Mr. Smolan is an award-winning director whose films have been shown extensively both theatrically and on television, and in many international film festivals. He has directed for all the major US networks, as well for HBO, American Playhouse and PBS.
Smolan's critically acclaimed debut feature 'Rachel River" was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at The Sundance Film Festival and took awards for Best Cinematography and a special Jury Prize for actress Viveca Lindfors. The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a sparkling glimpse into the resilience of the human spirit". Critics hailed the outstanding performances by Lindfors, Pamela Reed and Craig T. Nelson under Smolan's direction, the film's luminous cinematography and its haunting score by Arvo Part.
His television movies include "The Last Soldier" for HBO, the mini-series “Beach Girls” with Rob Lowe and Julia Ormond for Lifetime, "A Place To Be" for CBS and "Taking A Stand", an Emmy Award-winning film for ABC, for which he was also nominated for Best Director.
As a television director his credits include the acclaimed pilot for the series "Middle Ages", as well as many network series including “Brothers & Sisters”, with Sally Field and Calista Flockheart, “Eli Stone”, “October Road”, “Men In Trees” "EVERWOOD" "ED", “The O.C.”, “The District”, “Ally McBeal”, “Dawson’s Creek”, "Chicago Hope", "Dangerous Minds", "Picket Fences", "Earth 2", "Brooklyn Bridge", "Northern Exposure", "Equal Justice", "Life Goes On" and "LA LAW."
He began his career directing documentaries. He lived in North Africa for six months shooting "The Maghreb Journals", a haunting, beautiful documentary about the northernmost region of the Sahara. In New York City he worked with the documentary filmmaker Jim Brown on "The Weavers: Wasn't That A Time". Mr. Smolan was the Associate Producer of two network documentaries for CBS News; "The Cowboy The Craftsman and The Ballerina" with Morley Safer and "Juilliard: A Life In Music", narrated by Charles Kuralt and winner of the Peabody Award. He has produced and directed many other PBS documentaries, including several of the “Day In The Life” series, “The Minnesota Tapes” and The Daytime Moon”.
Smolan is currently in pre-production on the feature “Descending From Heaven”.
