Chris Smith (born 1970) is an American filmmaker. He directed American Movie,^[1] which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.^[2]

Smith completed his first film, American Job, while attending the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's Graduate Film Program. He was nominated for a "Someone to Watch Award" from the Independent Spirit Awards.^[3] Smith met Mark Borchardt, the subject of American Movie, while editing American Job, and began filming a documentary about the making of Borchardt's psychological thriller Coven. Both films played at the Sundance Film Festival,^[4] and American Movie was bought by Sony Pictures for $1 million.^[5]

His resume also included the Emmy-nominated Jim & Andy (2017), about the making of the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon.^[6]

Smith wrote and directed the documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (2019), about the Fyre Festival fraud.^[7]

He also made a documentary about director Robert Downey Sr.,^[8] co-directing together with Kevin Ford. The project, simply titled "Sr.",^[9][10] was produced by Team Downey, Robert Downey Jr.'s production company.