Filmmaker Daniel E. Williams: A Retrospective

About Daniel E. Williams 

Daniel E. Williams received his Bachelor of Arts in 1991 from Howard University and continued directly into the graduate film program. As a student, Williams was honored with a number of awards from such notable organizations as Eastman Kodak, Paramount Studios, and the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities.  His short film Coffee (aka Woman and Man) received a Community Appreciation award from the National Black Programming Consortium and was named Best Experimental Short in 1998 from The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.  In 2000, he won Best of Show at the Washington, DC Rosebud Film & Video Festival for his film A Thousand Days a Year, in which he also served as cinematographer.  His films have screened at the Kennedy Center and the Hirshorn Museum in Washington, DC, the European Media Art Festival in Osnabruk, Germany, the International Student Film Festival in Tel Aviv, the St. Louis Filmmakers’ Showcase, Juneteenth Atlanta Film Showcase, the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival in San Francisco, the San Francisco Black Film Festival, and the Black Harvest Film Festival in Chicago.  An earlier version of Williams’ first feature, Cigarettes for Breakfast was an official selection of the 2008 American Black Film Festival and the 12th Annual Urban World Film Festival.  In 2019, Williams was awarded a prestigious production grant from the Gene Siskel Film Center to produce the short film Play Day for the 25th anniversary of the Black Harvest Film Festival. In addition to making his own films and occasionally working as a cinematographer, Williams is also an Associate Professor of film at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Event Schedule 

Friday, October 4 - "A THOUSAND DAYS A YEAR" film screening 

Saturday, October 5 - STAGES OF LIFE - Part Two (Redux) 

                                             COFFEE

                                              TEA

                                             SOLACE 

                                             PLAY DAY 

                                             I AM KINLOCH 

                                             SADness film screening

   Followed by a discussion and a Q & A with directors Daniel Williams and Haile Gerima 

Sunday, October 6 -    CIGARETTES FOR BREAKFAST: The Visual Music Soundtrack film screening

 A Film by Daniel E. Williams

                                              Music Composed by -  David J. White

                                             Performed by -  David J. White and Edge Theory

                                             Followed by Live Music from David J. White and Edge Theory

                                             and a Q & A with directors Daniel Williams and Haile Gerima 

All donations go toward the completion of Haile Gerima's upcoming 5 part documentary film, "BLACK LIONS - ROMAN WOLVES"

About Positive Productions Inc.

Positive Productions, Inc. (PPI) is a 501(3)c non-profit organization whose mandate is the perpetuation of Black independent voices through the ever-dynamic art of filmmaking. PPI acts as an on-going link between the independent Black filmmaker and his/her audience through training, exhibitions, and workshops. Our very grass roots involvement focuses on building appreciation for the role of culture in shaping our behavior and our future and the power and responsibility that bestows upon artists. PPI is thereby creating critical audiences while simultaneously developing critical filmmakers.

Positive Productions’ work is grounded in the idea that an awareness of culture is a necessity for one to live in the fullness of their humanity. Everyone arrives in this world by means of a journey, a long intergenerational legacy of experience, tradition and memory. For people of color in the Americas who have known displacement and exploitation, that legacy is often fragmented. However, we believe that the possession of memory and knowledge of one’s own past is the right of every person.

See you there!