Michael Williams

Michael Williams (born June 23, 1987) is an American filmmaker born in West Point, Mississippi.

Life and career Williams began creating short films in 2004 and since has consistently produced short films and screened them for audiences at annual film festivals and screenings across the U.S.

He earned his bachelor of arts in film in 2009 from the University of Southern Mississippi and was awarded the Top Film Student of 2009 Award. In 2007, Williams began his professional film career, accumulating a multitude of credits ranging from assistant camera to director of photography for many independent short and feature-length films.

After writing, directing and producing more than 20 short films, Williams broke into the feature-length film territory in 2014 with OzLand, a science fantasy drama inspired by characters and events in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. While his desire to tell complex stories visually drew him to a career in cinematography, as an artist and storyteller, Williams writes and directs films like OzLand in order to share his stories with those interested in experiencing them while eagerly pursuing the opportunity to bring other people's stories to life as a director of photography.

Today, the filmmaker owns and operates his own company, Shendopen, in West Point, Mississippi. He continues to write and direct his own independent films, produce films by other regional filmmakers and works regionally in the industry as a director of photography. His second feature film, The Atoning, marked his first entry into the horror genre and premiered at the Oxford Film Festival on February 18, 2017. His filmmaking influences include the works of directors Darren Aronofsky, Tim Burton, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Mike Nichols, John Patrick Shanley, M. Night Shyamalan and Steven Spielberg.

Filmography Year Title Director Writer Producer Cinematographer Editor Notes 2009 The Mistake Short film The Shovel 2010 Treat or Eat Lukos 2011 Zion The Fall of Henry Illumination 2012 Genrevolt Third Shift 2013 Last Fall A Mutual Friend S for Sally Kane 2014 Earthrise Feature film A Horror Movie Short film OzLand Feature film, Directorial debut 2015 Dead Saturday Short film Complacency 2016 The Beatdown Poison Tree Blues Freedom Fighters Two Birds Tinker The Hollow Feature film, First Assistant Camera Bare Knuckle Short film Forced Move Feature film 2017 Crucible City Short film Dreamscape The Atoning Feature film 2018 Mississippi Minute Short film A Son Inherit 2019 Driven Feature film Hallowed Ground Super Science Showcase Segment: "Tom Sawyer Runs the Gauntlet" 2020 Doodle Short film Revelation, Alabama The Dinner Party Feature film Eternity A Dixie Darling Dinner Short film, in Post Production 2023 Payment Received Feature film TBA Kin Short film, in Production The Star Crossed The Hidden FewFeature film, in development