Michael W. King

Michael W. King is an Emmy Award-winning American filmmaker, producer, director, and writer of music videos, documentaries, and narrative films. King is the founder of Michael W. King Productions, LLC., and lives with his son, Mathias, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He is a current member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and a former board member of the International Documentary Association (IDA).

Early life
King attended and graduated high school at New London High School (New London, Connecticut), and went on to college at Connecticut College, graduating with a BA in Government in 1975. King also later received an MA in Film Studies from the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and a postgraduate degree in Feature Film Directing from the Amsterdam School of the Arts, Maurits Binger Film Institute.

Michael W. King also taught screenwriting and film from 2000-01 at the European Center of Emerson College in the Netherlands, and was the Filmmaker-in-Residence and Professor of Film at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida (2007–08).

Film career
In 1991, Michael W. King produced an MTV music video based on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "I Have A Dream". In 1995, King produced, directed, and wrote a PBS documentary titled Making A Living, the African-American Experience, which featured American actor Joe Morton. In 1997, he directed and wrote his first feature film in the Czech Republic, entitled Vanity Kills. In 1999, King created an Emmy award-winning PBS documentary entitled Bangin ’, featuring Chuck D from Public Enemy, which explored youth violence in America.

In 2007, he completed a feature documentary called Rapping with Shakespeare  (2008), which followed the story of an English teacher who used hip-hop and rap to help his students better access Shakespeare's works, while making parallels between the lives of five South Central Los Angeles teenagers and Shakespeare's characters.

Michael King also executive produced Crenshaw Nights , the story of Frank ‘Jupiter’ Johnson, an ex-con trying to walk the straight and narrow, working for a local bail bondsman hunting criminals down that fail to appear for their court dates. The film starred Vondie Curtis-Hall and Judd Nelson and was made in 2008 for the American Film Institute.

In 2010, King produced, directed, and wrote a documentary called The Rescuers , which tells the story of 13 heroic World War II diplomats who helped save the lives of tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. The Rescuers stars historian and Holocaust expert Sir Martin Gilbert and Rwandan anti-genocide activist Stephanie Nyombayire and features King Charles III.





In 2022, The Rescuers  was remastered and premiered for its 10th anniversary. In May of 2024, it was shown before members of Congress, Senators, and Ambassadors in support of ‘’The Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act on Capitol Hill. King was presented with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, presented to him by Congressman John B. Larson of Connecticut, in honor of his accomplished 35 years of commitment and service to humanitarian and artistic endeavors.

King is currently in development for a feature film about Dutch diplomat Joop Kolkman (Joseph Willem (Joop) Kolkman), who died saving lives in the Holocaust. Robin Russin will write the film, and King and Alain de Levita will produce it. King is also developing a feature film about hip-hop star-crossed lovers titled Rapping with Shakespeare. King and Joyce D. Mandell are producing and directing a monumental 10-part hour-long docuseries, The Rescuers Last Chance Project. This project is a continuation of his groundbreaking work on The Rescuers. It is set to unveil the untold stories of the heroic World War II diplomats who risked everything to save lives from the Holocaust. The series, a beacon of hope and resilience in unraveling the mystery of goodness, is slated for release in 2026, promising to captivate and inspire audiences worldwide.