Chris Temple is a film director, producer, and the founder of Optimist, an Emmy-winning documentary studio in Los Angeles. He's directed and/or produced over 15 documentaries and is best known for the feature documentaries Living On One Dollar (Netflix 2015), Salam Neighbor (Netflix 2016), Five Years North (PBS 2020), and This Is Not Financial Advice (Fuse 2023). Most recently Chris executive produced the feature documentary Champions of the Golden Valley (Olympics 2025) alongside Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai. He also served as an Executive Producer on the feature documentary State of Firsts (Tribeca 2025), which follows the election of the first transgender member of congress. He's a member of the Television Academy; has been honored by HBO as a 40 under 40 filmmaker to watch; as a finalist for the duPont-Columbia award for outstanding journalism; awardee of the Muslim Public Affairs Council Annual Media Award; and recognized alongside Bill Gates and Angelina Jolie as one of the top 100 visionary leaders by Real Leaders Magazine. His work has been nominated for 2 national Emmy Awards, won 1 Gold Telly Award, 2 Anthem Awards, 1 Imagen Award, 4 Shorty Awards, 2 ADDY Awards, 2 Webby Awards, and 2 AVA Digital Awards. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Variety, Deadline, NPR, and The Atlantic, and has helped raise over $114 million dollars for poverty alleviation, food access, and refugee support efforts.
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Biography from IMDb.
- Director, producer and actor
- 4 on MovieCove · 12 credits in all
What are Chris Temple's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Society and Ideas.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
Light 1 · Serious 3 · Dark 0
Grounded 4 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 4 · Intense 0
A split, not a type: Steady 2 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 3 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 1 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 1
A split, not a type: Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
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 Chris Temple's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 3 of their 4 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (3).
Subscription and free streaming for Chris Temple's 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
12 credits, 4 with a MovieCove page.
State of Firsts (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)
To Write Love (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)
ImillaSkate: The Cholita Skaters of Bolivia (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
Champions of the Golden Valley (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2024)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
Abundance: The Farmlink Story (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2023)
Midcredits score: 57th percentile of all films
Five Years North (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2020)
The Undocumented Lawyer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2020)
Salam Neighbor(2015)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films
Living on One Dollar(2013)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
Free To Care (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 12 titles, 11 of them dated from 2013 to 2026.
How do Chris Temple's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 81st percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 80th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up3
- 50th to 74th1
Shape of the crowd
2 of their 4 titles are Mixed.
- Universally Loved1
- Crowd Pleaser1
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the atmosphere 66/100 and the pacing 63/100 in their films, across 4 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 Chris Temple work with?
People who share at least 2 of Chris Temple's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Zach Ingrasci shares the most, 4.
Directors
- Zach IngrasciShared titles: Vitalik: An Ethereum Story (2024), This Is Not Financial Advice (2023), Salam Neighbor (2015), Living on One Dollar (2013)See all 4 shared titles with Zach Ingrasci
Cinematographers
- Nicholas KrausShared titles: Vitalik: An Ethereum Story (2024), This Is Not Financial Advice (2023)See all 2 shared titles with Nicholas Kraus
Producers
- Carrie WeprinShared titles: Vitalik: An Ethereum Story (2024), This Is Not Financial Advice (2023)See all 2 shared titles with Carrie Weprin
- Jenna M. KellyShared titles: Vitalik: An Ethereum Story (2024), This Is Not Financial Advice (2023)See all 2 shared titles with Jenna M. Kelly
- Bryn MooserShared titles: This Is Not Financial Advice (2023), Salam Neighbor (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Bryn Mooser
