Minneapolis-based Filmmaker Chris Newberry is a graduate of Northwestern University, holder of a Masters Degree from the University of London, and twice a recipient of the Jerome Foundation Media Arts Grant. His work has appeared on the Independent Film Channel, on the PBS series Independent Lens, and on America ReFramed, as well as a number of television networks and streaming platforms throughout the world.

On the heels of a successful film festival run, where the film took home six documentary prizes, Newberry’s first feature-length documentary, American Heart, accepted invitations to screen at Global Health events around the country including a Washington DC symposium convened by the U.S. Department of State. American Heart enjoyed a nationwide television broadcast on PBS’s WORLD Channel in 2015, and the film received a regional EMMY® Award in the Topical Documentary category.

Newberry’s latest directorial effort, Trusted Messenger, a co-production between Terminal One and Twin Cities PBS, followed a diverse group of health care professionals as they set out to convince at-risk communities to trust a health system that has historically failed them and embrace the COVID vaccine. The film was part of Twin Cities PBS’s 2020 Project and aired on PBS, the MyCo streaming platform, and the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel. Trusted Messenger is also licensed for outreach and educational use by Sage Publishing and Seed&Spark Impact Screening Experiences.

Among his current projects is the (untitled) Jacob Wetterling documentary, provides an intimate look at the impacts of a haunting, decades-old missing child case as a series of shocking developments unfolds in front of our eyes in 2015-2021. The film is Newberry’s third feature-length documentary as director and is currently in production. Newberry is also collaborating with the University of Minnesota School of Design and the University’s Medical School on two faculty-driven documentary films, due for completion in 2024.

Newberry also served as producer and director-of-photography on Norah Shapiro’s film Time For Ilhan, which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, and took home the HBO Audience Award at the Provincetown Film Festival and the Best U.S. Feature prize at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. The film was also an Outstanding Television Documentary nominee at the NAACP Image Awards.

Newberry’s Medicine Box series of short films have been used in educational and outreach settings throughout North American and beyond. Among the many institutions that have added the Medicine Box films to their curricula are Yale University, the U.S. Army, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Organization on Migration based in Geneva.

Early in his career, Newberry’s 2001 short film Agora received significant exposure with more than fifty film festival screenings and three “Best Short” festival prizes, and was added to the Exemplary Works Collection at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. His screenplays have been presented three times at The Gotham’s Independent Film Week (formerly IFP Market) in New York City, and his 2007 script The Sea of Tranquility was optioned by Worldview Entertainment.

In addition to writing/directing documentary and narrative films, Newberry has worked for a number of years in the commercial sector, having designed and produced promotional video spots for such high-profile clients as Target Stores and Discovery Channel. More recently, he has worked with clients in healthcare and related fields to promote unique initiatives and highlight community outreach through storytelling and video branding. Newberry also serves as a cinematographer-for-hire, working on projects for major brands including Target, American Airlines, and General Motors, and collaborating with television and film producers from around the world.

Career Snapshots

Honors & Awards