Who Is Mike D?

Michael Dennis: Finding The Stories Worth Telling

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Michael Dennis holds a BFA from NYU’s Film School and a Masters degree in Directing from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He has worked public relations for Bill Cosby, written a screenplay for Chris Rock and crewed on Jonathan Demme and Oprah Winfrey’s film of Beloved. He is in the process of developing Bring The Beat Back, a multi-part, multimedia history of Old School Rap Music in Philadelphia. Jazzyfatnastees: In Process was produced for WYBE-TV’s Philadelphia Stories series and has screened successfully at many venues and festivals since its Summer 2002 debut. It was awarded “Best Documentary” honors at the 2003 Cine Noir Film Festival in Wilmington, NC. His feature, Philly Boy: A Movie About MC Breeze was voted “Film of the Year” by the users of Phillyhiphop.com. His work has screened nationwide, including the Starz Denver Pan African Film Festival, the Hip Hop Film Festival (tour), and SE Manly Short Film Festival in Los Angeles. He was awarded the “Emerging Filmmaker Award” at this year’s Cine Noir Festival and will soon release a DVD anthology of his short films entitled, The Reelblack Motion Picture Manifesto.

Mr. Dennis has also written and directed several narrative shorts including Next Tuesday, which premiered in June as part of the third season of WYBE-TV’s Philadelphia Stories series. His Syncopation Studios produces documentaries and DVD Electronic Press Kits for other artists including Lady Alma, Jazmine Sullivan and Kindred The Family Soul. Mike also hosts a monthly film screening series in Philadelphia called Reelblack Presents. It’s goal is to develop and nurture an audience for an alternative African-American Cinema.

For printable versions of this bio, synopses of all current Reelblack projects and downloadable hi-res photos click here.