A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Joe Brewster is an American psychiatrist and filmmaker who directs and produces fiction films, documentaries and new media focused on the experiences of communities of color. With partner Michèle Stephenson he founded Rada Studio to tell stories about communities that have been neglected by the mainstream media and contribute to the American narrative mosaic. Together, while raising a family in Brooklyn, New York, Brewster and Stephenson have directed and produced documentary and fiction films. In 2008, they directed Slaying Goliath, a documentary that follows 10 days in the life of their son's fifth grade basketball team from Harlem, New York as they experience culture clash at a national tournament in suburban Florida. Brewster and Stephenson also produced and directed Faces of Change, which follows five activists on five continents fighting racism in their communities.
Co-Producer:
2003 The Killing Zone
Director:
1995 The Keeper
2003 The Killing Zone
2008 Slaying Goliath
2013 American Promise
2015 A Conversation About Growing Up Black
2015 A Conversation with Black Women on Race
2018 The Changing Same
2019 Drawn to the Mat
2021 Decolonizing Mental Health
2021 Learning to Breathe
2021 The Changing Same - Episode 1: The Dilemma
2023 Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games
2023 Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
???? Freddie Gray Documentary
Executive Producer:
1995 The Keeper
2003 The Killing Zone
2008 Slaying Goliath
2013 American Promise
2015 A Conversation About Growing Up Black
2015 A Conversation with Black Women on Race
2018 The Changing Same
2019 Drawn to the Mat
2020 Stateless
2021 Decolonizing Mental Health
2021 Learning to Breathe
2021 The Changing Same - Episode 1: The Dilemma
2023 Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games
2023 Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
???? Freddie Gray Documentary
Producer:
1995 The Keeper
2003 The Killing Zone
2006 Faces of Change
2008 Slaying Goliath
2010 Coming Home: The Dry Storm
2013 American Promise
2015 A Conversation About Growing Up Black
2015 A Conversation with Black Women on Race
2015 A Conversation with White People on Race
2016 A Mother's Dream
2018 The Changing Same
2019 Drawn to the Mat
2020 Stateless
2021 Decolonizing Mental Health
2021 Elena
2021 Learning to Breathe
2021 The Changing Same - Episode 1: The Dilemma
2023 Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games
2023 Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
2024 The Age of Water
???? Freddie Gray Documentary
Writer:
1995 The Keeper
2003 The Killing Zone
2006 Faces of Change
2008 Slaying Goliath
2010 Coming Home: The Dry Storm
2013 American Promise
2015 A Conversation About Growing Up Black
2015 A Conversation with Black Women on Race
2015 A Conversation with White People on Race
2016 A Mother's Dream
2018 The Changing Same
2019 Drawn to the Mat
2020 Stateless
2021 Decolonizing Mental Health
2021 Elena
2021 Learning to Breathe
2021 The Changing Same - Episode 1: The Dilemma
2023 Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games
2023 Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
2024 The Age of Water
???? Freddie Gray Documentary
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.