Michael Williams: A Factory of Stories

Mississippi makes movies. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, given the heritage of the State’s great story tellers. But not everyone realizes that includes film. Michael Williams didn’t either, at first.

Williams is a filmmaker who lives in West Point, MS. Recipient of a 2018 Artist Fellowship in film from the Mississippi Arts Commission, he grew up and graduated from high school in West Point, Mississippi.

His first explored film before the existence of Youtube. “My junior and senior year in high school, we’d make videos that we shared with friends,” says Williams. “I’d liked watching behind-the-scenes videos and loved special effects. So, I played with those, and realized I enjoyed it and could do something with it.” At some point, Williams learned of the Tupelo Film Festival, so he worked on a project to submit that got accepted. “I even skipped some of my high school graduation to attend the Festival.”

That’s where Williams met Phil Gentile, a film professor at University of Southern Mississippi. “He told me about their program. At that time, I didn’t even realize I could go to school for this. So, after a year at Mississippi State, I headed to Southern.”

Although Williams initially had been drawn to archaeology and history, he realized that he could explore those through film. “Movies give you an experience,” he says. “They let you explore the `what if’ moments.” Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that storytelling is the aspect that captured Williams.

What’s his favorite part of making a movie? “That depends on what stage and when you ask. It’s a cycle – I’m anxious to do the next part of the process.” Williams compares the process of filmmaking to a factory. “There’s development, which is where we decide what we’re going to make, like a car. We have to brainstorming with a team. Then there’s production, where we make the parts of the car. Last is the post-production, where we put the car together in a way that works, market it, and get it to the consumer.”

Of course, Williams notes that it’s also a combination of art forms as well: “Filmmaking is the rare thing that pulls together all of the art forms into business, where they also have to work.” Williams sometimes compares it to a war against time, money, and elements. All of it, though, requires team effort.

A big challenge is money. The bigger the project, the bigger the challenge. “Especially for a feature, it’s about finding the resources and doing it right,” says Williams, who wants audiences to understand the teamwork that’s required. “It’s not just one person and it’s not done quickly. If someone doesn’t like a film, they blame the director, but the director may have done their best with what they had. There are so many other variables. Just getting a movie made is a miracle. Every day, something happens that could stop production, but a team comes together and gets it done.”

Ozland, his first feature, may be his favorite project. “It was a passion project for everyone involved. We were eager and naïve and had this independent spirit. I don’t know if we could repeat that. No matter how far away from it I get or how many flaws I see in it now, I remember how much fun we had in what we made.”

That’s a great perspective for any artist looking back.

What’s it like being a filmmaker in Mississippi? Williams is optimistic, “There are

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William E. Parrish, Emeritus Professor of history at Mississippi State, was recently designated as a Churchill Fellow of the National Churchill Memorial by the Trustees of Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Memorial on the college’s campus. Others joining Parrish in this honor were remaining members of the Churchill family. The Memorial is the reconstructed 17th Century Christopher Wren Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, from London, which was damaged by bombing during World War II and not scheduled for repair. It was given to the College by the Diocese of London in the early 1960s and brought stone by stone to the Westminster campus, where it was reconstructed and dedicated as a memorial to Winston Churchill, who delivered his “Iron Curtain” address there in 1947. Parrish was the Harry S Truman Professor of American History at Westminster in the 1960s and played a major role in developing the story of Churchill’s visit and the transfer and reconstruction of the church, which was later recognized as the national memorial to Churchill by act of Congress.

Spanish 3 students from Starkville Academy attended the World Language Expo hosted by the Mississippi State University Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures Department. (Submitted photos)

Photograph, courtesy of Divian Conner, set photographer for “Delta Blind Spot” (Submitted photo)