Alpha Theta Academy

Michael Kirtley '72

OKA!

Raised in Kentucky, Michael has spent much of his adult life in Europe and Africa. Thrice selected to the Who's Who of International Photojournalists, he has written and photographed many feature stories for such publications as National Geographic, Newsweek, Time, Newsweek, Life, Stern, Geo, Africa International, and Paris-Match.

He has interviewed dozens of well–known leaders, among them the late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, former South African President Nelson Mandela, King Hussein of Jordan, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Syrian President Hafez Al–Assad, and French President Francois Mitterrand.

He recently co-produced the feature narrative film OKA!, shot among the Bayaka pygmies in the equatorial rain forest of Central African Republic, and released to high praise in 2012 in the United States. His current projects include producing a feature narrative film near Paris, France and co-directing and producing a feature length documentary on the Western Sahara situation in Morocco and Algeria.