MARGARET BYRNE

Margaret Byrne received her BFA in film at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2000. Margaret was a Creative Director at Universal Music and directed live concerts and music videos for artists such as Jay-Z and Mary J Blige. She produced and edited the television series that launched MTV across Africa in 2005 and directed a host of music videos for emerging African artists. She was a cinematographer and an editor for American Promise (2013)  following the education of two African American boys from New York City. The film won the 2013 Sundance Special Jury Prize and 2013 Full Frame Documentary Jury Award. Margaret is director and producer of feature documentary Raising Bertie and recently received a prestigious MacArthur grant. Raising Bertie is a co-production with Kartemquin Films following the lives of three young men after their alternative school is forced to close in rural North Carolina.  Margaret is founder of Beti Films (betifilms.com) and Creative Vision Films (creativevisionfilms.com).