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Keith L. Smith | Director of Photography

Keith L. Smith

Born in New Orleans, Smith graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications. Upon graduation he went on to work at WWL-TV, a local CBS affiliate in New Orleans, where he worked as one of eight news photographers on the station’s well-respected news team. br / br / In 1989, Smith was accepted into the prestigious American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. There he received AFI’s 1991 distinguished Remy Martin Student Scholarship Award. This marked the first time in its six-year inception, that the award was given to a cinematography fellow, and the first time the award went to a first-year student. br / br / Smith began his film career as a camera assistant working with such well-known filmmakers as Oliver Stone and Robert Richardson, ASC. He worked with the pair on JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, and Any Given Sunday. He went onto work with Rob Reiner on A Few Good Men, and Robert Townsend’s comedy, Meteor Man, and on Mike Binder’s Blankman, starring Damon Wayans. His last project as an assistant was The Trigger Effect, a film directed by David Koeppe, who also wrote Jurassic Park. As a cinematographer, Smith has worked on a wide variety of projects including independent films and short films. Additionally, he also shot two feature films; Hair Show and A Good Man Is Hard To Find. During the fall of 1999 Smith worked as second unit DP/A-Cam Operator on Fallen, which starred Denzel Washington. br / br / His most recent projects are Let the Church Say Amen, a feature film starring Steve Harris and Lela Rochon. The film marked the directorial debut of Regina King. Last year, he shot two films that he is most proud of cinematically - a film starring piano child prodigy Ethan Bortnik entitled Anything is Possible and a small indie film noir project called Mysteria, which stars Danny Glover. Smith is currently filming a TV series called, Saints & Sinners for Bounce TV.