Jamal Joseph is a full Professor of Professional Practice and former chair of Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program.  He is the Executive Artistic Director of New Heritage Theater and Films and the Founder of the acclaimed Impact Repertory Youth Theater of Harlem.  He is an alum of the Sundance Directing Lab and the Third World Newsreel Film and Video Workshop.  He serves on the advisory boards of the Tribeca Film Institute, Imagination, the Ghetto Film School, and the Maysles Film Institute.

Jamal credits his time spent in the Black Panther Party and Leavenworth Federal Prison as the fire-forged his creative sword.  While in prison he earned two college degrees, wrote five plays, two volumes of poetry, and founded a groundbreaking theater company that brought prisoners together who had previously been divided by race, culture, and violence.

His directing credits include “Drive By: A Love Story” and “Da Zone” for Black Starz,  “Hip Hop In the Promised Land” for Comedy Central, and “Hughes Dream Harlem” for PBS.  His writing credits include “Knights of The South Bronx” for A & E, “The Many Trials of Tammy B” for Nickelodeon, and “Ali: An American Hero” for FOX.  Jamal is the author of  “Tupac Legacy” (Atria Books) and “Panther Baby” his memoir (Algonquin Books.)

Jamal is the co-founder and executive artistic director of Impact Repertory Theater – a Harlem-based leadership training and performing arts organization that has trained and mentored over 1,000 Harlem teens.  Several hundred Impact members have gone on to colleges and graduate programs that include the University of Maryland, Hunter College, Hampton, Clark Atlanta, Columbia, Brown, Yale, and the City University of New York. Impact has performed its original music, drama, poetry, and dance across the nation at venues that include the Apollo Theater, the Kennedy Center, and the Kodak Theater at the 2008 Academy Awards.

Jamal was named one of the top twelve African American New York educators in the DAILY News Black History Month issue.   He has been featured in the New York Times, ABC’s Nightline, Showtime’s “Lords of the Revolution” and HBO’s Def Poetry Jam.

His awards include a Cine Golden Eagle, a National Black program Consortium Prized Pieces Award, a Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Award, a Union Square Award, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and a best song  Oscar nomination for his work with Impact in the film “August Rush.”