Steve Alves

After graduating from the University of Southern California Film School and working in Hollywood and New York City as a film editor for ten years, Steve Alves moved to western Massachusetts and started his own company, Home Planet Pictures, formerly Hometown Productions, to create high quality films and to enliven the form of documentary filmmaking. The company has developed a fast-moving signature style, drawing on a variety of storytelling techniques including animation, film clips, and dramatic vignettes. Two consistent themes in Alves’ films are the inter-generational ties and the role of community in American life. His company’s first production, Life After High School, won numerous awards, including a Gold Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival. In addition, Alves and his company have produced numerous educational films and award-winning television commercials. Since 1997, Alves has written, produced, and directed six films about New England’s natural and cultural history. His 2001 production,Together in Time: A Story of New England Contra Music and Dance, won: a CINE Golden Eagle; Best Short Documentary, International Family Film Festival; and a Gold Award, WorldFest Houston. Talking to the Wall: The Story of an American Bargain, which examines the corrosive effects of large retail chain stores on communities, followed in 2003 and has won numerous awards and was featured in a dozen film festivals. Alves continues this trend in his current production, Food For Change, which tells the history of the co-op movement in the United Sates and role food co-ops are playing in the development of local food systems.

Steve is also Managing Director of Footage Farm, an historical motion picture service.