James Kicklighter

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title: "James Kicklighter" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1988-births", "living-people", "georgia-southern-university-alumni", "american-documentary-film-directors", "american-male-screenwriters", "writers-from-savannah,-georgia", "film-directors-from-georgia-(u.s.-state)", "screenwriters-from-georgia-(u.s.-state)", "21st-century-american-screenwriters", "21st-century-american-male-writers"] description: "American film director" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kicklighter" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American film director ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
image	Writer, Director James Kicklighter.jpg
caption	Kicklighter in 2014.
birth_date
birth_place	Bellville, Georgia
alma_mater	Georgia Southern University
years_active	2006–present
::

| image = Writer, Director James Kicklighter.jpg | caption = Kicklighter in 2014. | birth_date = | birth_place = Bellville, Georgia | alma_mater = Georgia Southern University | years_active = 2006–present

James Kicklighter (born June 26, 1988) is an American film director, producer, and writer from Bellville, Georgia.

Early life and education

Kicklighter's hometown is in Bellville, Georgia. His father died from SARS when he was 12 years old. He graduated from Georgia Southern University with a degree in Public Relations.

Career

He began his career at 18, as co-executive producer of That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor, interviewing actress Dixie Carter, rocker John Mellencamp, director David Zucker, and actor Buck Taylor.

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. While directing the film that became Theater of the Mind, he met Edith Ivey, who starred in his short film, The Car Wash.

The Car Wash won the Audience Choice Award at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth.

His short film Followed, based on the story by Will McIntosh, received an Audience Choice Award at the 2011 National Film Festival for Talented Youth, and was screened by Dragon Con, The Rome International Film Festival, Garden State Film Festival and Central Florida Festival, with international press coverage.

His 2012 film Final Acts was a finalist in the Macon Shorts Competition, part of the Gateway Macon Initiative. The film won Grand Prize.

His first feature film was the international crossover Desires of the Heart, which was produced by Jitenda Mishra and shot in Savannah, Georgia and Rajasthan, India in 2012. It was screened at film festivals in 2013 and 2014 including the Cannes Film Festival. The film was released in theaters across India in November 2015. It received award for Best Foreign Film at the La Femme Festival in Los Angeles.

In 2015, he released the documentary A Few Things About Cancer. The film won Best Short Documentary at the 2015 FirstGlance Los Angeles Film Festival.

His music video "Branches" for solo artist Shel Bee won Best Music Video at the 2016 Garden State Film Festival

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. He was inspired to film the project after receiving an email from Bert Roughton, Jr., Senior Managing Editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He was the Virginia filmmaker for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. He filmed content for the campaign with public figures such as Michelle Kwan. He decided to direct the film The American Question after observing politics and voting during the campaign.

In 2017, he directed Angel of Anywhere, starring Briana Evigan, Ser'Darius Blain, David A. Gregory, and Axel Roldos. The project was a collaboration was a collaboration with director of photography Jonathan Pope.

He spoke about his start in filmmaking at the Directors Guild of America and the importance of networking 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. It received a rating of 91% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Kicklighter is set to direct a biopic about athlete and coach Erk Russell, who revived the football program at Georgia Southern University.

Personal life

Bag company JAMAH named The Kicklighter bag in his honor. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Type	Producer	Writer	Director	Ref(s)
2007	That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor	Documentary film	Yes
2009	Di Passaggio	Documentary film	Yes		Yes
2009	Theater of the Mind	Documentary short			Yes	last=Rockett
2010	The Car Wash	Short film	Yes	Yes	Yes	title=Archive.is
2011	Followed	Short film	Yes		Yes
2011	Final Acts	Short film	Yes	Yes	Yes
2013	Desires of the Heart	Feature film		Yes	Yes
2014	A Few Things About Cancer	Documentary short	Yes		Yes
2015	Shel Bee: Branches	Music video	Yes	Yes	Yes
2015	Atul: Emotions	Music video	Yes	Yes	Yes
2016	Digital Edition	Documentary short	Yes		Yes
2018	Angel of Anywhere	Short film	Yes		Yes	title=Angel of Anywhere – Review – The Utah Film Festival
2019	Every 9 Hours	Short film	Yes	Yes
2020	The Sound of Identity	Documentary film			Yes	last1=Ramos
2024	The American Question	Documentary film	Yes	Yes	Yes
::

References

References

1. Local Stories. (May 2018). "Meet James Kicklighter, Film Director in Culver City - Voyage LA Magazine | LA City Guide".
2. Berinato, Christopher. "New documentary examines first transgender singer in opera history to perform in a principal role".
3. (13 August 2021). "Award-Winning Filmmaker James Kicklighter Directs Documentary "The Sound of Identity"".
4. (2020-10-12). "Meet James Kicklighter {{!}} Film Director".
5. "Video biography of character film actor premiers at museum | The Augusta Chronicle".
6. "Archive.is".
7. (27 January 2011). "February/March 2011 by Macon Magazine".
8. (2010-08-12). "NFFTY 2010 on Vimeo".
9. (Spring 2009). "AFTRA Atlanta Members Interviewed for Student Doc". [[AFTRA]].
10. "Archive.org".
11. McDougald, Mike. (9 October 2010). "Southeast Georgians cross paths in a small world".
12. "National Film Festival for Talented Youth". Short Film Central.
13. "Our Organization".
14. (2010-12-12). "Zombies take over as movie begins filming in Macon | The Telegraph".
15. "NFFTY 2011 Award Winners".
16. "AICN HORROR looks at new horrors: FOLLOWED Short Film! CANNIBAL: THE MUSICAL 13th (or so)".
17. "Might of the Living Dead | Georgia Music".
18. "Archive.org".
19. OdAdmin. (2022-03-21). "Jitendra Mishra selected Jury for Japan's largest film festival – KINEKO 2022".
20. (2015-05-12). "Odisha-born producer Jitendra Mishra to promote ten films at Cannes fest".
21. (13 August 2012). "'All My Children's' Alicia Minshew Nabs Lead in 'Desires of the Heart' (Exclusive)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
22. (2012-09-22). "US actors to shoot in India".
23. (2014-05-14). "Rajesh Rathi's 'Desires of the Heart' travels to Cannes Film Festival".
24. "Desires of the Heart Releasing on 6th Nov in India".
25. (2015-11-06). "Odisha-born producer's Hollywood film 'Desires of the Heart' released".
26. "Desires of the Heart review (2015)".
27. Tilby, Darren. (2019-06-08). "Desires of the Heart review".
28. "Archive.org".
29. (2014-06-20). "2015 Los Angeles Award Winners – FirstGlance Film Festival".
30. "Garden State Film Festival 2016 Winners".
31. "Shorts: Digital Edition (2016) {{!}} Crushed Celluloid".
32. "Digital Edition (2016) short film review".
33. "The Independent Critic - "Digital Edition" Follows the Changing World of Journalism".
34. "Digital Edition".
35. (2016). "Entertainment Weekly".
36. "Hillary Clinton Campaign".
37. (2016). "Michelle Kwan if Working for Hillary Clinton". [[New York (magazine).
38. "Angel of Anywhere".
39. (2018-08-14). "Watch: Male Stripper Short 'Angel of Anywhere' by James Kicklighter".
40. "The Independent Critic - "Angel of Anywhere" the Latest Kicklighter Flick".
41. Review, UK Film. (2017-09-07). "Angel of Anywhere short film".
42. "James Kicklighter at the DGA Directors Guild of America on Starting a Career in Film".
43. "James Kicklighter on Networking in Filmmaking at the DGA — Directors Guild of America".
44. (2019-09-15). "Sacramento Opera Star Lucia Lucas Pushes Industry Boundaries — and Beyond".
45. BWW News Desk. "LUCIA'S VOICE Documentary To Feature First Transgender Lead In U.S. Opera".
46. (2019-04-09). "Breaking Film Industry News — Awards, Acquisitions, Festival Buzz, Grants, and More".
47. "The Sound of Identity".
48. "Archive.org".
49. Hunker'd Down by Bernie. (2012-09-02). "Bernie's Dawg Blawg: Erk Russell on the big screen".
50. (2006-09-08). "GSU grads to produce 'Erk'".
51. (2014-12-15). "First Class | Georgia Southern Magazine".
52. "THE KICKLIGHTER".
53. Valdez, Jonah. (2021-12-20). "6.2 earthquake strikes off Northern California coast, shattering windows and rattling nerves".
54. (2011-06-15). "DI PASSAGGIO".
55. Reddish, David. (June 2021). "James Kicklighter raises the curtain on a transgender opera star in 'The Sound of Identity'".
56. Lehmann, Courtney. (2014-09-26). "Screen Adaptations: Romeo and Juliet: A close study of the relationship between text and film". Bloomsbury Publishing.
57. Rockett, Darcel. (10 January 2018). "Do you share the same values as your neighbor? That's 'The American Question'".
58. (Fall 2009). "Comm Arts Talk". Georgia Southern University Comm Arts Talk.
59. "Archive.is".
60. "Zombie film with a heart".
61. "Desires Of The Heart Review".
62. "The Independent Critic - "A Few Things About Cancer" Hits the Festival Circuit".
63. "Angel of Anywhere – Review – The Utah Film Festival".
64. (Dec 21, 2020). "Shout! Studios To Distribute Docu 'The Sound Of Identity' Spotlighting Trans Opera Star Lucia Lucas".

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