Keith Alan Morris

Keith Alan Morris (born October 9, 1972 in South Bend, Indiana) is an American writer/film director and producer. His most notable films include Gutter King,[1] Flying Tiger, and The Clinic, all of which screened at the Cannes Film Fest Market. He wrote and directed the documentary R.U.B.s in the Guggenheim Museum's "Art of the Motorcycle" exhibit.[2]

Writer/director Keith Alan Morris

Early life

Morris was born in South Bend, Indiana, the son of Ronald and Susan Morris. He grew up there, where he attended Adams High School and also Niles First Assembly High School in Niles, Michigan, where he was salutatorian. He won a scholarship to Kalamazoo College to study political science and theater communications, earning a B.A. with Honors in 1994. While there he made short films and two feature films, The Outside Man and The in Crowd, which won him the Cooper Award and Schneider Prize before graduating in 1994.[3] He attended Instituto Internacional, Madrid, Spain (1993) and University of Central Florida – MFA, Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema Track.

Career

Morris' first feature, The Clinic won Best Screenplay for a Feature Film (out of 180 films) at the New York International Independent Film Fest, and received representation at the Cannes Film Fest Market.

Flying Tiger screened at the Cannes Film Festival Market and won Best Feature at the Arizona Film and TV Fest in 2008. It was shot in Stockton, Missouri, with a student crew from Indiana (where he trained the students for one year prior). Flying Tiger is about a senior in high school who can fly.[3]

Gutter King

Gutter King was his first breakthrough feature internationally. It was nominated for 3 awards in 2010.[4] It has been compared to the early films of Martin Scorsese in that "the violence is dealt with extreme care and respect, as opposed to the superficiality with which we are used to seeing from directors like Guy Ritchie, Danny Boyle or David Fincher."[5][6]

After Gutter King,[5] reached 3.2 million torrents, he was asked to instigate a lawsuit against end users and The Pirate Bay to cut down on unauthorized and illegal downloading of media but steadfastly declined and did not pursue any legal action.

Other work

Morris has written numerous unproduced scripts.[7] Sample approved artwork for one is available on an unofficial Keith Alan Morris website of his films, ufo-tech.com.[8]

He produced two films in 2015 and was production consultant on 10 others, including The Magnificent Seven remake.

Themes and style

Although Morris' films differ considerably in setting and characters (Gutter King is about a suburban teenager, his next film is a robot epic), they share similar themes of existentialism, violence, and spirituality.

Morris' style is composed of handheld based tracking shots and camera movement in general, and he uses his scenes to convey ideas with images, rather than with dialogue. One Latin audience reviewer likened him to Martin Scorsese because of his foreboding, ominous style and his approach to violence comes from a prudent and responsible perspective of trying to understand the characters and the motives for their behavior.[5] Music also plays a large role in Morris' films and he works closely with Michael Kauffmann and the Asthmatic Kitty label and Jeb Banner of Musical Family Tree, both located in his birth state of Indiana.

Films
  • The Clinic (2001) – Won Best Screenplay for a Feature Film at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.
  • Flying Tiger (2004)[9] – Best Feature Film at the Arizona Film and Television Festival, 2008[10]
  • R.U.B.s (2006)
  • Otis Gibbs LIVE (2009)[11]
  • Gutter King (2010) distributed by Cinema Epoch, Multivisionnaire, Metrodome, Rialto, Lizard, Front Row (United States, China, United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Middle East, Malaysia); Nominations at the Action On Film Fest 2010: Best Picture, Best Breakout Action Star, Best Supporting Actor

Artwork
  • Illustrator of over 60 album covers
  • Written and illustrated numerous comics and graphic novels
  • Won the NACE award for Excellence in Advertising

References
  1. "Move over Channing Tatum! GUTTER KING trailer brings realistic fights".
  2. "UCF Masters Students Create Digital Films to Complement the OMA's The Art of the Motorcycle". Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  4. "Official Action on Film 2010 Award Winners and 1st Runner Ups" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 7, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  5. ""Gutter King": Violencia que duele – Extracine" ["Gutter King": violence that hurts] (in Spanish).
  6. Alvarez, Luis M. "Gutter King (review)". Archived from the original on August 17, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  7. "EXCLUSIVE: Robots and zombies? Hell yeah! Teaser for DRIVING THE DEAD". Quiet Earth.
  8. "Ufo-tech.com". Archived from the original on August 16, 2006. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  9. "FLYING TIGER THE MOVIE, keith alan morris". September 27, 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  10. "Home". February 5, 2008. Archived from the original on February 5, 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  11. "OTIS GIBBS - KARLUV MOST in HD". YouTube.
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