In a nutshell, I make documentaries. But here’s a more ‘professional’ bio for ‘official’ use below:

Mat Hames is an Emmy Award winning Texas filmmaker known for his documentaries on PBS, Amazon Prime Video, Independent Lens, AppleTV, SundanceTV, Netflix and Rooster Teeth FIRST. 

SHORT BIO:

Mat Hames is an Emmy winning Executive Producer and Director, known for his two feature length Independent Lens documentaries What Was Ours and When I Rise, as well as multiple documentary series including Power Trip: The Story of Energy. His work can currently streamed on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.  Hames is currently directing A State of Mind for PBS, a series focused on mental health issues for Americans living in the mountain west, and is the series Director and Producer for Power Trip, Season Two - a history of energy’s impact on modern life.

What Was Ours, filmed on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming over a period of several years, was recently featured on HBO’s This Week Tonight with John Oliver. Hames’ directorial debut was Last Best Hope, a nationally broadcast PBS film about the Belgian Resistance and escape lines during WWII, for which he was knighted by Belgian King Albert II. Hames’ six hour series on the history of energy Power Trip: The Story of Energy has to date been seen by more than 3 million viewers on networks in over 10 countries. . Power Trip received coveted Rockefeller Foundation and Sloan Foundation funding. Hames traveled to eight countries and interviewed 100 experts on topics concerning the history of energy. Season Two production is currently underway filming in Iceland, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

Hames’ other recent films include a biography of two Native American Artists, The Art of Home (PBS Living Channel), and Fossil Country, an examination of the life of hardscrabble fossil hunters searching for a scientific discovery. (Wyoming PBS). 

Hames is a co-founder of production studio Alpheus Media, based in Austin Texas, where he currently oversees a core staff of 10. In addition to documentaries, with Alpheus Media, Mat has also directed short films for clients like Warner Bros, The Economist, Johns Hopkins, University of Texas and MD Anderson Cancer Center, as well as hundreds of online video campaigns for cause-based brands such as LIVESTRONG, Movember, Athletes for Hope, Partners in Health, and Bill and Economist Educational Foundation.

www.mathamesfilm.com

LONG BIO:

Hames' directorial debut was Last Best Hope, a film about the Belgian Resistance and escape lines during WWII, which won several festival awards before a national PBS broadcast.  He was knighted by Belgian King Albert II for his work on the film.  Hames then directed the short Fighting Goliath narrated and produced by Robert Redford. It was the official selection of 12 film festivals, awarded the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Best Documentary Short at the Red Rock Film Festival and the Golden Sun at the Barcelona Festival Internacional de Cine del Medio Ambiente. Fighting Goliath aired nationally on SundanceTV and PBS. Next, his State of Tomorrow PBS docu-series won several Emmys.

Hames' film When I Rise, about African American spiritual singer, civil rights icon and New York opera star Barbara Conrad, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and had an international premiere at HotDocs in Toronto. After playing in ten festivals in the US, the UK, and Canada, the film entered the festival circuit in Europe, aired on PBS’s Emmy winning Independent Lens, and was nominated for an IDA Documentary Award. He produced the inaugural season of KLRU-TV (Austin PBS) ‘s docu-series "Austin Revealed: Civil Rights Stories" which screened at  SXSW Film: Faces of Austin Showcase.

What Was Ours (2017; Independent Lens) was filmed over 3 years on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. The film follows Native American's quest to reclaim lost artifacts and start a tribal museum. What Was Ours is winner of several awards including Best Documentary at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, Best Feature and Best of Class at SWAIA and the 2017 Western Heritage Award. After premiering at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the film was selected by the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian’s Native Cinema Showcase, then premiered nationally on US television as part of the PBS Series Independent Lens.   He was commissioned by Independent Lens to create a 2017 follow-up short documentary, a portrait of a native American Viet Nam Veteran,  "Never Conquered", which was an  Editor's Pick on The Atlantic Magazine. That same year,   "A Century of Change" screened as part of SXSW 2017's Faces of Austin showcase. Since 2016, he has directed the #RTDocs Series, Rooster Teeth's documentaries covering the most unique stories and personalities in the world of gaming, internet, and popular culture for FIRST members on Xbox One, Apple TV, iOS, Roku, and Android apps. 

Hames has produced short films for NGO’s in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Haiti, and Asia.  He is a co-founder of Austin production company Alpheus Media and frequently appears as a guest blogger and public speaker.  He recently wrote and  produced Native American Education films for Wyoming Public Television, which are now used in public schools across the state of Wyoming.  He is married to Executive Producer Beth Hames and lives in Austin with their two children.