The Sleeping 8

William S. Davis was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. He grew up in a small town surrounded on all sides by rolling foothills and soaked in an outsider history of moonshine, murder, outlaws, and entrepreneurs. His self-taught filmmaking began with borrowed cameras and VCRs. It continued in college while studying photography and a new world of possibilities with storytelling and artistic logic awakened after seeing Aguirre, The Wrath of God, and other medium-challenging films. His short film work has shown at festivals and galleries worldwide and focuses on unique connections that both build and destroy individuals and communities. Davis has served on a variety of community-based film boards and projects and is currently Program Director of the Joedance Film Festival. He is an Adjunct Faculty member in the Film Studies Program at UNC Charlotte and works full-time as CEO of production company Small Creatures. In addition to film work, Davis is an Eagle Scout, fine artist, and musician. For him, art exists to challenge, inform, and reinforce shared and individual belief systems. He believes the role of great art is to resonate beyond its reception through thought, discussion, destruction, and creation.