Kira L. Wilson, originally from the outskirts of Los Angeles, is now a full-time actor, producer and director of independent films in the Dayton area–and her most recent project, “Gaunt,” was partially filmed at Sinclair College.
Wilson loved performing as a child, but abandoned this passion after feeling the pressure of auditions in her teen years. It wasn’t until her early forties that a friend suggested she take a role as an extra in a movie being shot in Wilmington, Ohio.
“It literally snowballed,” she said. “That one particular instance, a chance, weird thing that just happened, it opened everything up very quickly.”
Since then, she has produced and appeared in dozens of films and TV shows. She transitioned to directing with her 2025 short, “In Between the Lines,” which premiered at the annual competition Winterfilm.
A film festival was also where she met the writer of “Gaunt,” Canadian-based Mike Ede, who had already won an award for the script.
The film centers around the main character Lawrence, who wakes up after an operation to a “Nurse Ratchet”-type character wheeling him out of the surgical suite and into an old area of the hospital where, according to Wilson, “he is not supposed to be.”
The opening scene of the film was shot using Sinclair’s health sciences facility. It was the last scene to be filmed, after 12-hour overnight shoots on a reportedly haunted set in Lancaster.
“We physically wrote this scene into our script because when I did my tours of the locations or potential locations, I fell in love with Sinclair,” she said. “The health sciences building is just incredible… Everybody just couldn’t believe that we got such an amazing location.”
She said viewers can expect plot twists and supernatural themes in the film.
“Things are not really as they seem,” she said. “There are things going on that can’t be explained, and [Lawrence] thinks that he might know what it is, but he had to get in and investigate.”
Wilson has always been drawn to horror in her filmmaking. After enjoying the genre as a child, she gravitates to the supernatural side of horror instead of slashers or “psycho-killer movies.”
“I thrive on the thrill of being scared,” she said. “And over the years, I’m not scared by much. So the things I am scared of, I like to make movies about things that make me afraid.”
The production of “Gaunt” has been fueled by community connections, mainly Wilson’s peers in the independent film industry such as Lisa Grigsby, the executive director for FilmDayton. The creators also held an IndieGogo campaign which, despite being on a tighter deadline than planned, achieved their funding goal ahead of schedule.
The film crew was made up largely of volunteers, some traveling four to five hours from home for overnight shoots.
“We had a few people sprinkled in from Pittsburgh and Columbus, and we had somebody come all the way up from Kentucky, so we were very blessed,” she said. “We had an incredible team put together to make ‘Gaunt’ happen.”
Having wrapped up shooting, “Gaunt” is entering its post-production editing stage, with hopes for an early September finish. Wilson said there will probably be a small watch party once completed, then the film will be kept under wraps until it is released at festivals.
To learn more and follow the process, readers can follow Wilson on Instagram at @acting_like_kira and check out the “Gaunt” Instagram page at @GauntFilm.
Hannah Kichline, executive editor
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