Dante James is an Emmy award-winning independent filmmaker. He heads the Hollywood Weekly Magazine film and TV production unit. His company, Black Pearl Media Works, is developing feature films and In Our Own Words, a series of short films based on short stories by Black writers. The Doll, adapted from a short story by Charles W. Chesnutt was the inspiration for the series. The Doll was awarded the best dramatic short film at the Hollywood Black Film Festival. BPMW is also developing Legacy, a Black church-based dramatic miniseries. BPMW is currently producing God of the Oppressed, a feature documentary exploring Black Liberation and Womanist Theology. Stories, characters, poetry, jazz, blues, hip-hop, and gospel music will frame a perspective of God within the context of gifted and resilient yet oppressed people. Bishop Henry McNeal Turner told his congregants, "God is a Negro." Nat Turner believed he "Was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty." The late Dr. James Cone, the author of the book GOD OF THE OPPRESSED, served as the chief academic adviser.
Past projects include executive producing for Blackside Films, the This Far by Faith, PBS series. James produced films for two earlier Blackside series that were honored with DuPont Columbia Awards. He received an Emmy for the PBS series, Slavery, and the Making of America, narrated by Morgan Freeman. He also received Emmys for his work at WETA-TV. His WNET documentary, Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story, was awarded best documentary at the Pan African International Film Festival in Cannes, France. James has a BS and D.H.L. Degrees from Grand Valley State University. His MALS Degree from Duke University included studying creative writing at Oxford University. In 2010, as an artist in residence at Duke, James spent the summer as a guest lecturer at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He plans to return to Cape Town to make a film with a Black South African photographer and resident of the Khayelitsha Township. www.blackpearlmw.com. Member of DGA & WGA