About Us

​We are a team of seasoned university cinema professors, administrators,

film scholars, business professionals, and filmmakers committed to establishing a world-class graduate school in Los Angeles. We are centered on the Black experience, traditions, and arts, strategically located near Hollywood and its resources. With our new global vision for cinema education, we are excited to launch generations of Black filmmakers as transformative global leaders in cinema.

 

The Graduate School of Black Cinematic Arts (GSBCA) aims to counter what author and professor Chike Akua calls 'cultural amnesia', a state of not knowing who you are, where you came from, or how you got there. When we don’t know who we are, Akua says, we become someone else, acquire a foreign identity, embrace a foreign culture, and endorse a foreign history because we are blind to our own.

 

Until the lions have their own historians, the story of the hunt

will continue to glorify the hunter.  –African Proverb

 

We choose to locate GSBCA in South LA in the Leimert Park area, the Black Arts District of Los Angeles, a community that will care about and support our students while challenging and questioning their presumptions and visions. As the legendary filmmaker, Honorary Oscar recipient, and our Advisory Board member Charles Burnett says of South LA, “It’s important to be in an environment that encourages you.” There, he says, future filmmakers learn that “it’s not so much about entertaining as revealing the stories that ought to be told.”

 

Establishing an accredited institution of higher education is a daunting task! Our team brings experience, exposure, global relationships, wonder, and excitement to this great venture, but we cannot do it alone. We need your encouragement and support.

 

Empower GSBCA by spreading awareness, offering your talents, and donating to help open the doors of the Graduate School of Black Cinematic Arts. Our heartfelt thank you!