Directing
Louis Massiah
Known for
Directing
Credits
5 titles
Louis Massiah is a documentary filmmaker and the founder of the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia, He has developed production methodologies that assist first time makers author their own stories, including the Precious Places Community History project, a collection of 150 documentaries; Muslim Voices of Philadelphia; The Great Migration - A City Transformed and The Tenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets.. Massiah’s documentaries, include The Bombing of Osage Avenue, W.E.B. Du Bois – A Biography in Four Voices, Cecil B. Moore, two films for the Eyes on the Prize II series, A is for Anarchist, B is for Brown and TCB – the Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing.
Known for
NRDescribes the confrontation between Philadelphia Police and members of the MOVE organization on Mother's Day, 1985, which left 11 men, women and children members of MOVE dead and 61 homes destroyed by fire. The events are situated in the history of Blacks in Philadelphia, the MOVE organization, and the Cobbs Creek neighborhood. All this is explored through historical photographs, interviews and footage of the confrontation and its resulting hearings.
The Bombing of Osage Avenue
1986
10.0TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing is a biography of the influential writer Toni Cade Bambara, whose literary works and film collaborations were a catalyzing force in 20th century cultural and political movements. The documentary is made up of stories shared by friends and colleagues including Toni Morrison, Nikky Finney and Haile Gerima.
TCB - The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing
2025
NRTenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets is a collection of stories about the inhabitants of a land, specifically the Black community of North Philadelphia in the 20th century, an epicenter of African American social, cultural and political life both locally and nationally. The place of the documentary is a portion of the original homeland of the Lenape between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers and the stories told cover an age of industry shaped by developing electromagnetic technology. Featured oral history narrators include Chief Robert Redhawk Ruth, Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter, Rev. Joseph Williams, Cecily Moore Banks, Elaine Brown, David Litofsky, Dr. John Churchville, Rev. Frank Tyson, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Karen Warrington. Their life stories are animated by photos from the archive of photographer John W. Mosely.
Tenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets
2026
Louise Alone Thompson Patterson, is very much an expository documentary, coupled with animation. It is also a film of discovery and centering of Black life. It is a non-fiction film, driven by a very external monologue, with the images largely created through digital animation.” —Louis Massiah
Louise Alone Thompson Patterson: In Her Own Words
2002
Eyes on the Prize recounts the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation. It is the story of the people - young and old, male and female, northern and southern - who, compelled by a meeting of conscience and circumstance, worked to eradicate a world where whites and Blacks could not go to the same school, ride the same bus, vote in the same election, or participate equally in society.
Eyes on the Prize: Part II
1990
Behind the camera
NRDescribes the confrontation between Philadelphia Police and members of the MOVE organization on Mother's Day, 1985, which left 11 men, women and children members of MOVE dead and 61 homes destroyed by fire. The events are situated in the history of Blacks in Philadelphia, the MOVE organization, and the Cobbs Creek neighborhood. All this is explored through historical photographs, interviews and footage of the confrontation and its resulting hearings.
The Bombing of Osage Avenue
1986
10.0TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing is a biography of the influential writer Toni Cade Bambara, whose literary works and film collaborations were a catalyzing force in 20th century cultural and political movements. The documentary is made up of stories shared by friends and colleagues including Toni Morrison, Nikky Finney and Haile Gerima.
TCB - The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing
2025
NRTenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets is a collection of stories about the inhabitants of a land, specifically the Black community of North Philadelphia in the 20th century, an epicenter of African American social, cultural and political life both locally and nationally. The place of the documentary is a portion of the original homeland of the Lenape between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers and the stories told cover an age of industry shaped by developing electromagnetic technology. Featured oral history narrators include Chief Robert Redhawk Ruth, Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter, Rev. Joseph Williams, Cecily Moore Banks, Elaine Brown, David Litofsky, Dr. John Churchville, Rev. Frank Tyson, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Karen Warrington. Their life stories are animated by photos from the archive of photographer John W. Mosely.
Tenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets
2026
Louise Alone Thompson Patterson, is very much an expository documentary, coupled with animation. It is also a film of discovery and centering of Black life. It is a non-fiction film, driven by a very external monologue, with the images largely created through digital animation.” —Louis Massiah
Louise Alone Thompson Patterson: In Her Own Words
2002
Eyes on the Prize recounts the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation. It is the story of the people - young and old, male and female, northern and southern - who, compelled by a meeting of conscience and circumstance, worked to eradicate a world where whites and Blacks could not go to the same school, ride the same bus, vote in the same election, or participate equally in society.
Eyes on the Prize: Part II
1990
