William Paul Smith is an Eastern Shoshone actor, writer and filmmaker. Smith earned a BFA in Screenwriting and Directing from the School of the Visual Arts (SVA) in New York and attended Columbia University’s MFA Film Directing Program. In 2017, he received his MFA in Creative Writing from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). In 2008, he became a member of Dangerous Grounds Productions. His roles include Off Broadway productions of Jacques Rivette’s film L’Amour Fou and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Beware of a Holy Whore. William’s film script, Headlights On White Roses, was a finalist in the Shore Script competition and won the WeDiversity award. His work examines culture, identity, gender, sexuality, and spiritually through a Native American lens, adopting a filmic language that traverses narrative, documentary, and interdisciplinary cinema. Smith directed the feature-length films Labor of Life and Izhar’s Ghost, a collaboration with MASS MoCA and artist Izhar Patkin. Smith founded WATER, a collective that propels Native American scholarship and activism at CalArts, where he was awarded the 2017 Teaching Fellowship and teaches in the Critical Studies Department.
Upcoming Events
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Writers
January 1 @ 8:00 am - December 31 @ 5:00 pm -
18th Annual LA SKINS FEST – Call For Submissions
April 1 @ 8:00 am - August 24 @ 5:00 pm -
9th Annual Native American TV Writers Lab – Fellows Selected
April 15 @ 7:00 pm - June 9 @ 9:00 pm
Latest Tweets
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Check out the Imagining Indigenous Cinema Program today (6/11) @vidiots ! They will be screening an amazing lineup… https://t.co/9tui68weEr
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NATIVE AMERICAN FILM WORKSHOP June 26-30 '23 Address climate action, social justice & other topics that affect our… https://t.co/PIOJgLlajn
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Join us tonight for an amazing screening of the film Gush (U.S., 2023) followed by an in person: Q&A with filmmaker… https://t.co/DYGJod0Kvu
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RT @UCLAFTVArchive: “Imagining Indigenous Cinema” opens Friday, June 2nd! This free series spotlights Indigenous filmmakers who are cen… https://t.co/sc3dBSrakT
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Screening June 2–18, “Imagining Indigenous Cinema” spotlights Indigenous filmmakers who are establishing new forms… https://t.co/dlbl0gEVv1