Michele Stephenson

Michele Stephenson

"As a Haitian born filmmaker and former human rights attorney, Michèle Stephenson brings a unique set of experiences to visual storytelling and documentary filmmaking. Her commitment to making personal human stories that are too often excluded from mainstream media is evident throughout her work. Stephenson has produced a number of critically acclaimed documentaries and narrative films on human rights and race relations.

"She has trained human rights activists from all over the world in video production and visual storytelling and produced award-winning video production guides for grassroots activists. Stephenson recently directed her first feature-length documentary, FACES OF CHANGE, which interweaves the lives of five individuals from five discriminated communities in different parts of the world. Stephenson trained these individuals to use a video camera and shoot their own stories at home and at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Along with her filmmaker husband, Joe Brewster, Stephenson is also currently co-directing THE DALTON EXPERIMENT, a feature length documentary about affirmative action at the prestigious Dalton School in New York City.

"In the traditition of Michael Apted’s longitudinal documentary work such as 42 UP, THE DALTON EXPERIMENT is an intimate portrait of three families of color attending the prestigious Dalton School and is scheduled to be shot over a twelve-year period. Stephenson’s credits include; THE KILLING ZONE (Lake Placid Film Forum Honorable Mention, 2002); THE KEEPER (Sundance Film Festival Competitive Section 1996, winner of the 1997 Black Filmmakers’ Hall of Fame); PLAY MAS (Best Documentary, Maafa Film Festival 2001); WITNESS VIDEO FOR CHANGE (Henry Hampton Human Rights Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, 2001)."