Byron Patrick Hurt (born December 31, 1969) is an American activist, lecturer, writer, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. In 2010, he hosted the

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

-nominated television show, ''Reel Works with Byron Hurt''. His documentary '' Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes'' premiered at the 2006

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and broadcast nationally on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

in 2007. His film ''

Soul Food Junkies ''Soul Food Junkies'' is a 2012 documentary directed by Byron Hurt and produced by Lisa Durden. The film explores the history and culinary tradition of soul food, and its relevance to African-American culture and identity. The film also docume ...

'' received the Best Documentary Award at the 2012

American Black Film Festival The American Black Film Festival (ABFF), originally called the Acalpulco Black Film Festival, is an independent film festival that focuses primarily on black film and works by black members of the film industry. The festival is held annually in ...

and aired on PBS' ''

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrenc ...

'' in January 2013. Hurt is currently working on his new documentary ''Hazing: How Badly Do You Want In'', an exploration on the culture of hazing following the tragic hazing deaths of young people.

Biography

Byron Hurt attended Northwestern University School to study Journalism. While attending Northwestern, Hurt played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

as a quarterback,Bigg, Matthew and
"U.S. hip-hop film sparks debate on masculinity"
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

'', February 20, 2007. and founded God Bless the Child Productions before graduating in 1993. Upon graduation he was hired by the university's Center for the Study of Sport in Society to help form the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program with the purpose of educating young black men about gender and sexual violence. This experience led Hurt to produce and direct the documentary ''I Am A Man: Black Masculinity in America''. Hurt is also the former associate director of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

gender violence prevention program. On September 30, 2006, Byron Hurt married Kenya Felice Crumel at their home in

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a City (New Jersey), city in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Nicknamed "The Queen City",

Filmography

*''Moving Memories: The Black Senior Video Yearbook'' *''I Am A Man: Black Masculinity in America'' *'' Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes'' *''Barack & Curtis: Manhood, Power, & Respect'' *''

References

External links

Official website
*
Byron Hurt on YouTube

"Soul Food Junkies"
(2013)
"Barack & Curtis: Manhood, Power, & Respect"
(2008)
"Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes"
(2006)
"I Am A Man: Black Masculinity in America"
(1998) American documentary film directors American documentary film producers Documentary films about hip-hop music and musicians Living people Writers from Plainfield, New Jersey 1969 births Film directors from New Jersey Film producers from New Jersey African-American film directors 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people {{US-film-director-1960s-stub