L. A. Rebellion:
Haile Gerima:
Director, Producer, Writer, and Editor for Bush Mama (1975), Cinematography by Charles Burnett, featuring actress Barbara O. Jones.

Professor to Arthur Jafa, Malik Sayeed, Bradford Youn, and Jenn Nkiru

Charles Burnett:
Director, Producer, Writer, and Editor for Several Friends (1969), Linked through Jenn Nkiru‘s Vimeo

Jenn Nkiru presents: Several Friends by Charles Burnett from 4:3 on Vimeo.

Larry Clark:
Cinematographer for Hour Glass, Directed and Written by Haile Gerima


Passing Through – Biggest Inspiration for Arthur Jafa quote:

Julie Dash:
Director, Producer, and Writer for Daughters of the Dust (1991), Cinematography and Production by Arthur Jafa, featuring actress Barbara O. Jones

Director, Producer, Editor for The Diary of an African Nun (1977), featuring actress Barbara O. Jones

Director, Producer, Writer, and Editor for Illusions (1982), Edited by Charles Burnett

Howard Filmmakers:

Arthur Jafa:
Co-founder of TNEG with Malik Sayeed and Curator Elissa Blount-Moorhead in 2014. Their mission states “TNEG is a motion picture studio whose goal is to create a black cinema as culturally, socially, and economically central to 21st century as was black music to the 20th century.”

Director and Producer of Dreams are Colder than Death (2014), Cinematography by Malik Sayeed, Produced by Kahlil Joseph.

Director of Jay-Z‘s music video 4:44

Cinematographer for Crooklyn (1994), directed by Spike Lee.

Cinematographer for Seven Songs for Malcolm(1993), Directed and Written by John Akomfrah, founding member of The Black Audio Film Collective

Malik Sayeed:
Director of Photography for Beyoncé‘s Formation

Cinematographer for The Original Kings of Comedy, directed by Spike Lee.

Bradford Young:
Andrew Dosunmu directed Mother of George, worked with Young on Restless City and has also worked with Jafa and Sayeed. He notes that as divergent as they are in visual style, they share a philosophical sensibility.

Inspired by Spike Lee, Arthur Jafa, Ernest Dickerson, and Julie Dash, he says “I really didn’t even discover what filmmaking was until I turned 18 and went away to college. Before that, we’d all as a family go see the newest and latest Spike Lee film…” (The Verge).

Jenn Nkiru:
En Vogue – Directed by Jenn Nkiru, Cinematography by Bradford Young and Arthur Jafa.

EN VOGUE (FULL SHORT) DIRECTED BY JENN NKIRU from Jenn Nkiru on Vimeo.

Worked with Beyoncé and Jay-Z as Second Unit Director for Apeshit.

Inspired by Charles Burnett, Kahlil Joseph, and professor Haile Gerima