dream hampton is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and cultural critic from Detroit whose work for over two decades has shaped a generation. While a sophomore at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she published her first editorial in The Source, taking on Dr. Dre for assaulting journalist Dee Barnes. Her essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, VIBE, The Washington Post, NPR, Spin, and more than a dozen anthologies.
Her films, described by Vanity Fair as having “the power to change culture,” include I Am Ali (Sundance, 2002), Black August (2010), It Was All a Dream (Tribeca, 2024), Freshwater (NYT Op-Docs/PBS, 2023), We Hold These Truths (LA Opera, 2022), and Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop (Netflix, 2023). She is also the Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning showrunner and executive producer of Surviving R. Kelly (Netflix, 2019).
hampton has taught and lectured widely, received residencies and awards from UCLA, NYU, the Bellagio Center, and major foundations, and in 2019 was named by TIME one of the most influential people in the world. She is a Fellow in the inaugural class of the Michael D. Eisner Arts & Culture Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
