Mudpuppy

Garret Williams

Director/ Writer

After receiving his M.F.A. from the AFI, Garret wrote, produced and directed the short film SPARK (38 min. drama), the story of a young African-American couple stranded in the desert. Funded by a $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the film premiered at Sundance and went on to play at New Directors/New Films at the MOMA, and won the Grand Prize at the USA Film Festival in Dallas. Spark aired on Showtime during their Black Filmmakers Showcase and was named Best Film. His script HYENAS, a character driven thriller set in Minneapolis, was chosen for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Garret also attended the Sundance Filmmakers Lab with his feature script for Spark which also won The Minnesota Blockbuster/McKnight Film Fund Award. Garret remade SPARK (103 min. drama) as a feature starring Terrence Howard, Nicole Ari Parker and Brendan Sexton III. Spark was an official selection at Sundance and Berlin and was the Opening Night Film at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. Garret was also named Best Director at the Urbanworld Film Festival for the film. In 2007 Spark was released by Warner Home Video as the debut film for their American Black Film Festival DVD series label. Garret has taken his project LOST DOG through both the Film Independent Screenwriters and Directors Lab. Lost Dog was also a Fast Track project at the LAFF and was nominated for Best Screenplay and the Gordon Parks Award at the IFP Film Market. His latest script, MUDPUPPY, was selected for the 2007 Film Independent Writer’s Lab.