Ethan Higbee

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title: "Ethan Higbee" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["living-people", "tisch-school-of-the-arts-alumni", "american-directors", "american-male-composers", "21st-century-american-composers", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)"] description: "American filmmaker, music producer and gallerist" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Higbee" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American filmmaker, music producer and gallerist ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Ethan Higbee
birth_date
baptised
alma_mater	New York University
occupation	Film-maker, music producer
notable_works	Red Apples Falling
The Upsetter
height
::

| name = Ethan Higbee | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date =
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| nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = New York University | occupation = Film-maker, music producer | years_active = | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = Red Apples Falling The Upsetter | style = | height =

Ethan Higbee (also known as Nahte) is an American filmmaker, music producer and gallerist living in Ojai, California. He is most known for his films Red Apples Falling and The Upsetter, a documentary about Lee Scratch Perry.

In 2010, he opened Dem Passwords art gallery in West Hollywood, California. The gallery owns and represents the painting collection of Lee Scratch Perry and hosted his first solo art exhibition called 'Secret Education' in 2010.

Early life and education

Higbee was born and raised in Maine. He studied at the Mt. Ararat High School and was a six time All-American in youth and high school track & field and cross country, capturing over 25 individual and team state championships over four different sports As a 14-year-old he was featured in Sports Illustrated Magazine's Faces in the Crowd for winning two state titles in cross country and soccer in the same day. In 1994 he stood 3rd in the 2000m steeplechase at the USA Track & Field Junior Olympics National Championships at the University of Florida.

In 1996, Higbee gave up a potential Olympic dream in the running to pursue a career in direction after he was accepted into the Maurice Kandbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where he graduated in 2001. Before attending NYU, he skipped the majority of his senior year at Mt. Ararat High School after convincing the principal to let him enroll in a film residency at the Maine Media Workshops.

Career

Higbee met Adam Bhala Lough when they were enrolled at New York University. The two have collaborated on several projects.

He has composed the music to feature films including The Carter, and Weapons.

In 2003, he produced his first feature documentary Haro Hara: Pilgrimage to Kataragama Sri Lanka a film following Tamil devotees of Lord Murugan on the ancient Pada Yatra pilgrimage down the war torn east coast of Sri Lanka.

In 2005, Higbee directed the video of Damian Marley's song Confrontation.

In 2008, Higbee premiered The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee "Scratch" Perry, a documentary following Lee "Scratch" Perry, at the SXSW Film Festival. Named after Perry's 1969 album of the same name, the film played in dozens of film festivals worldwide, and was screened across in nearly 100 theaters in 2011. The film is equally devoted to thirty years of Jamaican music and culture, and was narrated by Benicio Del Toro. The movie was co-written and co-directed by Higbee and Lough who also distributed the movie by themselves.

Higbee wanted to make a movie on Perry since he was in New York University. He tried contacting Perry several times, however, he was never able to pitch the idea of a movie to him. In 2006, they spent eight days with Perry in Switzerland, then a year and a half following Perry around the world.

In 2009, Higbee directed the documentary film Red Apples Falling, produced by Damon Dash and Lough. The film is an uncensored look at the life of Jim Jones. In 2010, he opened Dem Passwords art gallery in West Hollywood California. The gallery owns and represents the painting collection of Lee Scratch Perry and hosted his first solo art exhibition called 'Secret Education' in 2010.

In 2011, after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, Ethan along with Samuel Holt and Suba Sivakumaran founded KIFF, the Kandy International Film Festival, the first international film festival in Sri Lanka.

In 2013, he formed the production company Rain Dominion with collaborator Adam Bhala Lough to produce the skateboard documentary series The Motivation. Upon release The Motivation was the #1 documentary on iTunes for 13 consecutive days. The Motivation 2: The Chris Cole Story was released worldwide on June 23, 2015 and also stood as the #1 documentary on iTunes for over a week. In 2013, he co-produced Lee "Scratch" Perry Blue Ark Fm Radio Station for Grand Theft Auto V.

Since 2008, Higbee has been in production on a movie titled Basedworld, a documentary about Lil B, however since 2014 the project has been delayed.

Higbee is currently in production directing a film on the life of Cuban Boxer Teófilo Stevenson a co-production with the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.

Filmography

As a producer

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Notes
2001	Roundest Wheel	producer, director
2006	Haro Hara: Pilgrimage to Kataragama Sri Lanka	producer, director
2009	Red Apples Falling	producer, director
2011	The Upsetter	producer, director
2013	Basedworld	producer, director
2013	The Motivation	producer
2015	The Motivation 2 – The Chris Cole Story	producer
2016	Untitled Teofilo Stevenson Project	producer, director
::

As a composer

::data[format=table]

Year	Title
2001	Roundest Wheel
2002	Bomb The System
2005	Waterborne
2007	Weapons
2008	The Carter
2009	Red Apples Falling
2011	The Upsetter
::

References

References

1. "Lee "Scratch" Perry's First-Ever Art Show Opens Tomorrow -- Interview with Curator Sebastian Demian". Los Angeles Weekly.
2. "Maine XC teams do well". Bangor Daily News.
3. "The Sports Illustrated Vault". Sports Illustrated.
4. "Mainers Excel in Russia". Sun Journal.
5. "Busy Week for Mt. Aarat School, Sugg Track Tream". Sun Journal.
6. "The Upsetter". Rokumentti.
7. Jackson, Nate. (March 24, 2011). "'Lee Scratch Perry's Life on Film in 'The Upsetter'". [[Los Angeles Times]].
8. "'Lee Scratch Perry's Wild World'". Rolling Stone.
9. "HARO HARA: Pilgrimage to Kataragama, Sri Lanka". Permanentmarks.com.
10. "2008 SXSW Film Festival Official Line-Up". Film School Rejects.
11. "Adam Bhala Lough on his Lee "Scratch" Perry movie". TBD.
12. "Addicted to rockstone". Caribbean Review of Books.
13. "'The Upsetter': The life and times of Lee 'Scratch' Perry – Video". Los Angeles Times.
14. "Lil B's Manager Sebastian Demian Is Calmer Than You Are". L.A. Weekly.
15. "Rebel Energy: The Scene Around Dem Passwords". ARTnews.
16. "Lil B's Manager Sebastian Demian Is Calmer Than You Are". Los Angeles Weekly.
17. "The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry". Los Angeles Record.
18. "News Around Kandy: July 2011". KandyNews.net.
19. "Malani to be honoured at Kandy Film Festival". Daily News (Sri Lanka).
20. "'The Carter' Director Launches Indiegogo Campaign for Chris Cole Skate Documentary 'The Motivation 2.0'". TheWrap.
21. "Benicio Del Toro Narrates Doc on Reggae Legend Lee 'Scratch' Perry (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.

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