Clifford Pulliam, Micheaux Foundation Founder/CEO,
has been a “guerilla filmmaker” for 18 years. He is a
writer,
producer,
and music composer with a degree in Music Composition
from Howard University’s School of Fine Arts.
In
1988, after receiving a law degree from the University
of Southern California and after working in music
licensing for Paramount Pictures and litigation for
Columbia Pictures, he founded the Finesse MusicFilm
Company, a Los Angeles-based producer of low budget
films and musical scores. He has packaged films for
independent filmmakers, assisting in the raising of
capital, and in
music licensing.
Mr.
Pulliam witnessed a major disparity between the
financial opportunities afforded filmmakers of color
and white male filmmakers and he wished to create a
funding vehicle to assist under-represented filmmakers
of color who possess the talent, the vision, but no
access to capital. He relocated to the Washington,
D.C.-area in 1993 and founded a 501(c) 3 corporation,
honoring Oscar Micheaux and his vision for independent
film, while striving to establish Washington, D.C. as
an African American independent film mecca.
The
Micheaux Foundation is in the process of raising the
necessary capital so that independent filmmakers of
color, who have stories that are being ignored by
mainstream production and distribution channels, may
have an outlet to present their vision to the public.
We are developing workshops to train filmmakers in
some of the “micro-budget” techniques that Mr. Pulliam
has learned during his years in “guerilla independent
film production”.
As a
non-profit 501(c) 3, The Micheaux Foundation is
eligible to receive tax-deductible donations. As a
self-financed non-profit producer of independent film,
we are less concerned about the mass appeal of our
films. We believe that there is a market that is
starving for love stories, dramas,
and science fiction films featuring multicultural
casts.
