Chris Smith

Chris Smith (born in 20 May 1970; Rahway) is an American film documentary director, cameraman, producer, writer, and editor. He is best known for directing American Movie, which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Smith completed his first film, American Job, while attending the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's Graduate Film Program. Chris met Mark Borchardt (the subject of American Movie) while editing American Job, and began filming a documentary about the making of Mark's psychological thriller Coven. Both films played at the Sundance Film Festival, and American Movie was bought by Sony Pictures for $1 million. Chris Smith's directing credits include: Collapse (2009), The Pool (2007), The Yes Men (2003), Home Movie (2001), American Movie (1999), and American Job (1996). He is signed to Smuggler for representation.

Works

Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever

In this documentary, wealthy entrepreneur Bryan Johnson puts his body and fortune on the line to defy aging and extend his life beyond all known limits.

Release Date: 2025-01-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 36

Biggest Heist Ever

Their crimes earned them the nickname Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde — and the story only gets weirder in this documentary about the most lucrative heist ever.

Release Date: 2024-12-05

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 13

Mr. McMahon

WWE experienced record-breaking highs and crushing lows under Vince McMahon's leadership. This docuseries delves into the mogul's controversial reign.

Release Date: 2024-09-25

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Episode Count: 6

Vote Count: 61

Hollywood Con Queen

A mysterious figure—known as the Con Queen—is impersonating powerful female executives in Hollywood, luring victims with the promise of life-changing career opportunities. A journalist and a private investigator set out to find the culprit behind the scam.

Release Date: 2024-05-07

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Episode Count: 3

Vote Count: 5

DEVO

In 1980, new wave band Devo scored a hit with "Whip It" and gained mainstream success with their message of societal "de-evolution", formed in response to the 1970 Kent State shootings.

Release Date: 2024-01-21

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Bitconned

In this true-crime documentary, three guys exploit the freewheeling cryptocurrency market to scam millions from investors and bankroll lavish lifestyles.

Release Date: 2024-01-01

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Vote Count: 48

LGBTQ+ New Comedian of the Year 2022

Nine LGBTQ+ comedians take center stage at the Comedy Bloomers competition. From the witty observations of a non-binary comedian to the hilarious tales of an Argentinian immigrant, each finalist brings a unique flavor to the table. As they navigate the challenges and joys of their identities through humor, they not only compete for the crown but also showcase the rich diversity and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community in the world of comedy.

Release Date: 2023-12-16

Department: Directing

Job: Director

WHAM!

Through archival interviews and footage, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley relive the arc of their Wham! career, from 70s best buds to 80s pop icons.

Release Date: 2023-06-27

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 72

Branson

An expansive and intimate 70-year journey, from Branson’s upbringing as the son of a spirited, tough-love mother in Britain, to his pursuits of extreme, personal daredevilry that serve both to grow his businesses’ brands and feed his insatiable, lifelong thirst for high-stakes adventure.

Release Date: 2022-12-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 4

Vote Count: 3

The Pez Outlaw

Steve Glew, a small-town Michigan farmer, boards a plane for Eastern Europe soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His mission is to locate a secret factory that holds the key to the most desired and valuable pez dispensers. If he succeeds, he will pull his family out of poverty and finally find a purpose in his mundane life.

Release Date: 2022-10-21

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 29

"Sr."

A portrait of the life and career of Robert Downey Sr. (1936-2021), the visionary and fearless US filmmaker — father of actor Robert Downey Jr. — who in the sixties and seventies laid the foundations for countercultural comedy.

Release Date: 2022-09-02

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Character: Self

Vote Count: 57

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes

This documentary explores the mystery surrounding the death of movie icon Marilyn Monroe through previously unheard interviews with her inner circle.

Release Date: 2022-04-27

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 139

Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.

After marrying a mysterious man who claimed he could make her dog immortal, a celebrated vegan restaurateur finds her life veering off the rails.

Release Date: 2022-03-16

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 4

Vote Count: 40

Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story

A lifelong showman, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle has built his various careers on theatrics, attracting a slew of admirers along the way. But beneath the eccentric, animal-loving facade lies a predator far more dangerous than his beloved big cats and a man shadier than any of his Tiger King counterparts.

Release Date: 2021-12-10

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Episode Count: 3

Vote Count: 29

'Twas the Fight Before Christmas

In this true-life twist on a holiday fable, Jeremy Morris brings a whole new meaning to Christmas spirit when his extravagant seasonal display sparks a dispute with his neighbors that lands them all in court.

Release Date: 2021-11-24

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 26

100 Foot Wave

The decade-long odyssey of surfing pioneer Garrett McNamara, who, after visiting Nazaré, Portugal in hopes of conquering a 100-foot wave, pushed the sport to ever-greater heights and alongside locals helped transform the small fishing village into the world’s preeminent big-wave surfing destination.

Release Date: 2021-07-18

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Episode Count: 6

Vote Count: 17

Twisted House Sitter

When Alicia, a destitute young woman crosses paths with Morgan; a beautiful, affluent, entrepreneur, she realizes she'd rather live Morgan's luxurious life. So she takes it, by any means necessary.

Release Date: 2021-07-16

Department: Camera

Job: Steadicam Operator

Vote Count: 8

Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal

An examination that goes beyond the celebrity-driven headlines and dives into the methods used by Rick Singer, the man at the center of the shocking 2019 college admissions scandal, to persuade his wealthy clients to cheat an educational system already designed to benefit the privileged.

Release Date: 2021-03-17

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Vote Count: 133

The Oxy Kingpins

It follows the untold story of how a network of pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and retailers worked together to orchestrate and perpetuate the opioid crisis that has killed over half a million people in America.

Release Date: 2021-03-16

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 2

Tiger King

A zoo owner spirals out of control amid a cast of eccentric characters in this true murder-for-hire story from the underworld of big cat breeding.

Release Date: 2020-03-20

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Episode Count: 13

Vote Count: 474

The Boy Who Sold The World

Ben Pasternak created a viral game app while in middle school in Australia. By 15 he had secured funding from VC’s to build a new tech startup. So Ben dropped out of school and convinced his parents to let him live alone in NYC to lead his new company. A master at growth hacking with a strong eye for design, Ben was committed to making the world’s next big social app. But after running out of money, and confronting controversies that pushed him to the edge of sanity, Ben rebooted his career at 19, finding a new and unexpected purpose. The Boy Who Sold The World is a modern coming-of-age story that illuminates the inner workings of the tech industry from a rare and highly personal lens.

Release Date: 2020-03-15

Department: Production

Job: Producer

The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

The documentary takes a detailed look at the disappearance of 3-year-old Madeleine McCann, who vanished while on holiday with her family.

Release Date: 2019-03-15

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 8

Vote Count: 78

Fyre

He promised supermodels and yachts, but delivered tents and cheese sandwiches. How one man engineered a music festival disaster.

Release Date: 2019-01-18

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 938

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

Offbeat documentarian Chris Smith provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Jim Carrey adopted the persona of idiosyncratic comedian Andy Kaufman on the set of Man on the Moon.

Release Date: 2017-09-05

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 681

Working Class Heroes

Release Date: 2015-02-06

Department: Camera

Job: Second Assistant Camera

Animals

ANIMALS tells the story of Jude and Bobbie: a young couple that exist somewhere between homelessness and the fantasy of their imaginations. Though they masterfully con and steal in an attempt to stay one step ahead of their addiction, they are ultimately forced to face the reality of their situation when one of them gets hospitalized.

Release Date: 2014-05-15

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Vote Count: 22

The Jeffrey Dahmer Files

An experimental documentary film that uses archival footage, interviews, and fictionalised scenarios to tell the story of the people around Jeffrey Dahmer during the summer of his arrest in 1991.

Release Date: 2013-02-15

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 45

St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold

The girls of St. Trinians are on the hunt for buried treasure after discovering headmistress Miss Fritton is related to a famous pirate.

Release Date: 2009-12-18

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 223

Collapse

From the acclaimed director of American Movie, the documentary follows former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter Michael Ruppert. He recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out his apocalyptic vision of the future, spanning the crises in economics, energy, environment and more.

Release Date: 2009-09-12

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 97

The Pool

A boy in abject poverty works in a hotel and becomes obsessed with a swimming pool in the opulent hills of Panjim, Goa, India. His life gets turned upside-down when he attempts to meet the mysterious family who lives at the house.

Release Date: 2008-09-03

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 12

Suffering and Smiling

Suffering and Smiling is a compelling documentary that portrays Fela Anikulapo Kuti as a champion of the rights of the common people and depicts Femi, his son and successor, as an equally militant political activist. Accounts by relatives characterise the men and their music. Occasional archive footage illustrates Nigeria's history and the music mercilessly spells out the irreversible situation.

Release Date: 2006-03-21

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

The Yes Men

A comic, biting and revelatory documentary following a small group of prankster activists as they gain worldwide notoriety for impersonating the World Trade Organization (WTO) on television and at business conferences around the world.

Release Date: 2003-09-07

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 92

Home Movie

Director Chris Smith (American Movie) continues his exploration of all things quirky by affectionately invading several unique homes. Linda Beech is a former Japanese sitcom star who resides in a tree house in Hawaii. Diana and Ed Peden are hippies who have converted an abandoned missile silo into an underground retreat. And Bob Walker and Francis Mooney have reconstructed their home to cater to their dozen cats.

Release Date: 2001-01-25

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 8

American Movie

American Movie is the story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt, his mission, and his dream. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, American Movie is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man's quest for the American Dream.

Release Date: 1999-11-05

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 249

Wilder

Focusing on the life and legacy of actor Gene Wilder, told through the lens of Jordan Walker-Pearlman, the late actor’s nephew and a filmmaker in his own right.

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Caesar's Park

Living next to each other for more than fifty years, eight neighbors warm up to the camera as they get to know their new neighbor, filmmaker Sarah Price.

Release Date: 2000-10-14

Department: Production

Job: Producer

The Big One

The Big One is an investigative documentary from director Michael Moore who goes around the country asking why big American corporations produce their product abroad where labor is cheaper while so many Americans are unemployed, losing their jobs, and would happily be hired by such companies as Nike.

Release Date: 1997-09-06

Department: Camera

Job: Director of Photography

Vote Count: 79

American Job

American Job is a narrative film about Randy Scott, a youth caught in the dismal confusion of living and working in the world of minimum wage. The film follows Randy through a number of low-paying, menial jobs including fast food dishwasher, custodian, telemarketer, and factory worker. It highlights the sheer boredom of minimum wage work and is a slightly comical and occasionally depressing look at what life is like in the US minimum wage arena.

Release Date: 1996-01-22

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 4

Never Get Busted!

Barry Cooper was a highly decorated Texas narcotics officer - until he turned on the police force, busting crooked cops and teaching drug users how to hide their stash.

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Vote Count: 3

Never Get Busted!

Barry Cooper was a highly decorated Texas narcotics officer — until he turned on the police force by busting crooked cops and teaching drug users how to hide their stash.

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Episode Count: 4