Louis J. Massiah is an American documentary filmmaker,

MacArthur Prize The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

winner, and community activist who has worked with Philadelphians to develop filmmaking skills and to access media resources in order to record their own stories. He graduated from Cornell University with a B.A., and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an M.S. in documentary filmmaking. He has been an artist-in-residence and on faculty at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, Princeton University, Ithaca College, the University of Pennsylvania,

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...

, and most recently at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

and Temple University. He is the founder and executive director of the Scribe Video Center, a media arts center providing educational workshops for community groups and emerging independent media makers. Since 2005 he has served as executive producer of ''Precious Places'', a Philadelphia video history project that tells histories of the city's communities as a collection short films conceived and produced by community members. With funding from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, he also directed a community film history project in 2014 called ''Muslim Voices of Philadelphia'', which explored the history of Philadelphia's diverse Muslim communities (including Sufis, Sunnis, the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...

, the

Ahmadis Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

, the

Moorish Science Temple of America The Moorish Science Temple of America is an American national and religious organization founded by Noble Drew Ali (born as Timothy Drew) in the early twentieth century. He based it on the premise that African Americans are descendants of the Moa ...

, and others) through a series of short films. Discussing the goals and achievement of the Scribe Video Center in a program for the

Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) is an annual multi-arts, interdisciplinary, cross media festival in Ithaca, New York, dedicated to showcasing global media projects focusing on issues pertaining to sustainability. History The Fin ...

(FLEFF) in 2020, Massiah described it as an effort of "participatory community video", which responded to issues such as gentrification and low-income housing shortages while aiming to develop new understandings of place and history, new visions of what the community can be, and new plans for civic engagement. He noted that he had worked with UNICEF to establish similar programs in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and Jamaica.

Awards

* 1996

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

* 1990, 1996 Tribeca Film Institute Fellow * 2009 Fleisher Founder's Award

Filmography

*''The Bombing of Osage Avenue'' (producer/director), 1986 *''Power!'' (co-producer/writer/director), 1990 *''A Nation of Law?'' (co-producer/writer/director), 1990 *''W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices'', 1996 *''Louise Thompson Patterson: In Her Own Words'', 1996. A short film about activist

Louise Thompson Patterson Louise Alone Thompson Patterson (September 9, 1901 – August 27, 1999) was a prominent American Activism, social activist and college professor. Patterson's early experiences of isolation and persecution on the West Coast had a profound impact on ...

"Louise Alone Thompson Patterson: In Her Own Words"
Scribe Video Center.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Massiah, Louis American filmmakers Cornell University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni City College of New York faculty Princeton University faculty Haverford College faculty MacArthur Fellows Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Friends Select School alumni Artists from Philadelphia