Chris Everett

About me

Chris Everett’s film career is exemplary of the fact that you don’t need millions of dollars or an address in a major city to create and produce successful films. If you have a powerful story and know how to market it, you can still make a huge impact.

After a brief acting career in Atlanta, Georgia, Chris moved back home to Laurinburg, North Carolina to pursue the film industry from behind the camera. Combining his love for history and culture with his passion for film, he directed and produced his first feature-length documentary, Wilmington on Fire, in 2010.

The award-winning documentary chronicles the Wilmington Massacre of 1898, one of the only successful examples of a violent overthrow of an existing government in this country. Though pivotal to the history of North Carolina and the American South, the massacre is omitted from history books and tours. Wilmington on Fire reintroduces the truth to the light and has been screening nonstop at various museums, universities, and nonprofit organizations across the country since 2015. Wilmington on Fire is also featured in the Black Film Center Archive at Indiana University.

The self-taught documentarian won Best Director / First Documentary Feature Award at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2017. The following year, he won the Cucalorus “Filmed in NC” grant for Grandmaster. In 2020, he won a research and development grant from the Southern Documentary Fund. And Chris was recently selected for Firelight Media's 2021-2022 Documentary Lab, powered by Stanley Nelson.

Chris has since executive produced Black Beach / White Beach, a documentary about the racial tensions during two motorcycle festivals in Myrtle Beach, and he’s currently working on Wilmington on Fire: Chapter II and Grandmaster: The Vic Moore Story, a documentary about former world karate champion Vic Moore . An advocate for community-building and giving back, Chris co-founded BLK Docs. Using Wilmington on Fire as its debut film, IndieWire highlighted the film and the organization, including a Q&A with actress Erika Alexander.

His work has been featured in several local and national publications, including The New Yorker, BBC News, NPR, Cineaste, Shadow & Act, and *IndieWire. *Films that he’s produced have been featured on Amazon Prime, KweliTV, BET+, Tubi and AppleTV. And he was invited as a guest speaker for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival Satellite Screen in Columbia, SC.

Chris has film festival experience as a Communications Manager with the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and is currently the Artistic Director at the Southern Documentary Fund.

How I can help

Want tips on how to make money with your film? You've finished your film so now what? I have answers to these questions and experience with film production from film development, building a team, film festival strategy, press coverage, monetizing your film, self-distribution, audience building, alternative venues, alternative funding strategies, and more.

Book a session today and let's get your film ready for the world to see!