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Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Director, producer and cinematographer · Born February 16, 1952 (74) · Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Sundance award nominee · Grammy Award winner

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ portraits are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The New York Public Library, The Whitney Museum and The National Portrait Gallery among others. In 2004, his series of 700 art world portraits was accepted into the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. A number of books on Greenfield-Sanders’ work have been published: “Art World” (Fotofolio), “Timothy Greenfield-Sanders” his first monograph, (Alberico Cetti Serbelloni Editori), “XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits” (Bulfinch Press) “Face to Face” (Skira), “Look: Portraits Backstage at Olympus Fashion Week” (Powerhouse) “The Black List” (Atria) “The Latino List (Luxury), “The Black List 50” (Luxury), “The Out List” (Luxury), “The Boomer List (Luxury) and “The Trans List (Perfect Day Books). To date, Greenfield-Sanders has produced and directed twelve films. His first, “Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart“, a feature documentary about the legendary musician aired in April 1998 on PBS’ American Masters, premiered in the U.S. at The Sundance Film Festival and in Europe at The Berlin Film Festival. The film won a 1999 Grammy Award for best music documentary. “Thinking XXX“, a film about the making of his XXX book, aired in October 2004 on HBO. A soundtrack CD was released in November 2004 by Ryko Records. In addition, in October 2004, the XXX portraits were exhibited at Mary Boone Gallery in New York and then at Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco, Kluser Gallery in Munich, Berman/Turner Projects in Los Angeles, Paolo Curti Gallery in Milan and Howard Russeck Gallery in Palm Beach. In 2006, Greenfield-Sanders photographed injured soldiers and marines for HBO’s film, “Alive Day Memories“. The images were widely published, shown in numerous exhibitions and purchased by The Library of Congress. Between 2008-2010, Greenfield-Sanders produced and directed The Black List Project: a series of 3 documentaries for HBO, a traveling museum exhibition of portraits organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, a book with Atria, DVDs with Target and an educational initiative with The United Negro College Fund. On September 25th, 2015, “American Masters: The Women’s List” aired on PBS. In addition, “50 Portraits of Women” were exhbited at the Hearst Tower in New York and at the Fisher Landau Museum in Queens, NY. Greenfield-Sanders’ latest film, The Trans List, aired on HBO on December 5th, 2016. Opening in September 2016 through February 2017, The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles exhibited, for the first time, all of the List films and portraits. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders received a B.A. in Art History from Columbia University and a Master’s Degree in film from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He is a contributing photographer at Vanity Fair magazine.

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Biography from TMDB.

Born
February 16, 1952 (74)
From
Miami Beach, Florida, USA
Works as
Director, producer and cinematographer
Titles
10 on MovieCove · 15 credits in all
Links
IMDb (opens in a new tab)TMDB (opens in a new tab)Official site (opens in a new tab)Wikidata (opens in a new tab)

Known for

TMDB popularity, last 156 days to Oct 27Down 13% in 30 days

What are Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' films like?

Across their 10 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Society.

Themes

share of theme weight
Self
48%
Society
45%
Ideas
5%
Survival
2%
Identity8 titles, browse their movies with this themeCommunity9 titles, browse their movies with this themeFame2 titles, browse their movies with this themePrejudice2 titles, browse their movies with this theme

What they feel like to watch

their average across 10 films
ToneFeelDemandtheir average · filled zone: the category
Light: How heavy the subject matter and outlook get. Browse their light movies.
Tone · Weight
lightdark

Light 9 · Serious 1 · Dark 0

Grounded: How far its world departs from everyday reality. Browse their grounded movies.
Tone · Style
naturalisticheightened

Grounded 10 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0

Gentle: How hard the emotional peaks hit while you watch. Browse their gentle movies.
Feel · Intensity
gentleintense

Gentle 9 · Charged 1 · Intense 0

Steady: How much it swings between very different feelings. Browse their steady movies.
Feel · Swings
steadyswings

Steady 10 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 0

Straight-faced: How much of the runtime is played for laughs. Browse their straight-faced movies.
Feel · Humor
noneconstant

Straight-faced 8 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 0

Slow burn: How fast it moves from scene to scene. Browse their slow burn movies.
Demand · Pace
slowrelentless

Slow burn 7 · Even-paced 3 · Relentless 0

Engaged: How much focus it asks of you — look away and lose the thread? Browse their engaged movies.
Demand · Attention
casualfull focus

A split, not a type: Casual 5 · Engaged 4 · Full focus 1

Resolved: How much is left for you to interpret. Browse their resolved movies.
Demand · Resolution
resolvedambiguous

Resolved 9 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0

Moods and endings

endings are an aggregate; no title is named

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Contemplative
9
Hopeful
7
Warm
5
Bittersweet
2
Melancholic
1

How their films linger

Hopeful9 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteThought-provoking8 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteRousing2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertaste

How their films end

  • Happy2
  • Bittersweet2
  • Ambiguous5
  • Other1

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' films?

As of October 24, 2026, 7 of their 10 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on HBO Max (6).

Also on these channels

Subscription and free streaming for Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

15 credits, 10 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.

  • The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas(2025)

    Executive Producer

    Midcredits score: 80th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)

  • Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am(2019)

    Director · Producer

    Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films

  • The Trans List(2016)

    Director · Producer

    Midcredits score: 55th percentile of all films

  • The Women's List (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)

    Director

  • The Out List(2013)

    Director · Producer

    Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all films

  • The Latino List: Volume 2(2012)

    Director · Producer

    Midcredits score: 48th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)

  • About Face: Supermodels Then and Now(2012)

    Director · Cinematographer · Producer

    Midcredits score: 64th percentile of all films

  • The Latino List(2011)

    Director

    Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)

  • The Black List: Volume Three (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)

    Director

  • The Black List: Volume Two(2009)

    Director · Producer

    Midcredits score: 33rd percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)

  • The Black List: Volume One(2008)

    Director · Producer

    Midcredits score: 74th percentile of all films

  • Thinking XXX(2004)

    Director · Producer · as Self

    Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all films

  • Karen Finley Live (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)

    Director · Producer

  • Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)

    Director

  • A Rainy Day (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1979)

    Cinematographer

Career shape

A full career of 15 titles from 1979 to 2026.

Biggest box office

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)

$927K worldwide

Highest rated

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)

Midcredits 93rd

Most popular right now

Thinking XXX (2004)

By role

only this rolewith another role
Directing13 of 15: 7 only directing, 6 with another role · typical Midcredits score64thProducing7 of 15: 1 only producing, 6 with another role · typical Midcredits score69thCinematography2 of 15: 1 only cinematography, 1 with another role

15 titles, 6 with more than one role — directing and producing overlap on 6 of them.

By decade

1970s1 · crew1990s1 · crew2000s4 · crew2010s8 · crew2020s1 · crew

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.

Awards

1 major award from 2 major nominations, 1998–1999.

WinNomination
  1. 1999
    • Grammy Award, won · Best Long Form Music Video
  2. 1998
    • Sundance award, nominated · Documentary

Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.

How do Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' films land?

Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 65th percentile, the median of all 10; across their 10 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 68th percentile for acclaim.

Acclaim · how much people like their films

68thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 10

Approval · how many liked their films

61stpercentile
Typical film, the median of 10

Reach · how many have seen their films

39thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 10

Midcredits score across 10 titles, by percentile

  • 75th and up3
  • 50th to 74th4
  • 25th to 49th3

Shape of the crowd

5 of their 10 titles are Divisive.

  • Loved with Detractors1
  • Divisive5
  • Crowd Pleaser1
  • Mixed3

Most divisive · director, producer

The Black List: Volume Two (2009)

99th percentile spread · 42% rated it 4 or lower

Most loved · director, producer

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)

Midcredits 93rd · 79% liked

Reviewers score the atmosphere 61/100 and the pacing 41/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.

Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.

Who does Timothy Greenfield-Sanders work with?

People who share at least 2 of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Tommy Walker shares the most, 8.

Actors

Cinematographers and editors

Producers