Tommy Haines Pro

In 2005, Tommy discovered the underground culture of outdoor skaters, that soon blossomed onto the national stage, a nascent movement which was captured in the 2008 film POND HOCKEY. Hailed as The best and purest hockey movie by ESPN, the documentary soon became an instant classic within the North American hockey community and an important touchstone in the discussion on the over-structured world of youth sports. Over the past decade, Haines has directed five feature length documentaries, curated the highly-regarded Vino Vérité screening series. In 2017, he directed SAVING BRINTON, which world premiered at AFI Docs and internationally premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2018, the film went on an Academy Award qualifying theatrical run in New York and Los Angeles, receiving critical acclaim from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian and aired nationwide on PBS through America Reframed and while being lauded as One of The Best Movies of 2018 by The Washington Post. David Ehrlich, IndieWire's Chief Film Critic, calls Haines' most recent film, HOCKEYLAND, "A must see...raw and brutally absorbing." Distributed by Greenwich Entertainment, the film opened theatrically as the #1 documentary in the country for the week of September 9 and was a 2022 Critics Choice nominee for "Best Sports Documentary". His current project, THE WORKSHOP (2024), intimately follows authors and poets through their struggles and successes at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the legendary incubator of next generation literary talent.