The District of Columbia Office of Motion Picture and Television Development is pleased to honor Robin Smith, Emmy award-winning filmmaker and founder of Video/Action, as the August 2012 Filmmaker of the Month.
Robin Smith began her career more than 35 years ago with the production of a documentary about her father, a Marine Corps fighter pilot who was declared missing in action when his plane was shot down over Vietnam in 1969. CBS ultimately bought rights to the film. She began her production career, first in New York City with Charles Kuralt on CBS News Sunday Morning, and later in Washington, DC with Roger Mudd and Connie Chung at NBC News on American Almanac.
In 1990, Robin founded Video/Action, a nonprofit production company through which she could create educational films and multimedia programs on issues affecting women and at-risk children. The company has created more than 230 highly acclaimed features and shorts on a wide range of topics including civil rights, human rights, women’s health, mentoring opportunities for underserved youth, community-based arts initiatives, and criminal justice.
Robin’s work has been featured on CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, FOX, BET and The Learning Channel and has been honored with an array of awards, including a CPB Gold Award for Excellence in Documentary Television Programming, Capital Region Emmy Awards, CINE Golden Eagles, Telly Awards, Auroras, Omnis, and ITVA’s Distinguished Achievement Award. Video/Action’s first release, the Emmy award-winning documentary, Shooting Back: Photography By Homeless Children, was shot entirely in the Washington metropolitan area and was broadcast nationally on PBS. Today, Video/Action is working on a number of productions that explore issues related to children who have been exposed to violence, drugs, and domestic violence in Indian Country.
An active member of Women in Film and Video, Robin served as president of the Washington, DC chapter and received its prestigious Woman of Vision award in 1998. She was named a Distinguished Alum in the School of Fine Arts at Ohio University in 2003 and received the University’s Medal of Merit in 2006. She currently resides in ward two of the District of Columbia.
The DC Film Office launched the Filmmaker of the Month initiative to feature a District-based filmmaker who exemplifies the vast amount of talent and creativity based here in the nation’s capital. The Filmmaker of the Month initiative is part of its mission to elevate the national and international profile of the city’s most talented filmmakers. Previous filmmakers honored include Tendani Mpulubusi El, creator and director of documentary People Past and Present: Hillsdale; award-winning writer and director of Vivian, Aimee Dixon; Ben Crosbie, award-winning documentary filmmaker and co-founder of Eidolon Films; and Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden creator Otessa Ghadar.
You can visit the Filmmaker of the Month section to learn more about Robin and previous Filmmaker of the Month recipients.