Biography

Alex Halpern is an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, and founder of Smoking Cat Films. Prior to launching his production company, he founded and later sold PostFactoryNY, one of New York's premier post-production facilities, which he established in 1998 with his documentary-producing partner Caryn Horowitz.

As a filmmaker, Halpern gained recognition for his acclaimed documentary Nine Good Teeth (Tribeca 2002, HBO/BBC 2002), which won multiple international awards. His body of work includes award-winning short films and documentaries, as well as music videos such as the stop-motion Blown Away for Tripping Daisy and Cherub for the Butthole Surfers.

His latest documentary short, Bumps in the Road, featuring Dr. Rory Cooper (Paralympian and Head of the Human Engineering Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh), premiered at the San Francisco Documentary Festival (2023 ) and won the Audience Choice Award at the New York City Short Film Festival in 2024. It received critical acclaim and was also screened at the Pentagon.

Beyond his filmmaking career, Halpern played a key role in shaping New York's post-production industry. As an executive at PostFactoryNY, he co-founded the Post New York Alliance (PNYA), a coalition of post-production facilities, labor unions, and industry professionals that has helped generate thousands of jobs in New York's film community.

Halpern's production and post-production credits include BAFTA and Academy Award-winning films such as Spotlight and No Country for Old Men, as well as American Made, 30 for 30's OJ: Made in America, Show Me a Hero, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, and Billions.

Halpern received multiple accolades for his screenwriting, including:

• Winner - LA Crime and Horror Festival (Best Screenplay for The Track)
• Winner - Austin Comedy Film Festival (Best Comedy Screenplay for Three Guys Named Nick)
• Finalist - Culver City Film Festival (Best Screenplay for The Track and Elder Care)
• Finalist - Golden Swan Zurich Film Festival (Best Screenplay for Eskimo Brothers )
• Finalist - International Indie Film and Screenplay Festival (Best Screenplay for Eskimo Brothers)
• Finalist - European Cinema and Screenplay Festival (Best Screenplay for The Track)
• Finalist - Screenwriting Launchpad Series (Best Screenplay for The Track)
• Finalist - Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition (Best Screenplay for The Track)
• Finalist - Beverly Hills Film Festival (Best Screenplay for The Track)
• Audience Choice Award - New York City Short Film Festival (for *Bumps in the Road)

Halpern continues to develop projects across film, television, and documentary storytelling, with an upcoming documentary on the history of animation, as well as a stop-motion short film narrated by acclaimed writer and physicist Freeman Dyson.
- IMDb mini biography by: Lauren Ashton

Grandson of Mary Mirabito Livornese Cavaliere.