BY MICHELLE BYRD

St. Clair Bourne was a friend and colleague. I can't recall when I first met him, but it seems as though he's always been around IFP's programs and events.

It wasn't until I received notice of his illness through his regular e-mail missive, Chamba Notes, that it occurred to me what a loss I'd feel if St. Clair were no longer with us. His e-mail on December 1, 2007, was his last, and ominously titled, "Time Off." In plaintive terms he said that his usual stream of Chamba Notes would not be forthcoming for about a month because he was scheduled to undergo an operation to remove a benign tumor pressing against his brain.

St. Clair wrote, directed and/or produced more than 45 films largely on cultural and political themes, including the feature documentaries Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks; John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk, about the respected historian and Pan-African activist; Paul Robeson: Here I Stand! for the American Masters PBS series and Making "Do The Right Thing," his acclaimed film about the making of Spike Lee's feature.

His output of work was constant, voluminous and underappreciated in his lifetime.

St. Clair, however, was more than a documentarian. His films were informed by his background as an activist. He'd been in the Peace Corps in Peru, expelled from Columbia University in the infamous 1968 takeover protest against the Vietnam War and he was a producer of Black Journal, the first black public-affairs series on PBS. He wasn't simply a chronicler of history; he was part of it.

As the filmmaker who always documented the great leaders and movements in the African-American community, St. Clair spent a good deal of his time as a mentor and educator for those of us disconnected from our history.

Opinionated and outspoken, he wasn't one to mince words about his desire to see more African-Americans telling their own stories or making films about Africa. That led him to establish the Black Documentary Collective, a New York City-based documentary service organization. During his residence on the West Coast earlier this decade, he founded the L.A.-based Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers - West.

For those who didn't know about Chamba Notes, it was a worldwide sharing of news, information and personal commentary as filtered by St. Clair. If there was news he thought relevant to the African diaspora, you'd find it there - from the death of Ousmane Sembene, the father of African cinema, to encouragement to African-American filmmakers to apply for funding to ITVS' Global Perspectives Project.

Chamba Notes arrived regularly old-school style, without html, flash, ads or fanfare. A simple e-mail fostering the concept of community across borders with its spirit of shared information. Hopefully it will live on as a historical artifact at chambanotes.com. Remarkably it anticipated the need for filmmakers to build their own Web sites and to establish their own worldwide networks to share in a dialogue with their audiences.

St. Clair has left all of us a remarkably rich complement to the history we don't often find in U.S. history books. As future generations of filmmakers study his influence, hopefully they, too, will be inspired to simply keep making work and to remain engaged in an open dialogue which fosters the sharing of information and resources with colleagues.

Rest in peace, St. Clair.