Director and cinematographer Mark Wilkinson’s most recent film is the documentary American Tap about the evolution and social history of tap dancing. After premiering at Lincoln Center in New York as the Opening Night Film of the oldest and most prestigious dance film festival un the world, American Tap went on to win the Audience Award at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. It continues to sell throughout the world as the definitive documentary film about tap dance
Described by Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times as “a deep-digging and personal filmmaker,” Mark made his feature film debut with Dischord, an art-house thriller that was released theatrically in 2003 by Artistic License Films and is now available on DVD in 6 countries including the U.S. Called “a great independent film and a spectacular debut from filmmaker Wilkinson,” by Chris Gore of Filmthreat, Dischord enjoyed an extensive festival run before its release, collecting a total of 10 Grand Prize Awards including: Best Director, Best of Fest, Best First Feature, Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay (press-Videoscope).
Mark also wrote and directed two award-winning short films which were also screened at festivals internationally. The Next Big Thing (press-Cinefantastique). a science fiction piece about virtual-reality gone awry, won a Saturn Golden Scroll Award from the Science Fiction Academy and has since been declared a “transgressive cinema classic” by British sci-fi fanzine rumourmachine.com. Sally & Angela, an action-adventure comedy, garnered multiple directing and comedy awards at festivals around the world and was also screened in Paris during the Festival du Sang Neuf (“New Blood”), an exhibition of the 12 best short films of the year by American and French filmmakers. Sally & Angela is part of the iFiim Midnight Classics collection of most popular internet movies of all time and is distributed worldwide for cable TV, the Internet, and VHS and can also be seen on atomfilms.com. Mark’s most recent film Biting Personalities which he made with his teammates in the 2007 SoCal Cinema Slam 72 Hour Competition won Best Film, Best Screenplay, Audience Award and was screened in the Sundance Digital Pavillion in 2008.
He directed music videos for Danielle Barbe, Semi Precious Weapons and Miss Derringer as well as spoken-word artist Rich Ferguson who appears on the next 1 Giant Leap project. Concert and performance video directing credits include: Shakira, Phoenix, Silversun Pickups, Weezer, Katy Perry, Alice in Chains, Three Days Grace, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sean Kingston, Norah Jones, Train, Luke Bryan, Brandon Flowers, Sara Bareilles and many others (photo gallery). As a director, editor and post-wizard, Mark has over a decade of experience working on music videos and promotional films for artists Michael Jackson, Ice Cube, BG, Ozomatli, AFI, Finch, Big L, Wyclef Jean, Brooks & Dunn, Delta Goodrem, Junkie XL, Emmy Rossum, and most recently Rebekka Bakken, The Police, ACDC, Chris Botti and Sting.
In the past, Mark enjoyed directing live theatre. Recent productions include Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest at Theatre Palisades, a regional production of Mojo (press-Boston Globe), Jez Butterworth’s high-octane thriller set in 1958 Soho, London, Sheila Callaghan’s hilarious and poignant play Scab (press-LA Weekly) and Three Lefts by Christina Bunner. Mark’s production of Duet for One was called “an impressive and elegant production” by ReviewPlays and “a must-see” by Entertainment Today and after a lengthy extension was adapted into the film 6 Sessions (currently in post-production). Mark also directed Noël in The Blank Theatre’s 2006 Young Playwrights Festival, as well as many plays in development in The Blank’s Living Room Series. Mark is also one of the founding members of the Alchemy Arts Ensemble, a theatre and film company committed to arts education and community outreach.
Mark directs commercials and branded content with his own company Lions+Tigers and Direct Response spots with his directing partner Bruse Somers, Jr. and sincbox productions and for clients that include Orby TV, Jenny Craig, Weber Grills, GameFly, Warner Bros., Hoover, Hamilton Beach, DIRECTV, Visa, Procter & Gamble and many more.
Mark is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Stage Directors and Choreographers society, the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and the Actors Studio Directors Unit.
(Click here to see my theatre productions archive)