The future of film is
black stories, queer voices, and women-led narratives
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Meet The Crew
Allie Morgan
Founder
Allie is a writer, director, and producer from Madison, WI. She studied Entertainment Business at Los Angeles Film School and Screenwriting at New York Film Academy. She has written and directed several award-winning short films since beginning her journey as a filmmaker in 2020. She created Muffy Film Productions because she is passionate about telling stories for marginalized communities and she is excited to keep creating her own stories as well as helping other people tell theirs.
Mariana Duncan
Co Founder
Mariana is a producer, writer, and director based in Chicago. She studied communications and video production at Columbia College Chicago which helped her filmmaking career truly begin in 2021. Since then, Mariana has produced several short films and has worked throughout Chicago's independent film scene in various roles, deepening her passion and love of filmmaking.
Mariana's several years of experience and growth as a creative has taught her that what she feels is most important is telling stories of marginalized communities with representation both in front of and behind the camera.
She is so happy to be a part of Muffy Film Productions and is excited to continue to create and carry on the company's important mission.
Angel Sturdivant
Creative Director
Angel Sturdivant is a Producer and Content Creator from Chicago. She has been in the film industry for four years and has been creating makeup content for five. She has served as an Assistant Director on at least five films and hopes to expand her work even further. Angel enjoys creating makeup content on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
Working in film has allowed her to build meaningful connections with a diverse range of people. She believes it is important to leave a positive impact in every space she is welcomed into. Angel is excited to see what 2026 holds for the production company.
Sydney Hart
Head of Production
Sydney V. Hart is an award-winning Creative Director, Writer, Producer and Filmmaker. A leader of visual stories for companies and brands nationwide, her leadership has garnered millions of views, and even larger social impact. She has collaborated with industry powerhouses like Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Spotify, Disney and PBS. Sydney’s work in cross-sector industries of local media, non-profit, and entertainment spaces earned her a Webby nomination and several Anthem Awards.
Most recently, Sydney was accepted into the 2025 Filmmaker’s Mixtape cohort, an initiative for Chicago-based filmmakers to make a no-budget short film every month for an entire year. As of 2026, she will have completed directing 12 short films, spanning drama, comedy and documentary storytelling. Through programs like this, along with her corporate and freelance work, Sydney has led dozens of creatives across multiple states, and her work has been screened at the Chicago Cultural Center, in collaboration with Open Television (OTV).
Sydney continues to dedicate her creative endeavors to finding the story in everything, and re-imagining how marginalized experiences take shape on screen. She is eager to welcome future projects such as films, music videos, branded content, live events, and creative campaigns.
Jonael Leon Guerrero
Creative Producer
Jonael Leon Guerrero is a Pacific Islander producer and screenwriter. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Television from Columbia College Chicago. There, she began as a production designer and gradually transitioned to producing. Jonael has worked on numerous indie short films, including The Love Doctor's Apprentice and Fundraiser. She is a strong advocate for Pacific Islanders and focuses on making stories of the underrepresented.
Destinee Bates
Director of Creative Partnerships
Destinee Bates is an artist, film programming curator, and cultural communicator whose work is rooted in Black feminist aesthetics and the transformative power of self-representation. Her practice centers the interior lives, worldbuilding, and creative sovereignty of Black women, drawing on traditions of embodied knowledge, ancestral memory, and the everyday poetics that shape Black expressive culture. She creates work that refuses flattening narratives, foregrounding instead the complexity, care, and ritual that sustain Black life.
As the new Director of Creative Partnerships at Muffy Film Productions, Destinee brings a deep commitment to cultivating artistic ecosystems where filmmakers, communities, and stories can meet each other with intention. She is passionate about nurturing spaces that honor nuance, expand who gets to tell our cultural histories, and imagine futures where art remains a site of liberation.
Emily Shetterly
Event Coordinator
Emily Shetterly is an event coordinator from Elkhart, Indiana. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame where she studied studio art and art history. She has worked in the wedding industry for four years and is excited to bring together her events experience with her love of film. Emily is also a painter, an improviser, and an avid movie goer. She’s excited to join the team and continue finding ways to connect creativity across different mediums!