Michael W. King – Director, Producer and Writer

King has produced, directed and written documentaries, music videos and a feature film. In 1991, his MTV music video on Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech I Have A Dream received national recognition. In 1995 he produced, directed and wrote a PBS documentary titled Making A Living, the African-American Experience. In 1997, he directed and wrote his first feature film, Vanity Kills, in the Czech Republic.

In 1999, King’s PBS documentary on youth violence in America, entitled Bangin’, won the Emmy and International Television and Video Association Award for Best Documentary and Best Editing. In 2007, he completed a feature documentary entitled Rapping with Shakespeare (2008), which examines how a popular English teacher used hip-hop and rap to help his students to better access Shakespeare’s works. The film also explores the lives of five South Central Los Angeles teenagers attending Crenshaw High School and the parallels between their experiences and that of Shakespeare’s characters. King was nominated for an A&E Indie Filmmaker Award in 2008 for Rapping with Shakespeare. He also was the executive producer for the American Film Institute film, Crenshaw Nights (2008) starring Vondie Curtis-Hall and Judd Nelson.

King graduated from Connecticut College with a BA in Government. He also holds an MA in Film Studies from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and a Degree in Feature Film Directing from the Amsterdam School of the Arts (Maurits Binger Film Institute), Postgraduate. He taught screenwriting and film for two years at Emerson College. Recently, he was the Filmmaker-in-Residence and Professor of Film at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. In 2009, King was awarded Switzerland’s Carl Lutz Medal of Freedom. He is a former board member of the International Documentary Association. Recently, he received the Lawrence Prize 34’, a lifetime achievement award from Connecticut College for his contribution to society. King is a member of the Directors Guild of America.

Mr. King lives in La Quinta, California, with his wife, Bernadette and son, Mathias. Details of Michael King Productions films can be found at MichaelKingProductionsllc.com.