Filmmaker Bio:

Director-producer Chris Newberry is a graduate of Northwestern University, the holder of a Masters Degree from the University of London, and a two-time recipient of the Jerome Foundation Media Arts Grant.  His 1998 short film, 2o/2o Vision, enjoyed a national festival run after earning the "Best of Fest" designation and a gala opening night premiere at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival.  2o/2o Vision also received significant attention from the national media when its featured player, wrestling-star-turned-pop-culture-icon Jesse "The Body" Ventura, was named Governor of Minnesota following a surprising upset election.

Newberry’s 2001 film, Agora, was invited to premiere at the 50^th Melbourne International Film Festival, competing as a finalist in the International Short Films Competition.  Agora was subsequently acquired for the Exemplary Works Collection at the new Australian Centre for the Moving Image.  The film made its stateside debut at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, and accepted the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the 2002 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival.  In the past two years, Agora has added three more film fest awards to its list of accolades.  The film has received significant exposure with more than fifty film festival and special event screenings, television broadcasts at a number of outlets around the country, and a theatrical presentation at Anthology Film Archives in New York City.  In December of 2005, Agora celebrated its most noteworthy honor to date when it appeared on the New Years national broadcast of the prestigious PBS series, "Independent Lens."

In April 2006, Newberry's latest short film, Sweet Caroline, was officially unveiled at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, and went on to make its international debut at the 2006 Winnipeg International Film Festival. He is currently working on his fifth feature-length screenplay, and his recently completed screenplay, The Sea of Tranquility, was an official selection at the 2006 IFP Market, and was also a No Borders selection at the 2007 IFP Market, the respected talent showcase held in conjunction with New York's Independent Film Week. Newberry is also engaged in producing The Medicine Box Project, a series of documentary films exploring the extraordinary lives and remarkable histories of a group of refugees who have resettled in the US, only to find themselves reliant on the American health care system as they battle chronic and sometimes terminal illnesses. The first of these films, If We Knew Their Stories, made its broadcast debut on Twin Cities Public Television in December of 2007.

In addition to directing narrative and documentary 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, Discovery Channel and Blockbuster Video. He is also the owner of Free Country Media, a production services company focusing on progressive politics, global themes, and health care.