Chris Temple

With several powerful and impactful films under his belt, Chris Temple was the recipient of the 2019 Mountainfilm Commitment Grant to support the production of Five Years North (Mountainfilm 2020). The film is a coming-of-age journey of two undocumented boys desperate to bring the American dream back home to Guatemala. Temple uses his films to inspire and support impact campaigns — and together with Zach Ingrasci co-founded the nonprofit production company Optimist. Their documentaries, including Living on One Dollar (2013) and Salam Neighbor (2015), have raised over $90 million in support of the film’s causes. The films have been released globally by Netflix, HBO, Hulu and PBS, and premiered at Tribeca, DOCNYC, Full Frame and Mountainfilm. He is the co-director of Free to Care (Mountainfilm 2022 World Premiere).