David Kirkman

Artist-in-Residence

David Kirkman, founder of Woke Nation Studios, is an innovative young writer, director, and filmmaker originally from Ferguson. His films focus on Black futurism, Black superheroes from Milestone Comics, and documentaries highlighting Black life. His four short films based on Milestone Comics have accumulated over 4 million views online and has attracted a global audience. His Black Entrepreneur series, based on the song by Pharrell and Jay-Z, celebrates black business owners in St. Louis, Tulsa, and Nashville and their positive impact in their communities.

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    • During his residency with AFAS, David will work on his original screenplay, Underneath, an Afrofuturist feature film about a slave in the 1800s thrust into an intergalactic crises after an encounter with an alien being. He will also work on a short documentary based on the Ferguson Forum publication in anthropology's flagship journal American Ethnologist.
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