American film director
James Kicklighter (born June 26, 1988) is an American film director, producer, and writer from
Bellville, Georgia .
[1]
[2]
Early life and education
Kicklighter's hometown is in
Bellville, Georgia .
[2]
[3] His father died from
SARS when he was 12 years old.
[2]
[4] He graduated from Georgia Southern University with a degree in Public Relations.
[1]
[2]
Career
He began his career at 18, as co-executive producer
[5] of That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor ,
[6] interviewing actress
Dixie Carter , rocker
John Mellencamp , director
David Zucker , and actor
Buck Taylor .
[7]
[8]
During his studies at
Georgia Southern University , he collaborated with another student to film a documentary about the Golden Age of Radio for the Broadcast Education Association.
[9]
[10] While directing the film that became Theater of the Mind , he met Edith Ivey, who starred in his short film, The Car Wash .
[11]
The Car Wash won the Audience Choice Award at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth.
[12]
[13]
His short film Followed ,
[14] based on the story by
Will McIntosh , received an Audience Choice Award at the 2011 National Film Festival for Talented Youth,
[15] and was screened by
Dragon Con , The Rome International Film Festival, Garden State Film Festival and Central Florida Festival, with international press coverage.
[16]
[17]
His 2012 film Final Acts was a finalist in the Macon Shorts Competition, part of the Gateway Macon Initiative. The film won Grand Prize.
[18]
His first feature film was the international crossover
Desires of the Heart , which was produced by
Jitenda Mishra
[19]
[20] and shot in Savannah, Georgia and Rajasthan, India in 2012.
[2]
[21]
[22] It was screened at film festivals in 2013 and 2014 including the
Cannes Film Festival .
[23] The film was released in theaters across India in November 2015.
[24]
[25] It received award for Best Foreign Film at the La Femme Festival in Los Angeles.
[26]
[27]
[28]
In 2015, he released the documentary A Few Things About Cancer .
[29] The film won Best Short Documentary at the 2015 FirstGlance Los Angeles Film Festival.
[30]
His music video "Branches" for solo artist Shel Bee won Best Music Video at the 2016 Garden State Film Festival
[31]
After the 2016 Garden State Film Festival, Kicklighter directed the documentary Digital Edition , a profile on the future of journalism framed through
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution .
[32]
[33]
[26]
[34] He was inspired to film the project after receiving an email from Bert Roughton, Jr., Senior Managing Editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
[35]
He was the Virginia filmmaker for
Hillary Clinton 's 2016 presidential campaign.
[36]
[37]
[38] He filmed content for the campaign with public figures such as
Michelle Kwan .
[38] He decided to direct the film The American Question after observing politics and voting during the campaign.
[2]
In 2017, he directed Angel of Anywhere , starring
Briana Evigan ,
Ser'Darius Blain ,
David A. Gregory , and Axel Roldos.
[39]
[40] The project was a collaboration was a collaboration with director of photography Jonathan Pope.
[41]
[42]
He spoke about his start in filmmaking at the
Directors Guild of America
[43] and the importance of networking
[44] in March 2018.
Kicklighter directed the feature documentary The Sound of Identity, profiling
Lucia Lucas 's performance of
Don Giovanni at the
Tulsa Opera for 2021 release.
[45]
[35]
[46] It received a rating of 91% on the review aggregator site
Rotten Tomatoes .
[47]
Kicklighter is set to direct a biopic about athlete and coach
Erk Russell ,
[48]
[49]
[50] who revived the football program at
Georgia Southern University .
[51]
Personal life
Bag company JAMAH named The Kicklighter bag in his honor.
[52] He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
[53]
Filmography
References
^
a
b Local Stories (May 2018).
"Meet James Kicklighter, Film Director in Culver City - Voyage LA Magazine | LA City Guide" . voyagela.com . Retrieved Jun 14, 2021 .
^
a
b
c
d
e
f Berinato, Christopher.
"New documentary examines first transgender singer in opera history to perform in a principal role" . Savannah Morning News . Retrieved Jun 14, 2021 .
^
a
b
c
"Award-Winning Filmmaker James Kicklighter Directs Documentary "The Sound of Identity" " . ProductionHUB.com . 13 August 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
"Meet James Kicklighter | Film Director" . SHOUTOUT LA . 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
a
b
"Video biography of character film actor premiers at museum | The Augusta Chronicle" . Chronicle.augusta.com . Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
a
b
"Archive.is" . Archived from
the original on 2012-08-02.
^
"February/March 2011 by Macon Magazine" . Issuu.com . 27 January 2011. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"NFFTY 2010 on Vimeo" . Vimeo.com . 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"AFTRA Atlanta Members Interviewed for Student Doc" . AFTRA Magazine .
AFTRA . Spring 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2012 .
^
"Archive.org" . Archived from
the original on 2011-07-15.
^ McDougald, Mike (9 October 2010).
"Southeast Georgians cross paths in a small world" . Northwest Georgia News . Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
a
b
"National Film Festival for Talented Youth" . Short Film Central. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"Our Organization" . Nffty.org . Archived from
the original on 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"Zombies take over as movie begins filming in Macon | The Telegraph" . Macon.com . 2010-12-12. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"NFFTY 2011 Award Winners" . Nffty.org . Archived from
the original on 2016-10-08. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"AICN HORROR looks at new horrors: FOLLOWED Short Film! CANNIBAL: THE MUSICAL 13th (or so)" . Aintitcool.com . Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"Might of the Living Dead | Georgia Music" . Georgiamusicmag.com . Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"Archive.org" . Archived from
the original on 2012-03-27.
^ OdAdmin (2022-03-21).
"Jitendra Mishra selected Jury for Japan's largest film festival – KINEKO 2022" . Odisha News | Odisha Breaking News | Latest Odisha News . Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
"Odisha-born producer Jitendra Mishra to promote ten films at Cannes fest" . The Indian Express . 2015-05-12. Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^ Ford, Rebecca (13 August 2012).
" 'All My Children's' Alicia Minshew Nabs Lead in 'Desires of the Heart' (Exclusive)" .
The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"US actors to shoot in India" . Timesofindia.indiatimes.com . 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"Rajesh Rathi's 'Desires of the Heart' travels to Cannes Film Festival" . The Indian Express . 2014-05-14. Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
"Desires of the Heart Releasing on 6th Nov in India" . Enewsodia.com . Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"Odisha-born producer's Hollywood film 'Desires of the Heart' released" . In.news.yahoo.com . 2015-11-06. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
a
b
c
"The Independent Critic - "Digital Edition" Follows the Changing World of Journalism" . theindependentcritic.com . Retrieved 2016-05-19 .
^
"Desires of the Heart review (2015)" . Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^ Tilby, Darren (2019-06-08).
"Desires of the Heart review" . UK Film Review . Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
"Archive.org" . Archived from
the original on 2015-03-13.
^
"2015 Los Angeles Award Winners – FirstGlance Film Festival" . Firstglancefilms.com . 2014-06-20. Archived from
the original on 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
a
b
"Garden State Film Festival 2016 Winners" . Broadwayworld.com . Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
a
b
"Shorts: Digital Edition (2016) | Crushed Celluloid" . crushedcelluloid.com . Retrieved 2016-05-19 .
^
a
b
"Digital Edition (2016) short film review" . screencritix.com . Retrieved 2016-05-19 .
^
a
b
"Digital Edition" . indyred . Retrieved 2016-05-19 .
^
a
b
c BWW News Desk.
"LUCIA'S VOICE Documentary To Feature First Transgender Lead In U.S. Opera" . BroadwayWorld.com . Retrieved 2019-12-29 .
^
"Entertainment Weekly" .
Entertainment Weekly . 2016.
^
"Hillary Clinton Campaign" . Jameskicklighter.com .
^
a
b
"Michelle Kwan if Working for Hillary Clinton" .
New York . 2016.
^
"Angel of Anywhere" . Jameskicklighter.com .
^
"Watch: Male Stripper Short 'Angel of Anywhere' by James Kicklighter" . firstshowing.net . 2018-08-14. Retrieved 2022-12-08 .
^
a
b
"The Independent Critic - "Angel of Anywhere" the Latest Kicklighter Flick" . theindependentcritic.com . Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
a
b Review, UK Film (2017-09-07).
"Angel of Anywhere short film" . UK Film Review . Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
"James Kicklighter at the DGA Director's [sic ] Guild of America on Starting a Career in Film" .
Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved Jun 14, 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
^
"James Kicklighter on Networking in Filmmaking at the DGA — Director's [sic ] Guild of America" .
Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved Jun 14, 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
^
"Sacramento Opera Star Lucia Lucas Pushes Industry Boundaries — and Beyond" . KQED . 2019-09-15. Retrieved 2019-12-29 .
^
"Breaking Film Industry News — Awards, Acquisitions, Festival Buzz, Grants, and More" . IndieWire . 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2019-12-29 .
^
The Sound of Identity , retrieved 2022-03-29
^
"Archive.org" . Archived from
the original on 2012-09-05.
^ Hunker'd Down by Bernie (2012-09-02).
"Bernie's Dawg Blawg: Erk Russell on the big screen" . Berniesdawgblawg.com . Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"GSU grads to produce 'Erk' " . Statesboroherald.com . 2006-09-08. Archived from
the original on 2013-02-03. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"First Class | Georgia Southern Magazine" . News.georgiasouthern.edu . 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
^
"THE KICKLIGHTER" . JAMAH . Retrieved 2022-03-16 .
^ Valdez, Jonah (2021-12-20).
"6.2 earthquake strikes off Northern California coast, shattering windows and rattling nerves" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^
"DI PASSAGGIO" . filmthreat.com . 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2022-03-30 .
^ Reddish, David (June 2021).
"James Kicklighter raises the curtain on a transgender opera star in 'The Sound of Identity' " . Queerty . Retrieved 2022-03-30 .
^ Lehmann, Courtney (2014-09-26).
Screen Adaptations: Romeo and Juliet: A close study of the relationship between text and film . Bloomsbury Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-4081-9876-6 .
^
a
b Rockett, Darcel (10 January 2018).
"Do you share the same values as your neighbor? That's 'The American Question' " . chicagotribune.com . Retrieved 2022-03-30 .
^
"Comm Arts Talk" . Georgia Southern University Comm Arts Talk . Fall 2009 – via Georgia Southern University.
^
"Archive.is" . Archived from
the original on 2012-09-19.
^
"Zombie film with a heart" . www.statesboroherald.com . Retrieved 2022-03-30 .
^
"Desires Of The Heart Review" . IndyRed . Retrieved 2022-03-30 .
^
"The Independent Critic - "A Few Things About Cancer" Hits the Festival Circuit" . theindependentcritic.com . Retrieved 2022-03-30 .
^
"Angel of Anywhere – Review – The Utah Film Festival" . Retrieved 2022-03-29 .
^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (Dec 21, 2020).
"Shout! Studios To Distribute Docu 'The Sound Of Identity' Spotlighting Trans Opera Star Lucia Lucas" . Retrieved Jun 14, 2021 .
External links