Michael Coleman, an artist, filmmaker, editor, and instructor in the Department of Communication, has won the Best Director Award for his film "Satan’s Greatest Lies" at the Murray Center’s Stronger Than Fiction Film Festival. The film follows George Russell, a maverick environmental activist with a God complex, as he mourns the unexpected loss of his youngest daughter, causing him to question his lifelong crusade to preserve the piney woods of East Texas.

Michael, who is a co-founder of Generic Moving Images, a boutique production company in Columbia, was also selected as one of three Murray Center students to screen a rough cut of "Satan’s Greatest Lies" at the First Look Film Festival hosted by the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. Reflecting on his experience making this film, he described it as one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of his filmmaking career.

Michael's impressive body of work includes several notable productions. His feature-length documentary, To Love the Void, had its world premiere at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and his short film DV Footage Log 2014-2020 was showcased at Film Diary NYC 2.0. 

Looking ahead, Michael plans to continue filming with George from his award-winning film “Satan’s Greatest Lies”. He shared, “I have a shoot planned for November and I would like to go back to Huntsville as much as possible to continue filming with him and his wife Sue and seeing out this quest to save his own little beautiful patch of East Texas.” Additionally, he is currently developing another documentary in Central Florida, in a place called Christmas, about an alligator farm that has been owned and operated by the same family for six generations. 

The Department of Communication is excited about Michael's achievements and looks forward to his future productions.