Director: Kely McClung

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0565955

With a lifetime pursuit of both pen and sword, directing films seems like a natural progression for Kely McClung.

Earning his black belt in a half-dozen disciplines, McClung studyied dozens more with martial arts teachers from around the world, has worked with police departments and the military, and won the World Middle-weight Championship in Full Contact Stickfighting,

After a year in South Africa working on the American Ninja films with martial arts great Mike Stone, McClung signed a four-picture deal to star and write with legendary producer/director Menahem Golan of Cannon Pictures.

Though Golan’s time in Hollywood came to an end, and only one of the projects was completed, McClung found himself in demand as a choreographer, stuntman, actor, and eventually a script doctor and editor.

Serving as Head of Production for PAN AM Pictures, McClung oversaw the production and distribution of a slate of films produced and/or acquired in Miami, Florida.

McClung has written 27 feature-length screenplays under his own name, and ghostwritten and/or rewritten a dozen more, while directing three feature films, BLOOD TIES, KERBEROS, and ALTERED, winning critical acclaim and dozens of festival awards around the world including for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Film.

Both McClung’s short films, A.M. SESSION and LOOP, also won multiple awards. A.M. Session had the rare honor of showing at a sold-out Writer’s Guild screening and was sold to HBO, while Loop screened in two dozen festivals and won over a dozen awards including the Best Film at the Austrian Film Festival in Vienna.

McClung is the writer/director of Yves Nangue Carson’s gangster epic, THE LAW OF DESTINY, the most ambitious film ever produced in Cameroon with an international cast and crew including Gerard Depardieu, Alice Krige, and Gary Daniels.

Named “One of The Top 100 Indie Filmmaker in the World,” in the book of the same name, McClung still trains in and teaches martial arts, conducting workshops in the U.S. and Europe, and has twice been inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Honors in Munich.

BLACK FIRE, McClung’s first novel, is first in an epic trilogy, is drawing attention from publishers both here and Europe. LOOP, McClung’s second novel, is being considered for a possible series and feature film, and will be published later this year.

As an artist, McClung’s photography is represented by the Michael-Warren Contemporary in Denver and his huge pen&ink portrait of MLK, Jr. And Gandhi has been on display at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Change in Atlanta for 30 years.

With film and martial arts friends around the world, McClung loves mentoring, sharing and learning while planning his next movie adventures.