Rel J. Dowdell, who lived his entire life in Northwest Philadelphia until he took a position five years ago as a full-time director of film studies at Hampton University in Virginia, is a much-honored screenwriter, director, producer and film studies educator whose critically acclaimed feature films include “Train Ride,” “Changing the Game,” and the documentary “Where’s Daddy?” His work often blends urban storytelling and suspense to address social issues, earning comparisons to the work of filmmakers John Singleton and Spike Lee.

After graduation from Philadelphia’s Central High School in 1989, Dowdell received his B.A. in English with magna cum laude honors from Fisk University in Nashville in 1993 and a master’s degree in film production with highest distinction from Boston University’s film school in 1995. He won the top prize in filmmaking at Boston U’s noted Redstone Film Festival that year.

“I didn’t know I wanted to be a filmmaker,” he told the Local, “until I got to college and read some articles about Spike Lee and John Singleton and how they took the educational route to filmmaking.”

Dowdell’s latest film, “Dr. Ira De A. Reid: Haverford College’s Unsung Scholar/Activist,” is a compelling documentary about the school’s first African American professor who was hired in 1948. Reid chaired the department of sociology and anthropology until his retirement in 1966. Earlier in his career, Reid mentored the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while working for the National Urban League and later brought King to Haverford for a special summer study program.

“There were no Blacks, women, Catholics or Jews on the faculty when Dr. Reid was hired,” Dowdell told the Local last week. “There was so much pressure on him to do well. Everybody was watching to see how he did. If he did not do well, who knows how many more years would pass before they would hire another Black professor? We tried for one year to get an interview with Cornel West (author of more than 20 books and recipient of more than 20 honorary degrees) for the film and finally did.”

Roger Lane, an emeritus history professor at Haverford, tells Dowdell in the documentary, “Dr. Reid had a major impact on the field of sociology. People still read what he wrote more than 50 years ago. I called him as soon as he got here in the ‘40s and invited him to dinner. He had a commanding presence. When he retired in 1966, there were still no other Black faculty members. When I got to Haverford, they had just gotten rid of their Jewish quota, three per class. There was only one Black student every other year.”

Dowdell grew up in the same Germantown block at the legendary boxer, Bernard Hopkins, the oldest boxing champion in history, winning the light-heavyweight championship at age 49 in 2014. Dowdell’s parents, both teachers, took out a second mortgage on their home so they could pay his tuition at Boston University’s film school. His first film after graduation, “Train Ride,” was shot entirely at Cheyney University, which straddles Delaware and Chester Counties. It took seven years before it was released.

“Train Ride,” an extension of Dowdell’s master’s thesis, was acquired and distributed by Sony Pictures in 2005 and was a financial success. It was ranked as one of the best American films that year by veteran film critic Gerald Peary of The Boston Phoenix. It also won the “Best Feature” award at the American Theatre of Harlem Film Festival in 2005. And it was the top-grossing urban film for Sony Pictures that year with over $20 million in revenue, although it was made for under $500,000.

Dowdell told the Local in an earlier interview that his ultimate goal as a filmmaker was “to make films that reach all audiences and give audiences insight on how African American men can be triumphant when facing adversity of all kinds. The image of the Black man in the mass media has often been a stereotype of a lazy person who engages in crime or doesn’t take care of his family. I want to show that the overwhelming majority of African American men certainly do not fit that stereotype. Even though a lot of strides have been made, we still have a long way to go.”

Dowdell was selected recently to be the master of ceremonies at a Central High School alumni event on Oct. 29, in which eight alumni will be installed into the school’s Hall of Fame.

He has been asked many times about the origin of his unique name. “It was a nickname,” he explained. “My full first name is Brarailty. My father came up with that name.”

The documentary can be viewed on YouTube and, according to Dowdell, on several streaming channels.

For more information, email reldowdell@gmail.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.