’s Golden Globe-nominated Io Capitano.

Central to the Activist team that brought in Fall, Pennell is based in Activist’s West Hollywood office and reports to Founding Partner, Bernie Cahill, and Head of Film and Television Literary, Jon Kanak.

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“Grant is a great addition to our growing film and television division,” said Cahill in a statement to Deadline. “His drive and creativity have earned him early success with clients across multiple media formats – film, television, music, podcast, brand deals and more.”

Pennel joins from 111 Media, where he worked with talent from all corners of the globe, helping not only to secure opportunities on screen in film and television projects, but also brand/endorsement deals, podcast launches, and development across scripted and unscripted. Prior to that, he was a junior agent in the Crossover Talent department at ICM Partners, having started out in the agency’s mailroom.

Fluent in French, Italian, Wolof, and English, Fall was scouted from his local theatre and hand-selected by Palme d’Or winner Garrone for a co-lead role in Io Capitano, which won 13 awards in its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Selected as Italy’s official Oscar entry for Best International Feature, the film is described as a Homeric fairy tale chronicling the journey of two young boys, Seydou and Moussa, who leave Dakar to reach Europe. In addition to starring opposite Seydou Sarr as Moussa, the Italy-based Fall wrote and performed three original songs for the film.

Other notable clients of the full-service music and talent management firm Activist Artists Management, founded in 2018, include actors Ken Watanabe and David Alan Grier, screenwriter Terry Rossio, White Collar creator Jeff Eastin, the Oscar-winning media company Lion Forge Animation (Hair Love), and Human Rights Watch.

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