TCF Ep. 250 - Thomas Allen Harris

Thomas Allen Harris, an award-winning Director, is the President of Chimpanzee Productions, a company dedicated to producing unique audio-visual experiences including feature length films, performances and multimedia productions. Chimpanzee’s innovative and acclaimed films - Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2014), Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela (2005), E Minha Cara/That’s My Face (2001), VINTAGE – Families of Value (1995), - have received critical acclaim at international film festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, Frameline, FESPACO, Outfest, and Sithengi/Cape Town and have been broadcast on PBS, the Sundance Channel, ARTE, as well as CBC, Swedish broadcasting Network and New Zealand Television. Reviews of Harris’ work have appeared in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Jay Z’s Life and Times, Variety The Advocate, among others. 

Harris' performance-based videos have been featured at prestigious museums including: the MoMA, Whitney Museum of American Art’s Biennial, Corcoran Gallery, Reina Sophia, the Long Beach Museum of Art and London Institute of the Arts. A graduate of Harvard College, Harris began his career producing for public television, where he was nominated for two Emmy Awards.  Since then, he has received numerous awards including an Africa Movie Academy Award, Fund for Santa Barbara Social Justice Award, Tribeca All Access Nelson Mandela Award, United States Artist Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Rockefeller Fellowship, as well as CPB/PBS and Sundance Directors Fellowships. 

Harris has taught and lectured widely on film and multimedia and has served on a number of juries, including: Tribeca Film Festival, Independent Spirit Awards, POV American Documentary, and Full Frame.  In 2009 Harris launched Digital Diaspora Family Reunion, an innovative transmedia project that combines film, photography, social media and oral histories in a live touring event. Digital Diaspora has held 18 Roadshows in 9-cities, with over 800 participants, 3,000 live audience participants and received over 40,000 “Likes” and in excess of 10 million media impressions.

 

Resources:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odgHrU1T9a8

 

http://ibarionex.net/thecandidframe

 

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