Steve James is the award-winning director, producer, and co-editor of Hoop Dreams, which won every major critics award as well as a Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 1995. The film earned James the Directors Guild of America Award and the MTV Movie Award’s “Best New Filmmaker.” James’ next documentary, Stevie, won major festival awards at Sundance, Amsterdam, Yamagata and Philadelphia, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. The acclaimed feature was released theatrically and landed on a dozen “Top Ten Films of the Year” lists for 2003.
James was also an executive producer, story director, and co-editor of the PBS series, The New Americans, which won two Chicago International Television Festival Golden Hugos, and the prestigious 2004 International Documentary Association Award for Best Limited Series for Television. In 2005, James completed the documentary Reel Paradise. Released theatrically by Wellspring Media, it was James’ fourth film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Most recently, James served as producer and editor of The War Tapes, a documentary comprised of video footage shot by American soldiers in Iraq. The film won “Best International Documentary” at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, as well as top prize at the 2006 BritDoc Film Festival.
James’ dramatic films include the theatrical feature Prefontaine, which premiered at Sundance, and cable movies Passing Glory (1999) and Joe and Max (2002), which was nominated for an ESPN Espy Award.
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