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Chriss Williams, a professor of film and chair of the Department of Communication at William Paterson University in Wayne, has received the 2025 Individual Artist Finalist Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in the category of playwriting/screenwriting. The program is administered in partnership with Mid-Atlantic Arts.
The highly competitive awards are granted solely on artistic quality, as determined by an anonymous, independent peer panel review. The awards are intended to support New Jersey artists in producing new work and advancing their careers. This year, 216 artists were recognized through the program.
Williams was recognized for his original script, The Twelve, which through a compelling blend of spiritual realism and Afrofuturism, interrogates the legacy of slavery while honoring West African traditions that connect the living to their ancestors.
“I’m deeply honored to be selected for this award,” Williams says. “The support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts affirms the value of stories that reflect complex lives and underrepresented voices. It’s a privilege to create and teach in a state that invests in its artists.”
An award-winning filmmaker, educator, and attorney, Williams’s first feature film, Asbury Park, earned the Gordon Parks Award for Directing, and his second, Bellclair Times, won the Newark Black Film Festival. His films have been screened at international film festivals.
Williams joined the William Paterson University faculty in 2000, and has taught courses in film production, visual effects, and screenwriting, among others. A graduate of New York University's Graduate Film Program and Rutgers School of Law, Williams has served as a longtime pro bono attorney for Partners for Women and Justice, a nonprofit law firm that assists survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. He was honored with their 2022 Partner in Hope Award for his work.
