James E. Hinton

James E. Hinton
Born	James E. Hinton Jr. (1936-11-21)November 21, 1936 Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
Died	February 19, 2006(2006-02-19) (aged 69) Bronx, New York City, USA
Education	Howard University
Occupation	Filmmaker

James E. Hinton (sometimes credited as Jim Hinton) was an American filmmaker and photographer. He was known as a documentarian of the civil rights movement; he worked on more than 70 documentaries as a cinematographer and director; but, Hinton is most especially known for his groundbreaking cinematography on the cult film Ganja & Hess . ^{[1] [2]} He founded his own production company—James E. Hinton Enterprises—in 1971. He directed and lensed a number of commercial, industrial, and educational films; a set of films for the National Endowment for the Arts; a set of films for the U.S. Department of Labor; and TV documentaries. ^{[3] [4]} Hinton's work was included in the 2025 exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985 at the National Gallery of Art. ^[5]

Select filmography

• Identity Crisis (1989) (cinematographer, co-producer)
• Greased Lightning (1977) (associate producer)
• Ganja & Hess (1973) (cinematographer)
• Don't Play Us Cheap (1973) (second unit director)

References

1. "The James E. Hinton Collection - Harvard Film Archive". library.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
2. Saxon, Wolfgang (2006-02-23). "James E. Hinton, Chronicler in Pictures of 1960's Turbulence, Dies at 69". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-04-07.
3. Ltd, Earl G. Graves (1978). Black Enterprise. Earl G. Graves, Ltd.
4. Jackson, Chuck (2018). "The Touch of the "First" Black Cinematographer in North America: James E. Hinton, Ganja & Hess, and the NEA Films at the Harvard Film Archive" . Black Camera. 10 (1): 67–95. doi:10.2979/blackcamera.10.1.04. ISSN   1536-3155.
5. Brookman, Philip; Willis, Deborah (2025). Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955-1985. New Haven London: Yale University Press. p. 258. ISBN   9780300283501.

External links

• James E. Hinton at IMDb  
• Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: James E. Hinton photographs and papers, 1954-2006 ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
• James E. Hinton’s Unseen Films Reframe the Black Power Movement The New Yorker September 25, 2020