Ernest R. DickersonFilmography

Dexter: Si Se Puede

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Dexter suspects that Miguel is on to his dark-side job and decides to test him; Rita gets fired from her job and begins to question her career path; Debra thinks she somehow contributed to another homicide that's related to the case she's working. ~ Ray Stackhouse, All Movie Guide Read More

Tell Me You Love Me: Episode 06

Crew: Director

Cinematographer Style

Actors: Remi Adefarasin, Russ T. Alsobrook, Howard A. Anderson III, Peter Anderson

Synopsis: Over a hundred leading cameramen (and women) discuss the fine art of motion picture photography in this documentary. Cinematographer Style is compiled from interviews with a broad cross section of respected cinematographers, ranging from award-winning veterans such as Gordon Willis (The Read More

Masters of Horror: The V Word

Crew: Director

Actors: Michael Ironside, Arjay Smith, Branden Nadon

Synopsis: Bones director Ernest R. Dickerson takes the helm for this episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror series concerning two morbidly curious teenagers who come face to face with the ultimate nightmare. Obsessed with the prospect of seeing a real dead body, two teenage boys break into a mortuary and Read More

Miracle's Boys

Crew: Director

Actors: Sean Nelson, Pooch Hall, Julito McCullum

Synopsis: Miracle's Boys tells the tale of African-American brothers who must survive many daily stresses by trusting, relying on, and loving each other. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide Read More

Never Die Alone

Crew: Director

Actors: DMX, David Arquette, Michael Ealy, Clifton Powell, Reagan Gomez-Preston

Synopsis: From a script from first-time scribe James Gibson comes this filmed adaptation of ex-gangster Donald Goines' 1974 novel Never Die Alone. Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson (Juice, Bones), the films stars David Arquette as Paul Pawlowski, a reporter who takes an interest in gang kingpin King David Read More

The Wire: Mission Accomplished

Crew: Director

Synopsis: News of Amsterdam reaches the public; Avon prepares for war with Marlo; Cutty comes face-to-face with Fruit ; and Councilman Gray figures out Carcetti has political ambitions. ~ Joe Friedrich, All Movie Guide Read More

The Wire: Amsterdam

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Herc (Dominick Lombardozzi) and Carver (Seth Gilliam) try to convince the local corner boys to relocate, as per Colvin's (Robert Wisdom) orders. "Vincent Street is your Amsterdam in Baltimore," Herc tells them, but they're not interested, so Colvin has them rounded up and brought to a local school Read More

Good Fences

Crew: Director

Actors: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Zachary Simmons Glover, Ryan Michelle Bathe, Ashley Archer

Synopsis: A black family gets a first-hand look at the trials and tribulations of upward mobility and suburban segregation in this pointed comedy. In 1973, Tom (Danny Glover) is an African-American attorney who is determined to raise himself up by his own bootstraps from his position near the bottom of the Read More

The Wire: Bad Dreams

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The detail, with help from the FBI, raids the smuggling operations, but most of the evidence has already been cleaned up. While they bust White Mike (Brook Yeaton), Sergei (Chris Ashworth), and Eton, and find a stash of cash and heroin at Nick's (Pablo Schreiber) place, they leave Vondas (Paul Ben-Victor Read More

Monday Night Mayhem

Crew: Director

Actors: John Turturro, John Heard, Kevin Anderson, Nicholas Turturro, Brad Beyer

Synopsis: Just as Jon Voight's on-target portrayal of controversial sportscaster Howard Cosell) in the 2002 biopic Ali was making the theatrical rounds, actor John Turturro offered his own spin on "Humble Howard" in the made-for-cable movie Monday Night Mayhem. Based on the book by Bill Carter and Marc Read More

Our America

Crew: Cinematographer, Director

Actors: Josh Charles, Vanessa A. Williams, Roderick Pannell, Brandon Hammond, Mykelti Williamson

Synopsis: Our America is the story of LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman two inner-city Chicago teenagers who eloquently distilled their lives on the Mean Streets into an award-winning Public Radio documentary (and later, a book) titled Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago. When a local NPR Read More

Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie

Crew: Director

Actors: David Krumholtz, Jennifer Morrison, Tory Kittles, Nicholas Turturro, Alex Rocco

Synopsis: Based on a real-life 1994 scandal involving college basketball point-shaving, Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie stars David Krumholtz as the title character. Though a mere freshman on the campus of Arizona State University, Benny Silman (Krumholtz) is in charge of accepting all bets for the Read More

Bones

Crew: Director

Actors: Snoop Dogg, Pam Grier, Michael T. Weiss, Clifton Powell, Ricky Harris

Synopsis: Cinematographer turned director Ernest Dickerson returns to the horror genre with this African-American, urban twist on haunted house stories. Rap star Snoop Doggy Dogg makes his debut as a leading man in the title role of Jimmy Bones, stylish protector of a thriving inner-city neighborhood in Read More

Law & Order: Season 12

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Elisabeth Röhm, Sam Waterston, Dianne Wiest

Synopsis: With the departure of series regular Angie Harmon at the close of season eleven (it was explained that her character, Assistant DA Abbie Carmichael, had accepted a job with the U.S. Attorney's Federal Major Crimes Task Force), season twelve of Law & Order was ushered in with a new face in the DA's Read More

Law & Order: Season 11

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Angie Harmon, Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston, Dianne Wiest

Synopsis: Season ten of Law & Order had ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, with an international trial involving the son of a prominent diplomat casting serious doubt upon the reelection of DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). In the first episode of the series' 11th season, it was learned that Schiff had, indeed Read More

Strange Justice

Crew: Director

Actors: Delroy Lindo, Regina Taylor, Mandy Patinkin

Synopsis: This made-for-cable TV drama is based on the book of the same name by Wall Street Journal reporters Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson. Delroy Lindo stars as Justice Clarence Thomas, whose proposed appointment to the Supreme Court by President Bush in October 1991 turns into a media frenzy that Read More

Law & Order: Season 09

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, Angie Harmon, Steven Hill, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: With the eighth-season departure of series regular Carey Lowell as ADA Jamie Ross, Angie Harmon joined the cast of Law & Order at the beginning of its ninth season. Harmon, of course, played Ross' replacement, ADA Abbie Carmichael, who, if anything, was even more zealous in her pursuit of justice Read More

Blind Faith

Crew: Director

Actors: Charles S. Dutton, Courtney Vance, Kadeem Hardison, Lonette McKee, Garland Whitt

Synopsis: Lawyer John Williams (Courtney B. Vance) looks back in flashback to 1957 when he began as a lawyer while living in the Bronx with his older brother, Charles (Charles S. Dutton). Married to Carol (Lonette McKee), Charles is the NYPD's first African-American sergeant, and he plans a police exam for Read More

Ambushed

Crew: Director

Actors: Virginia Madsen, Courtney Vance, Jeremy Lelliott

Synopsis: In this crime thriller a black policeman and his partner look into the suspicious death of a Ku Klux Klan leader. The dead man's son was the only witness. When his partner is also killed, the cop is accused of the crime. Innocent and fearing unjust retribution, he and the slain Klansman's son Read More

Futuresport

Crew: Director

Actors: Dean Cain, Wesley Snipes, Vanessa Williams, Valerie Chow

Synopsis: This future-set action thriller originally aired on the ABC television network. It takes place in a time when the hottest sport around is a high-tech combination of in-line skating and skateboarding that is so challenging that only the toughest, most dexterous athletes can thrive. Tremaine Ramsey Read More

Law & Order: Season 08

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, Steven Hill, Carey Lowell, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: Fans of Law & Order -- and there were many, many more than there had been in previous years -- were somewhat surprised that the series entered its eighth season with no changes in the regular cast. detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) were still upholding the "Law" at the Read More

Law & Order: Season 07

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, Steven Hill, Carey Lowell, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: Law & Order entered its seventh season on a note of uncertainty: Had Assistant DA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy) been killed by that drunk driver at the end of season six? The answer would remain vague until it was determined by the producers that actress Hennessy had no intention of returning to Read More

Bulletproof

Crew: Director

Actors: Damon Wayans, Adam Sandler, James Caan, Kristen Wilson

Synopsis: This post-modern comic variation on The Defiant Ones concerns Keats (Damon Wayans), an undercover police detective trying to get the goods on crime kingpin Frank Colton (James Caan). Keats poses as a crook to make friends with one of Colton's underlings, a drug dealer and car thief named Archie Read More

Law & Order: Season 06

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, Jill Hennessy, Steven Hill, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach

Synopsis: Law & Order launched its sixth season with the addition of yet another new character, Detective Rey Curtis, played by Benjamin Bratt. As the replacement for Mike Logan (Chris Noth), previous partner of Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Curtis exuded enough youthful idealism and Read More

Law & Order: Season 05

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jill Hennessy, Steven Hill, S. Epatha Merkerson, Chris Noth, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterston

Synopsis: The biggest news surrounding Law & Order's fifth season was the acrimonious exit of series regular Michael Moriarty, who, since the program's inception, had upheld the "Order" part of the program as Executive Assistant DA Ben Stone. According to the script, Stone quit the DA's office in disgust Read More

Surviving the Game

Crew: Director

Actors: Ice-T, Rutger Hauer, Charles S. Dutton, Gary Busey, F. Murray Abraham

Synopsis: The Richard Connell short story, The Most Dangerous Game, has been adapted for the screen many times. In this updated version, the rapper-actor Ice-T plays Mason, a homeless man whose best friend and his dog both die on the same day. Cole (Charles S. Dutton, a relief worker, tells Mason that Read More

Demon Knight

Crew: Director

Actors: Billy Zane, Bill Sadler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Brenda Bakke, CCH Pounder

Synopsis: This first theatrical feature spun off from the television series Tales from the Crypt (which was in turn inspired by the infamous EC horror comics of the 1950s) concerns a mysterious man named Brayker (Bill Sadler), who arrives at a church-turned-rooming house in a small town in New Mexico. Hot Read More

Law & Order: Season 04

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jill Hennessy, Steven Hill, S. Epatha Merkerson, Michael Moriarty, Chris Noth, Jerry Orbach

Synopsis: It can be said with some assurance that during its fourth season on the air, Law & Order finally came into its own and assumed the form and texture for which it became famous. For one thing, the producers finally responded to audience demand that there be more of a "female presence" on the series. Read More

Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography

Actors: Néstor Almendros, John A. Alonzo, Michael Ballhaus, Stephen H. Burum, Sven Nykvist, Vittorio Storaro, Haskell Wexler, Gordon Willis

Synopsis: The film equivalent of a stroll through the Louvre, the documentary Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography collects interviews with many of modern-day Hollywood's finest directors of photography and is illustrated by examples of their best work as well as scenes from the pictures which most Read More

Malcolm X

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Angela Bassett, Al Freeman, Jr., Delroy Lindo, Albert Hall

Synopsis: Writer-director Spike Lee's epic portrayal of the life and times of the slain civil rights leader Malcolm X begins with the cross-cut imagery of the police beating of black motorist Rodney King juxtaposed with an American flag burning into the shape of the letter X. When the film's narrative Read More

Juice

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Omar Epps, Tupac Shakur, Jermaine Hopkins, Khalil Kain, Cindy Herron

Synopsis: Cinematographer Ernest R. Dickerson directed and co-wrote this crime drama about a group of friends who get involved in a robbery. Bishop (Tupac Shakur), Q (Omar Epps), Raheem (Khalil Kain), and Steel (Jermaine Hopkins) are four Harlem friends who spend their days skipping school, getting in Read More

Law & Order: Season 03

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Richard Brooks, Dann Florek, Steven Hill, Michael Moriarty, Chris Noth, Jerry Orbach

Synopsis: Another major casting change occurred during the third season of Law & Order, although not until the series had offered eight episodes. In "Prince of Darkness," an undercover police operation goes tragically awry, and Detective Phil Ceretta (Paul Sorvino) ends up seriously wounded. Though Ceretta Read More

Cousin Bobby

Crew: Cinematographer

Synopsis: Episcopal priest Robert Castle is the subject of this documentary, whose title refers to his relation to the film's director, Jonathan Demme. Best-known for his Oscar-winning work on Silence of the Lambs (released the same year as this film), Demme is no stranger to nonfiction filmmaking, with one Read More

Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Eric Bogosian

Synopsis: Shot over the course of several live appearances by comedic performance artist Eric Bogosian, Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll is a filmed record of the Off-Broadway stage show of the same name. Against an economical, minimalist set, suggestive of harsh urban environments, Bogosian performs a number of Read More

Jungle Fever

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Spike Lee, Anthony Quinn, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee

Synopsis: Spike Lee defines "jungle fever" as sexual attraction between members of two races. In his film Jungle Fever, he examines the repercussions of an interracial affair upon two very distinct communities. Wesley Snipes is Flipper, a happily married and successful architect, and Annabella Sciorra is Read More

Law & Order: Season 02

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Richard Brooks, Dann Florek, Steven Hill, Michael Moriarty, Chris Noth, Paul Sorvino

Synopsis: Not yet a hit, though certainly sustaining decent ratings, Law & Order entered its second season with the first of its many cast changes -- and a spectacular one it was indeed, with Detective Max Greevey being shot down and killed in front of his own house. In truth, George Dzundza, who played Read More

Mo' Better Blues

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, Joie Lee, Cynda Williams

Synopsis: Spike Lee's 1990 directing effort is a jazz film, the story of a fictional trumpeter named Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington). He leads a quintet at the Beneath the Underground club with a flashy saxophonist named Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes). Though Shadow takes a few too many solos Read More

Def by Temptation

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: James Bond III, Kadeem Hardison, Bill Nunn, Cynthia Bond, Minnie Gentry

Synopsis: Writer/producer/director James Bond III also stars in this innovative supernatural thriller as Joel, a divinity student from rural North Carolina who has a serious crisis of faith and travels to New York to seek the advice of his friend, aspiring actor K (Kadeem Hardison). In an effort to loosen Read More

Ava & Gabriel, Un Historia Di Amor

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Theu Boermans, Dolf de Vries

Synopsis: Gabriel is a mural painter from Dutch Surinam who has been hired to paint a mural of the Virgin Mary in a church in Curaçao. Curaçao is a self-governing island in the Netherlands Antillees off the coast of South America. In the story, he has taken a mixed-race woman as his model, and the emerging Read More

Law & Order: Season 01

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Richard Brooks, George Dzundza, Dann Florek, Steven Hill, Michael Moriarty, Chris Noth

Synopsis: "In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important, groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories." With this pithy but all-inclusive prologue, thus began each hour-long Read More

Do the Right Thing

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Danny Aiello, Spike Lee, Richard Edson, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Bill Nunn, Ossie Davis

Synopsis: Director Spike Lee dives head-first into a maelstrom of racial and social ills, using as his springboard the hottest day of the year on one block in Brooklyn, NY. Three businesses dominate the block: a storefront radio station, where a smooth-talkin' deejay (Samuel L. Jackson) spins the platters Read More

Fright House

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Duane Jones, Jackie James, Orly Benyair, Robin Michaels, John Bly

Synopsis: This classy diptych of campus-based horror tales overcomes its limited budget with imaginative writing and some fairly effective supernatural setpieces. The first installment, "Fright House," involves a devil-worshipping psychiatrist (Jennifer DeLora) performing ritual human sacrifices on a Read More

School Daze

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Kadeem Hardison, Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Kyme, Joe Seneca, Ossie Davis

Synopsis: Fraternity and sorority members clash with the other students at a historically black university in this politically charged musical, which marked the sophomore feature from director Spike Lee. Dap (Laurence Fishburne) is a politically conscious brother who leads anti-apartheid demonstrations and Read More

Eddie Murphy: Raw

Crew: Cinematographer

Synopsis: Filmed in front of a packed New York City crowd, the concert film Eddie Murphy: Raw presents the comedian (near the height of his popularity) performing his standup material. The energetic and often extremely raunchy set begins with a series of impressions, most involving some celebrity becoming Read More

Enemy Territory

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Gary Frank, Ray Parker, Jr., Jan-Michael Vincent, Frances Foster, Tony Todd

Synopsis: In this violent crime drama, the residents of a New York City housing project live in fear of The Vampires, the brutal gang that continually terrorizes them. Things change after an insurance agent and a telephone repairman end up trapped there. Perhaps things would not be so desperate had the Read More

She's Gotta Have It

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell, Spike Lee, Raye Dowell

Synopsis: Spike Lee's breakthrough independent feature, shot in fifteen days on a budget of $175,000, ushered in (along with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise) the American independent film movement of the 1980s. It was also a groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in Read More

The Laserman

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Marc Hayashi, Maryann Urbano, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, Peter Wang, Joan Copeland

Synopsis: Focusing on idiosyncratic characters and culture-clash comedy, rather than on the high-tech action its title might suggest, writer-director Peter Wang's The Laserman dramatizes the personal and professional struggles faced by a young Chinese-American scientist. When a bungled experiment leads to Read More

Almacita Di Desolato

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Marian Rolle, Nydia Ecury, Yubi Kirindongo, Imelda Valerianus

Synopsis: Set at the turn of the 20th century on the tropical island of Curacao, this drama of magic, fantasy, and legend is an interesting blend of styles that also provides scenic views and musical numbers that maintain interest. Solem (Marian Rolle) is a village sorceress whose job is to keep away evil Read More

Krush Groove

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Blair Underwood, Joseph Simmons, Sheila E., Mark "Prince Markie Dee" Morales, Damon Wimbley

Synopsis: In-between rappin' numbers by groups like Run-DMC and The Fat Boys, an almost unnoticeable plot unfolds as manager Russell (Blair Underwood) desperately looks for funding to press more records for Run-DMC's first hit. This gets him into deep water when he borrows from the wrong man and then is Read More

The Brother from Another Planet

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Joe Morton, Darryl Edwards, Steve James, Leonard Jackson, Bill Cobbs

Synopsis: Filmmaker John Sayles' first bonafide box-office success, Brother from Another Planet centers on a black escaped slave from a faraway planet (Joe Morton) who finds himself on the mean streets Harlem. Though the locals are put off by the slave's inability to speak, they are won over by his Read More

Desiree

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Marian Rolle, Dan Strayhorn, Cynthia Belgrave, Joanne Jacobson, Maxwell Glanville

Synopsis: This grim Dutch drama, filmed in New York with English-speaking actors, is based on a real story that occurred in 1980. The film opens as a black mother in an psychotic state believes her baby to be possessed. She takes the child and burns it alive in the oven. The woman then begins roaming the Read More

Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Monty Ross, Donna Bailey, Stuart Smith, Thomas Hicks, Horace Long

Synopsis: Maybe you sweated over a typewriter or word processor when you worked on your master's thesis in college. But Spike Lee attended the film school of New York University (under the tutelage of Martin Scorsese, by the way), and was thus required to submit a completed film as his thesis. Joe's Read More