of the National Black Programming Consortium’s AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Michele Stephenson (Lead Producer/Director)
For over a decade Michèle Stephenson has produced non-fiction film and new media. She often uses her eclectic background and prior international experience as a human rights attorney to tackle stories on communities of color and human rights. As an early pioneer in the Web 2.0 revolution, Stephenson used video and the internet to structure human rights campaigns and train people from across the globe in video internet advocacy. Her work has appeared on PBS, Showtime, MTV and other broadcast, cable and digital outlets. Stephenson’s work has also screened at prestigious festivals, from Toronto and Sundance to the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland.
Stephenson and her work have received numerous international honors, including: The Sundance Documentary Fund Fellowship; The Ford Foundation; Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color, ADFF; Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary, ABFF; Diversity Award, SilverDocs International Documentary Film Festival; and the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media.
Grant Clark (Producer/Assistant Camera, and Audio Reporter) Grant Clark is an award-winning producer and journalist based in Washington, DC. He has extensive public broadcasting experience, having worked as a producer for the BBC, National Public Radio (NPR) and the South African Broadcasting Corp (SABC) in his native South Africa. Clark has produced award-winning documentaries on HIV/AIDS, urban education and the Hurricane Katrina disaster for cable TV network BET. As part of NBPC’s New Media Institute, he supervised emerging American and African filmmakers’ projects, on location in South Africa and Tanzania in 2007. His work has taken him to several West and southern African nations. Clark is currently working as an editor for NPR News in Washington.
Garland McLaurin (Cinematographer)
Garland McLaurin has worked in television and film industry for nine years in the United States and abroad. In South Africa he taught college level video shooting and editing courses to students eager to learn the filmmaking process. It was a life changing experience and upon returning to the United States he began producing short form documentaries on various social topics.
As producer/shooter/editor he has created over 200 short form documentaries the past three years. While producing for the American News Project his work was featured on: Current TV, thenation.com, Real News Network, mcclatchydc.com alternet.org michaelmoore.com washingtonindependent.com, GritTV with Laura Flanders. From working on the TV One series “Murder In Black and White” to producing online content for American News Project or National Geographic Daily News, Garland has developed a diverse body of production experience. Other projects he’s produced have aired on BET, Verizon Fios 1, NationalGeographic.com, TV One and Retirement Living Channel.
Sabrina Schmidt Gordon (Story/Edit), Producer, Director and Editor, has been committed to cultural and social issues documentary filmmaking for over a decade. Her editing debut garnered an Emmy for WGBH’s Greater Boston Arts series, and she has continued to distinguish herself as both a producer and editor, having worked on numerous award-winning documentaries for public television and cable. Among these is Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, a groundbreaking PBS documentary about manhood and gender politics in mainstream Hip Hop, on which she is co-producer and editor. Currently she is the co-producer and editor of Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter, the story of a young Malian’s mother’s quest to protect her daughter from female genital cutting. She is also the producer and director of 180 Days, which examines the NYC Teaching Fellows Program through the eyes of three new teachers during their first year in the public school system. Her commitment to social change extends to working with non-profit and grassroots organizations on media projects.