Maya Angelou was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
Morgan Valentine Spurlock was an American documentary filmmaker, writer, and television producer. He directed 23 films and was the producer of nearly 70 films throughout his career. Spurlock received acclaim for directing the documentary Super Size Me (2004), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. He produced What Would Jesus Buy? (2007) and directed Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? (2008), POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011), Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope (2011), and One Direction: This Is Us (2013).
Ahmir K. Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American drummer, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman for the hip-hop band the Roots. The Roots have been serving as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since 2014, after having fulfilled the same role on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Questlove is also one of the producers of the 2015 cast album of the Broadway musical Hamilton. He has also co-founded of the websites Okayplayer and OkayAfrica. He joined Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University as an adjunct professor in 2016, and hosts the podcast Questlove Supreme.
Jeffrey Leib Nettler Zimbalist is an American filmmaker. He has been Academy Award shortlisted, has won a Peabody, a DuPont, 5 Emmy Awards with 17 Emmy nominations. He is the owner of film and television production company All Rise Films.
Nelson George is an American author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Jeff Alulis, known professionally as Jeff Penalty, is a writer, filmmaker, and musician, known mainly for his documentary work and his position as a former lead singer of Dead Kennedys.
Khnum Muata Ibomu, better known by his stage name stic.man and more recently as stic, is an American rapper, activist and author known for his work as one half of the political hip hop duo dead prez with M-1.
500 Years Later is a 2005 independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah and written by M. K. Asante, Jr. It has won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary, including the UNESCO "Breaking the Chains" award. It has won other awards including Best Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, Best Documentary at the Bridgetown Film Festival in Barbados, Best Film at the International Black Cinema Film Festival in Berlin, and Best International Documentary at the Harlem International Film Festival in New York.
Kiri Laurelle Davis is an American filmmaker based in New York City. Her first documentary, A Girl Like Me (2005), made while enrolled at Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, received significant news coverage.
Amma Asante is a British filmmaker, screenwriter, former actress, and Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts, who was born in London, England, to parents from Ghana. Her love for the film industry started when she received her first role in BBC's children's television drama series Grange Hill. Asante wrote and produced the 1998 BBC Two television series Brothers and Sisters, starring David Oyelowo. She was a childhood friend of model Naomi Campbell, whom she met when they were seven years old.
The Black Candle is a documentary film about Kwanzaa directed by M. K. Asante and narrated by Maya Angelou. The film premiered on cable television on Starz on November, 2012.
Treva Etienne is an English actor and filmmaker.
dream hampton is an American filmmaker, producer, and writer. Her work includes the 2019 Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, which she executive produced, and the 2012 An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, on which she served as co-executive producer. She co-wrote Jay-Z's 2010 memoir Decoded.
Buck is a memoir by MK Asante, published by Random House/Spiegel & Grau. Buck tells the story of MK's youth growing up in Philadelphia from the perspective of MK as a teenager. Buck illustrates Asante's struggles with the disintegration of his family and the city's urban decay. Buck is often described as inspirational because it details Asante's discovery of his talent for writing at 16 and his decision to pursue it as a career. The paperback edition of Buck made The Washington Post Bestseller List in 2014 and 2015.
Claudio Pelissero is an Italian music composer and producer of original soundtracks for film and television and, under the pseudonym Claud9, of electronic music. In 2000, he composed the original soundtrack for the motion picture Venti winning the award for the best original score at the Brooklyn International Film Festival. In 2013 he composed the original theme for the ESPN Broadcast Open NBA Finals and the original soundtrack for the documentary, All I Can, produced by Sherpas Cinema. He is the composer of two famous electronic compositions "Cygnes" and "Rain" released by Armada Music and Black Hole Recordings and are part of two popular and best seller compilation albums : "Cygnes" - A State of Trance 2008 and "Rain" - Toronto '09. The composition "Cygnes" is also included in the soundtrack of the bestseller video game Forza Motorsport 3. In 2010 he composed the original soundtrack for the film, Maledimiele presented at the Venice Film Festival. In 2013 his composition "Transformations" is used for the promotional trailer of Beyoncé world tour Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.
Morgan Neville is an American film producer, director, and writer. His acclaimed film 20 Feet from Stardom won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014 as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. His documentary Best of Enemies, on the debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, was shortlisted for the 2016 Academy Award and won an Emmy Award. His 2018 film Won't You Be My Neighbor?, a documentary about Fred Rogers, received critical acclaim and became the highest-grossing biographical documentary of all time.
Buck: Original Book Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the book Buck: A Memoir by MK Asante. The soundtrack, presented by Javotti Media and produced by Wonderful Sound Studios, was released digitally for online download (free) on May 13, 2015, one year to date after the release of the paper book release of Buck: A Memoir.
Talib Kweli Greene is an American rapper. He earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with solo success including collaborations with producers and rappers Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Pharrell Williams. In 2011, Kweli founded his own record label, Javotti Media.
Peter Gwynne Morgan is a Welsh television and film writer/producer. A winner of the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming for his work on Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, he is married to American documentary director Marina Zenovich.
Nephew: A Memoir in Four-Part Harmony is a memoir by MK Asante, published by HarperCollins/Amistad Press in May 2024. It is an epistolary memoir written to Asante's nephew, Nasir, who was shot nine times and survived.
