Dwight Wilkins

Dwight Wilkins was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. He grew up in Stony Hill and during his teenage years, he moved to Kingston where he attended various high schools. At 19 years old, he migrated to the USA to join his parents and three of his siblings who have been living here for years. Wilkins joined the United States Navy and served on a ship stationed in South Carolina, which allowed him to travel all over the world on a number of deployments. After an honorable discharge from the Navy, he moved to Connecticut and enrolled at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, CT. After a year, he transferred to Norwalk Community College where he took his first film class with Professor Ada Lambert. It was studying film with Lambert that ignited Wilkins' love for film. Wilkins graduated with an Associate degree in Mass Communication in 1986. He then went on to Brooklyn College in NY where he earned a BA in Film in June 1989. In September 1989, he went to Ohio University in Athens, OH, to pursue a MFA in Film Production, which he earned in 1995. While at OU, he made the award winning short film, Reflections (1991), as well as Kickin' It With Kevin (1992), a documentary about an emerging African American artist/photographer. Wilkins also wrote the feature length screenplays, Running to Heaven, Dreaming America, among others. In an effort of boost his writing, he went on to complete a MFA in playwriting at OU. Upon graduation he moved to Philadelphia, PA, and has been working in theatre and film ever since. He teaches young people filmmaking for The Big Picture Alliance, and also teaching playwriting in schools for Philadelphia Young Playwrights. Wilkins made a short black and white film called A Beautiful Day (2002), which was followed by a series of anti-smoking PSAs for the non-profit organization Full Circle Theater, a partner of Temple University. He then wrote, directed, and produced the documentary, Self Help Movement (2008), about one of the most well known drug and alcohol rehab facility in Philadelphia, PA. Wilkins directed his first feature film, A Rose on Ninth Street (2012), which he co-produced with Joseph Ruggiero, and worked with him adapting the screenplay from Ruggiero's novel of the same name. His awards and honors for Reflections include: The Boston Globe Critics' Choice Award and The Chelsea Pictures Outstanding Narrative Award (1991), at The New England Film and Video Festival; Carolina Film Festival, Best of the Show (1991), Ann Arbor Film Festival, Honorable Mention (1991) Great Lakes Film Festival, Honorable Mention (1991) Red River International Film Festival, Short Film Award Winner (1991).