
Directing
Mat Hames
Known for
Directing
Credits
20 titles
Mat Hames is a director and producer, known for his documentaries What Was Ours (2017), When I Rise (2010), both of which were included in the TV series Independent Lens. His films have screened at SXSW, HotDocs, IDFA, and the Santa Barbara Film Festival. When I Rise (2010) was nominated for an IDA Award. Hames is the show runner for Rooster Teeth's documentary series RTDocs, the PBS/ Prime series 'Power Trip: the Story of Energy', and the PBS series 'A State of Mind'. He is a co-founder of Austin, Texas based non-fiction production company Alpheus Media.
Known for
10.0A gripping look at mountain guiding and its deep roots in the legacy of Paul Petzoldt — founder of the National Outdoor Leadership School and North America’s oldest guide service, Exum. The film weaves the story of a modern climb gone wrong with the life of Petzoldt, a pioneer who scaled K2, set records on the Matterhorn, trained soldiers to fight Nazis in the Alps, and defined adventure itself. Featuring today’s mountain guides alongside rare archival footage and breathtaking cinematography from Wyoming and France, this feature-length documentary explores risk, grit, mentorship, and the enduring call of the mountains.
A Life Outside: American Mountain Guides
2026
6.5A portrait of cosplayer Jessica Nigri, from a magical childhood growing up with quirky parents in New Zealand, to entering middle school in the U.S. where she was mercilessly teased for her "nerdy" interests.
Becoming Jessica Nigri
2018
6.0Rooster Teeth’s Geoff Ramsey explores the subculture of tattoos and takes a crash course from a master tattoo artist.
The Tattooist
2017
8.6The founders and media personalities of Rooster Teeth reflect on their history, growth and fandom throughout the years.
Why We’re Here: 15 Years of Rooster Teeth
2018
6.0An exploration of the origins of memes, how they spread, and the stories behind some of the most popular “human memes” like Ermahgerd Girl, Overly Attached Girlfriend, and Chocolate Rain Guy.
The Meme Machine
2016
8.0A Rooster Teeth documentary by Mat Hames following podcaster Nick Scarpino as he works to reinvent himself as a standup comedian working comedy clubs in San Francisco.
Waiting for the Punchline
2019
Behind the camera
10.0A gripping look at mountain guiding and its deep roots in the legacy of Paul Petzoldt — founder of the National Outdoor Leadership School and North America’s oldest guide service, Exum. The film weaves the story of a modern climb gone wrong with the life of Petzoldt, a pioneer who scaled K2, set records on the Matterhorn, trained soldiers to fight Nazis in the Alps, and defined adventure itself. Featuring today’s mountain guides alongside rare archival footage and breathtaking cinematography from Wyoming and France, this feature-length documentary explores risk, grit, mentorship, and the enduring call of the mountains.
A Life Outside: American Mountain Guides
2026
6.5A portrait of cosplayer Jessica Nigri, from a magical childhood growing up with quirky parents in New Zealand, to entering middle school in the U.S. where she was mercilessly teased for her "nerdy" interests.
Becoming Jessica Nigri
2018
6.0Rooster Teeth’s Geoff Ramsey explores the subculture of tattoos and takes a crash course from a master tattoo artist.
The Tattooist
2017
8.6The founders and media personalities of Rooster Teeth reflect on their history, growth and fandom throughout the years.
Why We’re Here: 15 Years of Rooster Teeth
2018
6.0An exploration of the origins of memes, how they spread, and the stories behind some of the most popular “human memes” like Ermahgerd Girl, Overly Attached Girlfriend, and Chocolate Rain Guy.
The Meme Machine
2016
8.0A Rooster Teeth documentary by Mat Hames following podcaster Nick Scarpino as he works to reinvent himself as a standup comedian working comedy clubs in San Francisco.
Waiting for the Punchline
2019
7.5Follow Barbara Dunkelman and Blaine Gibson as they must survive their work, their social lives and the modern world without the comfort of their cell phones in order to explore how our brains change with our use of technology and analyze how we sustain and build relationships in the 21st century.
Connected
2016
6.7Two men fly to India to search for Baba, the "Cosmic Barber of Pushkar," whose famous "World's Greatest Head Massage" videos gave them both tingling ASMR sensations.
The World's Greatest Head Massage: An ASMR Journey
2016
6.5A professional gamer teams up with a coworker to fulfil his childhood dream of becoming a pro-wrestler.
Haus of Pain
2017
10.0An internet personality journeys to his hometown on the border between Texas and Mexico to visit family members, only to discover that his family’s immigration story parallels that of people risking everything to immigrate to the U.S. today.
Common Ground
2018
NRLike millions of indigenous people, many Native American tribes do not control their own material history and culture. For the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes living on the isolated Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, new contact with lost artifacts risks opening old wounds but also offers the possibility for healing. What Was Ours is the story of how a young journalist and a teenage powwow princess, both of the Arapaho tribe, travelled together with a Shoshone elder in search of missing artifacts in the vast archives of Chicago’s Field Museum. There they discover a treasure trove of ancestral objects, setting them on a journey to recover what has been lost and build hope for the future.
What Was Ours
2016
NRLike millions of indigenous people, many Native American tribes do not control their own material history and culture. For the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes living on the isolated Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, new contact with lost artifacts risks opening old wounds but also offers the possibility for healing. What Was Ours is the story of how a young journalist and a teenage powwow princess, both of the Arapaho tribe, travelled together with a Shoshone elder in search of missing artifacts in the vast archives of Chicago’s Field Museum. There they discover a treasure trove of ancestral objects, setting them on a journey to recover what has been lost and build hope for the future.
What Was Ours
2016
8.0An internet personality takes a journey through the small, obscure, and downright bizarre conventions happening every weekend around the country as he tries to fit in and find the common link that unites these communities.
Unconventional
2017
10.0A true story of underground escape lines and the Belgian Resistance during World War II, ‘Last Best Hope’ (2006) is an award winning documentary aired on US PBS Nationwide with nearly 2 million viewers, and Belgian broadcast networks. What is the one principle or belief for which you would sacrifice everything? Ethical, spiritual, and ideological values that are central to the human experience find their voice in the documentary film, ""Last Best Hope: A True Story of Escape, Evasion, and Remembrance,"" a poignant, little-known story about the men and women in the Belgian Resistance and their extraordinary acts to save downed Allied airmen during the Second World War.
Last Best Hope
2006
10.0A documentary about Barbara Smith Conrad, a gifted University of Texas music student who finds herself at the epicenter of racial controversy, struggling against the odds and ultimately ascending to the heights of international opera. A gifted black music student at the University of Texas is thrust into a civil rights storm that changes her life forever. Barbara Smith Conrad is cast in an opera opposite a white male classmate fueling a racist backlash from members of the Texas legislature. Barbara's expulsion from the cast escalates the incident to national news, prompting unexpected support from a pop superstar. This small-town girl, whose voice and spirit stem from her roots in East Texas, emerges as an internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano and headlines on stages worldwide.
When I Rise
2010
NRExplore the history of civilization’s quest to procure abundant water and energy — from ancient Roman aqueducts in Europe to modern America’s vast hydroelectric infrastructure. Shot on location across France, California, and Texas, the film explores our dependence on water for energy as well as vulnerabilities in our current systems.
Thirst for Power
2019
10.0In an isolated Wyoming mining town, hardscrabble fossil hunters make astounding discoveries that change what we know about the earth's history. These 'fossil people' are a tough breed, surviving by their wits in the Green River Formation, ground zero for the best fossil collecting in the world. Geology, history, and entrepreneurship all come to life through human stories of diggers seeking a rare discovery - and a big payday.
Fossil Country
2022
10.0In an isolated Wyoming mining town, hardscrabble fossil hunters make astounding discoveries that change what we know about the earth's history. These 'fossil people' are a tough breed, surviving by their wits in the Green River Formation, ground zero for the best fossil collecting in the world. Geology, history, and entrepreneurship all come to life through human stories of diggers seeking a rare discovery - and a big payday.
Fossil Country
2022
10.0The making of documentary that takes an in-depth look behind the scenes of Mark Osborne's Academy-Award nominated stop motion short film More.
Making More
2004
10.0The making of documentary that takes an in-depth look behind the scenes of Mark Osborne's Academy-Award nominated stop motion short film More.
Making More
2004
