Feature Stories
Dante James, '76
Dante James is an award-winning independent filmmaker and an Artist in Residence at Duke University. He is also the owner of DMD Films, LLC, an independent production company based in Durham, North Carolina, and dedicated to telling stories of people, places, cultures, and issues that are misrepresented and/or underrepresented by mainstream media.
In 2006, James won a national Emmy for his work as series producer of
the critically acclaimed PBS documentary series, "Slavery and the
Making of America." He is also the recipient of two Washington,
DC regional Emmy awards.
His most recent
documentary, Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story, has screened at
film festivals worldwide and was awarded the best documentary at the
2010 Pan African International Film Festival in Cannes, France. In
2008 he wrote, produced, and directed the critically acclaimed
dramatic short film, The Doll, based on a short story by Charles W.
Chesnutt.
In 2003, for Blackside Films in Boston,
Massachusetts, he was an executive producer for the PBS series, This
Far by Faith. His earlier work at Blackside has been honored with the
Dupont Columbia Silver Baton. All told, James has been responsible for
over eighteen hours of PBS programming.
Dante James has a
Bachelor of Arts Degree from Grand Valley State University and a
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Duke University. In 2008 he was
awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Grand Valley State
University, following his earlier recognition as one of the
university’s Distinguished Alumni.
During the summer of
2010, he served as a guest lecturer at the University of Cape Town in
South Africa. He plans to return to Cape Town next year to make a film
with a black South African resident of the Khayelitsha Township. He is
currently developing an independent feature film that will be shot in
Michigan in 2011.
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