Chad N. Walker
Chad N. Walker | |
|---|---|
 Walker in 2026 | |
| Born | Chad N. Walker |
| Occupations | Director, producer, editor |
| Years active | 2005–present |
Chad N. Walker, is an American filmmaker and film editor.[1][2] He is best known as the director/producer of the documentaries Summer of 94, Don Bluth: Somewhere Out There and I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story, as well as being the creator and executive producer of The Zoo franchise, all of which he did alongside longtime creative partner Dave LaMattina.[3] Other than Summer of 94, Walker has also edited each of the films on which he collaborated with LaMattina.
Career
Before directing documentaries, Walker began his career working as an editor in public television. In 2005, he joined Blue Sky Studios as a production assistant on the film Ice Age: The Meltdown. While at Blue Sky, Walker met LaMattina, his eventual directing/producing partner.
In 2010, Walker and LaMattina made their directorial debut with the documentary Brownstones to Red Dirt, which captured the relationships that develop between children in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and their pen pals in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The film became a fundraising tool for Schools for Salone, raising enough money to build a primary school in Freetown. Walker and LaMattina returned to work in Sierra Leone to shoot two short documentaries: Kei, about Kei Kamara, the second all-time leading scorer in Major League Soccer, and Aunty, which profiled a remarkable headmistress.
In 2014, Walker and LaMattina premiered I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.[4] The film earned an 84% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, [5][6] and was awarded the Audience Choice Award for the Best Documentary at Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.[7] Tribeca Film acquired the documentary, releasing it theatrically and on demand in 2015.
While on the festival circuit with I Am Big Bird, Walker and LaMattina also released We Must Go, a documentary about the Egyptian national soccer team's quest to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. The film featured Mohamed Salah, Mohamed Aboutrika and American coach Bob Bradley.
2016 saw Walker and LaMattina continue their work in soccer stories with Exploring Planet Futbol, a series they created for Sports Illustrated which featured journalist James Piotr Montague. Over the course of three weeks, the trio traversed Africa from Algeria to Rwanda to Lesotho to Botswana to see how soccer reflected the people and places where it is played.
In 2017, Walker and LaMattina launched The Zoo, which they created and executive produced. Featuring the day-to-day lives of the people and animals at the Bronx Zoo, it was followed by spinoffs The Zoo: San Diego and The Aquarium.
Walker and LaMattina returned to the world of animation with their film Don Bluth: Somewhere Out There. The documentary profiles Don Bluth, the filmmaker behind the films An American Tail, The Land Before Time, Anastasia, the video game Dragon's Lair and more. The documentary premiered at the Savannah Film Festival in October 2025 and will be released in 2026. The film features an original score by Fergal Lawler of the cranberries.
2026 marked the release of Summer of 94, a documentary about the 1994 World Cup campaign of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team. Walker and LaMattina directed and produced the film, alongside their partners at Stand Together, Cookie Jar & a Dream Studios, Imagine Entertainment and Delirio Films. The documentary was executive produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. The film premiered at SXSW before airing nationwide on Fox.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Genre | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The Magic Scarf | Visual effects | Short film | |
| 2006 | Ice Age: The Meltdown | Production assistant | Film | |
| 2008 | Surviving Sid | Second assistant editor | Short film | |
| 2008 | Horton Hears a Who! | Apprentice editor | Film | |
| 2009 | Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | Assistant editor | Film | |
| 2010 | Brownstones to Red Dirt | Director, producer, editor | Documentary | |
| 2011 | Rio | Assistant editor | Film | |
| 2012 | Kei | Director, producer, editor | Documentary short | |
| 2013 | Epic | First assistant editor | Film | |
| 2014 | I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story | Director, producer, cinematographer, editor | Documentary | |
| 2014 | We Must Go | Director, producer, editor | Documentary | |
| 2016 | Exploring Planet Futbol | Director, producer, editor | Documentary Series | |
| 2017–21 | The Zoo | Executive producer | TV series | |
| 2019-22 | The Zoo: San Diego | Executive producer | TV series | |
| 2019-22 | The Aquarium | Executive producer | TV series | |
| 2019 | La Gran Madre | Director, producer, editor | Documentary | |
| 2019 | Aunty | Director, producer, editor | Documentary short | |
| 2020 | Eddie: The Cost of Greatness | Editor | Documentary | |
| 2025 | Life’s Ballet: A Gift to Borrow | Editor | Documentary | |
| 2026 | Don Bluth: Somewhere Out There | Director, editor, writer | Documentary | |
| 2026 | Summer of 94 | Director, producer | Documentary |
References
- ↑ "Chad N. Walker: Regisseur". filmstarts. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
- ↑ "Chad N. Walker: EDITOR, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER". MUBI. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
- ↑ "Dave LaMattina: DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, SCREENWRITER". MUBI. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
- ↑ "Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker on I AM BIG BIRD: THE CAROLL SPINNEY STORY". screenwritingmagazine. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
- ↑ "I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story". Metacritic. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
- ↑ "I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
- ↑ "Cinéfest Sudbury hands out hardware". Northern Life. Laurentian Media Group. September 24, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.