The Collective
Jonathan Kilcullen
Founder, Art Louse Films
Creative Partner, Cloudframe Media
Jonathan Kilcullen has served in the Mississippi Army National Guard for over nineteen years. He enlisted in the Fall of 2001 as a combat medic in an infantry platoon. In 2005 Kilcullen deployed to Iraq as a line medic in Task Force 2/11 ACR. He spent the deployment working out of FOB Kalsu, a base south of Baghdad. One night during the summer while on a dismounted foot patrol Jonathan wiped the sweat away from his night vision goggles in time to see a helicopter fly by. “Those guys got it figured out”, He thought to himself. When he returned to the States the following year, Kilcullen stayed on full-time status to fly as a flight medic. He did that for the next five years.
In 2011 Kilcullen left for Ft. Rucker, AL where he became a Warrant Officer and learned to fly the AH-64D Longbow Apache. It was a profoundly challenging experience where he learned as much about himself as he did about the aircraft.
In 2015 Jonathan was the music supervisor and musician for the documentary Anthem. It premiered at Festival South in Hattiesburg, MS before going on to feature in the Austin Film Festival.
In 2018 Kilcullen was again deployed, this time to Kuwait as a staff officer in the headquarters to the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team. While there, he was assigned to the American Embassy in Amman, Jordan as a liaison officer.
2019 saw the premier of his first play The Control Room, directed by Alisha Waite.
The play was a semifinalist for the 2020 Bridge Award.
Benjamin Smith
Founder, Cloudframe Media
Creative Partner, Art Louse Films
Photographer and documentarian Benjamin Smith has worked on a number of commercial and theatrical projects. He was the director of the 2015 documentary Anthem. The film premiered at Festival South in Hattiesburg, MS where it was awarded the Jury Prize for achievement. Anthem was included in the programming for the Austin Film Festival and Doc Utah, 2016.
He has filmed projects in the US, Europe, and Africa.
His documentary Exist with Us detailed the creative processes of the band The Squid & The Whale. The film premiered in 2019.
His feature-length documentary, God Make Me an Artist, premiered in June 2021.