Peter Gilbert is one of the filmmakers who made Hoop Dreams, serving as a Producer and Director of Photography. The film won numerous awards including The Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, Producers Guild of America, Independent Spirit Award, and The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for Journalism. Hoop Dreams was on 100+ top ten lists for 1994. Also with Kartemquin and Steve James, he recently finished At the Death House Door which premiered at South by Southwest in 2008, and won awards at several other festivals following, including the inspiration award at Full Frame. It aired on the Independent Film Channel in May of 2008.
Mr. Gilbert has had a distinguished career in producing, directing, and photographing documentaries, feature films, commercials, and music videos. In 2004, he Produced and Directed, With All Deliberate Speed, the first work in the new series “Discovery Docs,” for the Discovery Network. The nationally released film portrays the drama of the monumental Brown V. Board Supreme Court decision that helped change the racial fabric of our country in 1954. The film has performances by Jeffery Wright, Mekhi Phifer, Larenz Tate, Joe Morton, and Alicia Keys. With All Deliberate Speed was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy for Distinguished Work in Non- Fiction Film.
His short film for Turner Classic Movies, There is No Place Like Home, has played at festivals worldwide including Cannes, Venice, and Tokyo. It has also been broadcast worldwide on TCM. He recently Executive Produced The Ballad of Eziquel Hernandez which will broadcast this fall on PBS. He also recently Executive Produced the Sundance Festival Grand Jury and Audience award winning film, The Gods Tired of Us (2005); Executive Produced the award-winning, Emmy nominated, Deadline (2004), broadcast in prime-time on NBC; and Produced and Directed the DGA and Emmy nominated A Time for Dancing (2003) for Showtime.
His earlier work includes All the Rage (1999); the Emmy Award–winning Kartemquin documentary Vietnam: Long Time Coming (1998)—for which he also won the Directors Guild of America Award for Best Directing—Prefontaine (1997), as Cinematographer and Producer; Stevie (2002), as Co-cinematographer and Co-producer; and Married in America (2002), as Principal Photographer. His Cinematography work also includes Barbara Kopple’s Academy award-winning, American Dream (1991).
Gilbert’s commercial work includes awarding winning spots for Budweiser, Ford, Major League Baseball, MasterCard, Honda, Principal Financial Group, ESPN, NBA, Acuvue and the Truth campaigns. He has worked on over 60 music videos and concert films. Peter Gilbert is a member of AMPAS, DGA and IATSE 600.