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R.J. Harper (born February 17th) is an award-winning, controversial American filmmaker, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor and entrepreneur. In a career of more than two decades, Harper's media projects have covered many themes and genres appearing as "official selections" at many American and international film festivals including the renowned Cannes Film Festival in France. Harper's early films are seen as an archetype of modern award-winning filmmaking. In later years, his work began addressing such issues as discrimination, history and covert operations. He is considered a popular and influential African-American filmmaker in the long history of international cinema. He has worked with many leading media brands including Pepsi, VH1, MTV, NBC, MSNBC, Toyota, Lucent Technologies, WII Systems, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, NY & Tribeca Film Festivals, Kodak, Panasonic and more.

Harper is an honors alumni of both Harvard Business School, Brown University and the Digital Film Academy. He studied semiotics ("the study of signs & symbols") at the prestigious Brown University Film Department and photography at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). While still in high school, Harper studied economics at Columbia University Graduate School of Business with the LEAD Program in Business and after college spent three years living alone in the rustic Mayan jungles of Guatemala as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Later, he produced the highly acclaimed Cannes Film Festival project entitled: "Typecast" and directed "Class M," the award-winning short film take on the French classic film: "The Red Balloon." Class M received wide critical acclaim in NYC and went on to win the highly-coveted "Audience Award" with the NYC Film Race beating out numerous highly respected NYC film professionals and ad agencies.

Harper's film career has afforded him work with leading Hollywood heavy-weights including Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Djimon Hounsou, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, Richard Gere, Anna-Nicole Smith, Michael Moore, P. Diddy, Don King, singer Gloria Gaynor, Hype Williams (video director), supermodels Helena Christensen & Liya Kebede, rappers: NAS, DMX, Methodman, Jim Jones, Styles P, Cuban Link, TV host: Wendy Williams and more.