Writer/Producer/Director
Miriam Smith co-created & produced the critically acclaimed and award-winning feature documentaries THE GROUND WE WON & HOW FAR IS HEAVEN. Both films had successful nationwide cinema releases in New Zealand and screened at many celebrated film festivals around the world, including Locarno Semaine de la Critique, Melbourne FF, Warsaw FF, Big Sky and Full Frame Documentary Film Festivals.
THE GROUND WE WON was awarded Best Documentary & Best Documentary Cinematography at the NZ Film Awards, the Special Jury Prize at FIFO Tahiti, and the Best Sound award at the Moscow International Documentary Festival. HOW FAR IS HEAVEN was nominated for all of the documentary categories at the NZ Film Awards and won Best Documentary Cinematography, as well as being nominated for Best Documentary at the Asia Pacific Film Awards.
Miriam has written for literary journals, magazines, short film and feature-length radio dramas for RNZ & BBC 4. Miriam is alumni of the Binger Writers' Lab in Amsterdam and Script to Screen's Aotearoa Writers' Lab. Miriam has a BA in English & Film (Senior English Prize winner) and a Masters in Creative & Performing Arts, majoring in screenwriting, from the University of Auckland.
Miriam and partner Chris Pryor were the recent recipients of the prestigious Harriet Friedlander New York Residency. The pair are co-directors of the independent film production company Deer Heart Films, through which they're developing a slate of boldly original drama and documentary films.
