Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story

In 2005 Dante James produced and directed Slavery and The Making of America, which was shown on PBS. His film Harlem in Montmartre appeared on Great Performances. He has also produced an acclaimed documentary about the legendary singer Marian Anderson, and a film about A. Phillip Randolph. Dante’s most recent film, The Doll, a dramatic short, 2008, won several awards at film festivals, including the Hollywood Black Film Festival. In addition to Dante James’ film production work, he is currently teaching at Duke University.

Charles Hobson is both the founder of Vanguard Documentaries and executive producer of Harlem in Montmartre. Hobson is an Emmy award winner who has worked for ABC, BBC, PBS, Fox Five, and WNBC. The films he produced include: From Jump Street: the History of Black Music; Porgy and Bess: An American Voice; and Like It Is. Hobson is a Fulbright scholar who has developed co-productions in the UK, Germany, France, and the Caribbean. He was the senior vice president for international co-productions at WETA TV in Washington DC.

Margaret Smilow has been producing award-winning films on international culture and arts since 1979. Her projects with Alternate Current, the company she founded in 1979 include the highly acclaimed series Music for the Movies, a collection of films on the art and craft of scoring music for feature films. The first film in the series, Bernard Hermann was nominated for an Academy Award in 1992. Other works include: Musicals Great Musicals: The Arthur Freed Unit at MGM; Dashiell Hammett. Detective. Writer.; Busby Berkeley: Going Through The Roof; and Isamu Noguchi: The Sculpture of Spaces. Her most recent film, Patti Smith: Dream of Life, premiered in 2009 on P.O.V.