Creative Research

• Alex Smith and his twin brother Andrew have optioned the non-fiction book "The Better Angel" by Roy Morris, Jr and are adapting it into a feature film about the landmark American poet Walt Whitman during the Civil War. The Smith Brothers will also direct with Matt Bomer attached to star as Walt Whitman. Adaptation, in progress 12/05/2022.
• I have been the Artistic Director of the Woodstock Film Festival/White Feather Farm Filmmaker Residency since January 2021. We are entering the third year of the annual residency. The Residency is month-long social justice feature film Incubator wherein we invite four emerging BIPOC narrative and documentary filmmakers to live together on a farm so as to cultivate their feature film projects. I am in charge of all creative, pedagogical and mentorship components. Mentors include Sterlin Harjo, Rodrigo Garcia, Mira Nair, Yoruba Richen, Barbara Kopple, Ira Sachs, Julie Anderson, Matty Rich, Peter Saraf, Pam Yates & Paco De Onis. Curatorial/Production, in progress 05/01/2022.
  https://woodstockfilmfestival.org/filmmakers-resid...
• I, along with my twin brother Andrew, developed, pitched, sold and wrote the pilot to THE DARKLINGS​​, an hour-long pilot for Red Arrow Productions (Europe). It is an adaptation of the linked short story collection "Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone​" by Stefan Kiesbye. Commission, completed 10/10/2018.
  https://www.amazon.com/Your-House-Fire-Children-Go...
• Alex Smith, along with his twin brother Andrew wrote, directed and co-produced WALKING OUT, a feature film adaptation of David Quammen’s classic short story, shot on location in Montana, November 2015 & January, 2016. Starring Golden Globe Winner Matt Bomer, Bill Pullman, Josh Wiggins and Indie-Spirit Nominee Lily Gladstone. Acquired by IFC FILMS for North American Distribution and AMP for International Distribution. Nominated for Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival, January, 2017; Screened at San Francisco International Film Festival; CamerImage; SXSW Film Festival; Sun Valley Film Festival; Seattle International Film Festival; Sarasota International Film Festival; Sundance London Film Festival; Giffoni Int’l Film Festival; BAMfest, Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, Angyang International Youth Film Festival, Gijon International Film Festival, St. Louis Film Festival, and numerous others. The film has played in over 200 theaters and over 15 countries and won many awards. Exhibition, completed 08/02/2018.
  https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/walking-out
• Alex, along with his twin brother developed, pitched and wrote the pilot to the tv series THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD,​​ a metaphysical eco-thriller, based on the novel by Kevin Brockmeier. They sold the show to AMAZON TV, where it is still in development. Commission, in progress 07/08/2017.
  https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Dead-Kevin-Br...
• The Smith Brothers adapted the thriller THE LAST WINTER OF DANI LANCING, based on novel by P.D. Viner, as the pilot for a television series for Warner Horizon. Commission, completed 11/19/2015.
  https://www.amazon.com/Last-Winter-Dani-Lancing-No...
• Alex and his twin brother Andrew adapted into a feature film script the novel REMEMBERING LAUGHTER, by Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner. A love triangle set on an Iowa farm in 1900. Written for award-wining director Rodrigo Garcia. Commission, submitted 09/15/2013.
  https://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Laughter-Wallac...
• Alex Smith, in collaboration with his twin brother Andrew, wrote, directed and produced WINTER IN THE BLOOD, a feature film adaptation of James Welch’s landmark 1974 novel, shot on three First Nations Reservations in Montana, comprised of a cast that was 80% Native American. The film premiered in Main Competition at the Los Angeles Film Festival; won the Grand Prix at the Montreal First Persons Film Festival; screened at Woodstock, Austin, Lone Star (Fort Worth), Northwest (Portland) Loft (Tucson), Twin Cities, Origins (London), Sofia (Bulgaria), and 35 other festivals. Film received over $350k in grant and crowdfunding monies, including a $25,000 Fetzer Forgiveness Grant, and​ is currently being taught in over 40 University curriculums. Released by Kino-Lorber, the film was a critical hit. As critic Charles Mudede put it: “Winter in the Blood is nothing less than to give birth to a whole new way of sculpting the time of cinema.” Exhibition, refereed, completed 06/13/2013.
  https://kinolorber.com/film/winterintheblood
• The Smith Brothers were commissioned by HBO Pictures/Warner Brothers to write the feature film THE RADIOACTIVE BOY SCOUT-- a true story about a boy who builds a nuclear reactor in his mom’s potting shed. The script was based on a Harper’s Magazine article by Ken Silverstein. Commission, completed 05/05/2011.
  https://www.amazon.com/Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Backy...
• Alex and his twin brother wrote the fantasy feature film FAERIE WARS, adapted from the YA novel of the same name by Herbie Brennan, for the London-based Frameworks UK. Commission, completed 12/15/2010.
  https://www.amazon.com/Faerie-Wars-Herbie-Brennan-...
• Alex Smith was the main Producer of DANCE WITH THE ONE​​, the first UTFI feature film production,​ ​​made entirely by student filmmakers at the University of Texas at Austin-- both graduate and undergraduate-- with professional and/or academic mentors in every facet of filmmaking. Starring Gabriel Luna (THE LAST OF US; TRUE DETECTIVE, TERMINATOR: DARK FATE), the film had its World Premiere in the Main Competition at the SXSW Film Festival 2010, and also screened at Dallas International Film Festival, Vail International Film Festival, and Cucalorus International Film Festival. I produced the film under the auspices of my role as the Creative Director of the University of Texas Film Institute. Curatorial/Production, completed 03/15/2010.
  https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/screens/2010...
• The Smith Brothers developed, pitched and sold BADLANDS, an original “true crime in the contemporary wild west” pilot for major cable channel FX. Commission, completed 12/20/2009.
• The Smith Brothers adapted SON OF THE GUN into a feature film for Fox Searchlight. Based on the cult graphic novel by legendary Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. The story is ​Oedipus Rex meets Scarface​ set in the criminal underworld of Mexico City. Commission, completed 07/17/2008.
  https://www.amazon.com/Son-Gun-Sinner-Alexandro-Jo...
• The Smith Brothers wrote YOUNGBLOODS, a feature film about the collaboration between Pop Warner and a ragtag team of Native American kids at the Carlisle Indian School, circa 1908, as together they beat Harvard and transform the game of football forever. Commissioned by ESPN Films. Commission, completed 10/02/2007.
• The Smith Brothers, along award-winning novelist & writer Chris Offutt, adapted the short story collection OUT OF THE WOODS into a feature film script. The project was held-up due to rights issues, but is currently back in development. Adaptation, in progress 06/06/2005.
  https://www.amazon.com/Out-Woods-Stories-Chris-Off...
• The Smith Brothers wrote, for Columbia Studios, THE GARDEN, an original feature-length screenplay based on the point-shaving scandal in the wake of City College of New York’s 1951 NCAA basketball championship. The script was inspired by the HBO documentary "City Dump." Commission, completed 11/30/2004.
  https://www.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GVg...
• The Smith Brothers wrote Americanization of Lars Von Trier’s script to DANCER IN THE DARK (prior to production) for Good Machine in New York and for Zentropa in Denmark. The film is set in the Pacific Northwest so we were hired to work with Lars in order to make it work in that region. Commission, completed 12/02/2002.
  https://www.amazon.com/Dancer-Dark-Bj%C3%B6rk/dp/B...
• Alex Smith, along with this twin brother, wrote and directed the critically acclaimed feature ​THE SLAUGHTER RULE, which was nominated for an ​Independent Spirit Award​ for Best First Feature and was released in theaters nationally by Cowboy Pictures. Starring Ryan Gosling, David Morse, Amy Adams, Clea Duvall, Eddie Spears and Kelly Lynch, ​THE SLAUGHTER RULE​​ premiered in the Dramatic Competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.​ ​​One of only three American films to play at MoMA’s 2002 New Directors/New Films series in NYC, ​The Slaughter Rule​​ screened at numerous festivals-- winning Best Independent Feature at the Santa Fe Film and Nashville Film Festivals, and Best Feature at the Great Plains Film Festival. Screened at 15+ international festivals, including Athens, Auckland, Sydney, London and Stockholm, where it won the highly prestigious FIPRESCI (International Critic’s) Prize. Exhibition, refereed, completed 01/21/2002.
  https://www.amazon.com/Slaughter-Rule-Amy-Adams/dp...
• I wrote the feature film script ​OUT OF LOVE​​, a contemporary adaptation of the Chekhov novella ‘​The Duel​’, for renowned filmmaker Terrence Malick and Ed Pressman Productions. Adaptation, completed 01/03/1998.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duel_(Chekhov_no...

Presentations

• I participated in a two-hour long TV WRITERS SYMPOSIUM at the University of Tulsa, along with the writer Alison Tatlock (Better Call Saul). Other, Presented, 11/11/2022.
  https://calendar.utulsa.edu/event/tv-writing-sympo...
• I presented, along with my twin brother Andrew Smith and renown author David Quammen, my feature film WALKING OUT as part of the "Re-imagining Death: Conversations about Dying, Loss & Grief" Series sponsored by the University of Montana Humanities Institute, the Missoula Public Library and the National Endowment of Humanities. Presentation, Presented, 04/05/2021.
  https://www.missoulapubliclibrary.org/home/program...