Magee McIlvaine

Self taught and creatively driven, Magee has chartered his own path of political and cultural exploration throughout the world with his chosen medium of documentary filmmaking. As co-creator of the ‘Democracy in Dakar’ and ‘Democracy in Paris' film projects, as well as two political documentaries in Venezuela, Magee worked with a team in the early years of YouTube to successfully explore the possibilities of combining grassroots community-based documentary filmmaking with independent digital releases. Through the process, he developed an extensive personal network of grassroots organizers and artist activists from around the world, with whom he continues to work with closely to shape creative multimedia projects that deliver an important message, lesson, or rallying call to action. Magee received much of his film training under the mentorship of award winning Director/Producer Scott Willis, including the opportunity to work on the critically acclaimed documentary The Woodmans, winner of an Emmy in 2011 through the PBS series Independent Lens. Since then, he has worked on several feature documentaries with topics ranging from campaign finance reform to youth development in the inner city. Recently, Magee had his directorial debut working on MTV's groundbreaking Rebel Music series. Having grown up between the US and several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, his personal experiences have helped shape and define his work, directing his focus on projects built around international collaborations. Today, he remains rooted in community-based filmmaking, working at the intersection of grassroots activism, and high production-value filmmaking in an effort to create beautiful, engaging, and meaningful art.