By Kam Williams
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Ruth Boyd and Doyle James, Dante James currently resides in Durham, North Carolina with his wife Delores, and his daughter Monika. An independent filmmaker, in June 2006 Dante began an appointment as an Artist-in-Residence instructor/filmmaker at Duke University. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Ruth Boyd and Doyle James, Danté James currently resides in Durham, North Carolina with his wife Delores, and his daughter Monika. An independent filmmaker, in June 2006 Danté began an appointment as an Artist-in-Residence instructor/filmmaker at Duke University.
For WNET's Great Performances, he is also developing a feature-length performance documentary on the evolution of Jazz in the Paris community of Montmatre. In June, 2008 he will produce and direct a dramatic film for his undergraduate alma mater, Grand Valley State University.
Mr. James was awarded an Emmy in 2006 for his work on the four-part, PBS series Slavery and The Making of America, narrated by Morgan Freeman. For WETA in Washington, DC, he produced and directed the national Emmy-nominated film, Marian Anderson. And he produced and directed, A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom, a 90-minute feature documentary.
Danté was recognized as distinguished alumnus by Grand Valley State in 1994, and in December 2007 the university awarded him an honorary PhD. In addition, he has a Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies Degree from Duke University.
James has served as a funding review panelist for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Black Programming Consortium, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a member of both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.
KW: Hey, Dante, how ya' been?
DJ: I'm fine Kam and I thank you for your interest in my latest film. Too often films of this nature draw very little if any media attention.
KW: Has everything settled down at Duke and in Durham now that the lacrosse team controversy is behind you?
DJ: On the surface, things are back to normal but, unfortunately, both the university and some of the professors who had the courage to confront the issue are dealing with various lawsuits.
KW: How have you been spending your time on campus as Artist-in-Residence?
DJ: First of all, I really enjoy teaching and interacting with students. In the Fall, I teach for the Center for Documentary Studies and, in the Spring, I move over to the Film/Video/Digital Program. So my Fall class addresses non-fiction documentary filmmaking and the Spring class is generally grounded in narrative fiction filmmaking. But being at Duke is very similar to all of my past production efforts. In all of my productions I always have student interns. Students bring a special energy to productions. They see possibilities, where some people who have been in production for a number of years see limitations. I'm not saying that all of the students' possibilities become reality, but their energy and fresh ideas make an important contribution to every film that I make.
KW: What interested in you turning The Doll into a short film?
DJ: A couple of summers ago, when I was working on my masters, I did an independent study in African-American Literature. I was drawn to the work of Langston Hughes and Charles W. Chesnutt. I read every short story they had written. But The Doll, written by Chesnutt and published in 1904, really resonated with me because of the work that I had recently completed on the Slavery and the Making of America series. One of the things that was important to the slavery series was to go beyond Emancipation and the Reconstruction Era so that viewers could gain a better understanding of the legacy of slavery. The Doll was a dramatic fiction story that addressed the legacy of slavery and much more.
KW
