Travis Wilkerson, filmmaker and associate professor of documentary practice at Duke Kunshan University, has been named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, joining one of the most prestigious fellowships in the arts and humanities in the foundation’s milestone 100th year.
“I had a mixture of feelings,” Wilkerson said of learning the news. “Excitement, relief and a sense of recognition — especially because my career path has been somewhat unorthodox. I also felt proud to have accomplished this as a member of DKU, and hopeful that it brings attention to the work we’re all doing here.”
Wilkerson, one of 198 recipients selected from nearly 3,500 applicants across 53 disciplines, plans to use the fellowship to pursue two major projects. One will revisit his earlier documentary “An Injury to One,” which chronicled the 1917 lynching of labor organizer Frank Little in his hometown of Butte, Montana. It was named one of the best avant-garde films of the decade by Film Comment and a “political-cinema landmark” by the Los Angeles Times.
“The original film didn’t really explore who Frank Little was or how he ended up in Butte,” Wilkerson said. “That story is quite remarkable. I’d like to return to it — not just as a prequel, but as a kind of postscript as well.”
His second project will explore how leftist European filmmakers, including Chris Marker, Michelangelo Antonioni and Joris Ivens, portrayed China during the 1950s to 1970s.
“These films are complex and received very mixed responses in China,” he said. “I want to understand what they got right, what they missed and why the reaction was so layered.”
He plans to begin with Antonioni’s work, which was partially filmed in nearby Suzhou.
This exploration also reflects Wilkerson’s deep connection to China, which he calls the main influence on his work. “The transformation here is breathtaking — no equal in human history,” he said. “There’s a clear gaze toward the future. That same spirit exists at DKU. It’s incredibly meaningful to contribute to something that’s just getting started and will only grow stronger.”
Though his approach to filmmaking is modest and self-driven, the results are anything but. “I decide what I want to make. I decide where to place the camera. I speak my own mind. Those are huge privileges,” he said. “With today’s tools, you can make something visually beautiful on a shoestring.”
That hands-on spirit also shapes his work in the classroom. “My filmmaking makes my teaching better, and my teaching makes my filmmaking stronger,” he said.
His recent project with comedian Matt Barats involved DKU students as both cast and crew — what he calls his “most experiential class yet.” Wilkerson said the experience reinforced the value of integrating teaching and creative work. With the Guggenheim Fellowship, he hopes to take that model even further, especially as he explores foreign films about China.
“It would be really useful for the students and make a much better, more honest film too,” he said.
Wilkerson’s filmmaking journey began unexpectedly, sparked by a chance encounter with a funeral march for Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov in 1990. Another twist of fate led him to Cuban film legend Santiago Álvarez, whose mentorship inspired Wilkerson’s first film.
“That whole experience was some sort of a miracle,” he said. “Really. It was my first film education, and the best.”
When asked what advice he’d give to young artists trying to tell bold or unconventional stories, he said:
“Trust your personal experience as being good enough, meaningful enough. Even if you only write a single line in the ‘book’ of cinema, make that single line as luminous and singular as possible.”
Wilkerson often encourages young artists to trust the value of their own experiences, no matter how local or personal they may seem.
“I had a professor when I was in college who claimed Chekhov, the Russian writer, said — ‘If you wish to attract the attention of the world, describe your tiny village in precise detail,’” he said. “I’ve searched and searched for this quote and it now seems apocryphal, but I still believe the idea was correct.”
At DKU, he teaches documentary film, the videographic essay and docu-fiction. His films have screened at hundreds of venues and festivals worldwide, including Berlin, Sundance, Toronto and Locarno. The New Yorker included “Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?” in its 2022 list of “Sixty-Two Films That Shaped the Art of Documentary Filmmaking.”
Wilkerson holds a bachelor’s degree in literature and creative writing from the University of Michigan and a Master of Fine Arts in filmmaking from CalArts.
As part of its centennial, the Guggenheim Foundation will also open a special exhibit this fall in partnership with the New-York Historical Society, showcasing rarely seen works from a century of fellows.
Founded in 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has supported more than 19,000 scholars, artists and thinkers. Fellows are awarded funding to pursue independent work “under the freest possible conditions.”
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