Rashaad Ernesto Green

Starting his career as an actor, Bronx native Rashaad Ernesto Green received a BA from Dartmouth College and a MFA from the NYU Graduate Acting Program.  After spending three years acting in theaters nationwide and working with directors like Spike Lee, Rashaad had the opportunity to work as a teacher in the South Bronx before turning his efforts behind the camera to tell stories.  He currently studies film at NYU's Graduate Film Program.  His first film, "The Can Collector," about a man who makes his living off the streets reliving his childhood dreams, was scored by a live orchestra through NYU's Steinhardt Program, and his documentary, "50 Shots," about the Sean Bell tragedy in New York, premiered at the Real Life Festival in Ghana this past June.  Rashaad recently returned from Tanzania where he shot a documentary following a group of high school students who studied literacy through drama and performance for the summer. The world premiere of "Premature" at the 2008 American Black Film Festival won the Grand Prize for Best Short Film in the HBO Short Film Competition. "Premature" follows the journey of a teenage girl who discovers she's pregnant.  Rashaad is currently working on his first feature "Gun Hill Road" which he will begin producing in fall 2009.