Don Amis

Don Amis is a documentary filmmaker who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After serving in the Air Force, he joined his sister in Los Angeles.  He enrolled at UCLA in 1970 through the High Potential Program, an initiative to recruit talented minority students.  After obtaining his B.A., Amis earned his M.F.A. at the university in 1983. He directed Ujamii Uhuru Schule Community Freedom School (1974), a day-in-the-life documentary about an Afrocentric primary school in South Central Los Angeles.  In a later short documentary, Festival of Mask (1982), we see the ethnic and racial diversity of Los Angeles through the Craft and Folk Art Museum’s annual festival.

A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Amis later returned to Pennsylvania, where he worked on documentaries for the Commonwealth Media Service.  Amis has also covered political events for the Governor, made training films and public safety projects, and handled satellite feeds for WHYY-TV (Public Television) Philadelphia.