Michael Rainin recently produced a short Documentary with Spike Lee on the history of The Black Panther movement and won a Gold Clio Award for his efforts.

Michael also just completed producing and directing a feature documentary on the history and music of The Roma people narrated by the iconic actor, Michael Madsen, and has won 3 Best Documentary awards and has so far screened at over 30 film festivals across the globe.

His next feature documentary “The Hollywood Africans” about two high-ranking generals and compatriots in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s art-damaged army were Rammellzee, and Toxic. Basquiat ordained this holy trinity the “Hollywood Africans” in a series of some of his most provocative paintings. While Basquiat and Rammellzee left behind an arsenal of weaponized artwork with their passing, Toxic continues to carry out the mission of their collective creative visions. Toxic is the last living Hollywood African. The Hollywood African’s has begun shooting!

Michael Rainin is an award-winning producer and director of documentaries, feature films, shorts, PSAs, commercials and music videos.

His most recent documentary Run Raven Run offers a compelling history of the Roma people, their music, and the Gypsy diaspora. 

Within the film we learn that the marginalized Roma are chastised as “ravens,” dirty animals that survive from the scraps of society. For the Roma, the term has been subverted into a term of unity and empowerment for a people who see music as a form of liberation and a symbolic act of taking flight. The film inspired Rainin to launch the Raven’s Project, an NFT series of 3000 NFT’s of anthropomorphic characters inspired by the culture, style and music of the Roma.This project aims to raise awareness and support for the Roma people while sharing the beauty and power at the heart of Gypsy music.