Kris Bowers

Kris Bowers is an Academy Award® winning filmmaker, Emmy and Grammy nominated composer and pianist. He won his first Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short Film for his most recent film, The Repair Shop. The Searchlight Pictures and L.A. Times Studio-backed film, which he directed alongside Ben Proudfoot, premiered at Telluride in 2023 and spotlights some of the individuals working at a repair shop in Los Angeles, the last American city to provide freely repaired instruments to its public-school students. Recently, he scored The Wild Robot, for DreamWorks Animation and writer/director Chris Sanders, starring Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Stephanie Shu, Bill Nighy, and Catherine O’Hara.

In addition to being an accomplished filmmaker, Bowers is known for his thought-provoking playing style, creating genre-defying film compositions that pay homage to his classical and jazz roots. He has composed music for film, television, documentaries, and video games. He has collaborated with musicians and artists across genres, including Kobe Bryant, Mahershala Ali, Justin Simien, Ava DuVernay and Shonda Rhimes. His work can also be heard in recent films like the box office hit Paramount biopic, Bob Marley: One Love, DuVernay’s Origin, Warner Bros.’ The Color Purple, and acclaimed television series such as Bridgerton, Secret Invasion, Mrs. America, and When They See Us. Bowers also won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for his work in The Snowy Day.

Bowers also stars in, produced, and scored the documentary Anthem with director Pete Nicks, which follows Bowers and Grammy-winning music producer DJ Dahi as they take a musical journey traveling across America in a bold experiment to reimagine America’s National Anthem. The documentary premiered in June 2023 at the Tribeca Film Festival and debuted on Hulu on June 28, 2023. In 2020, Bowers also co-directed his first documentary short film, A Concerto is a Conversation, with Proudfoot. The film, a New York Times Op-Doc – executive produced by DuVernay, premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 93rd Academy Awards®.

He has also created original music for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater (alongside choreographer Kyle Abraham), worked with the American Youth Symphony to create a Violin Concerto, which premiered at Los Angeles’ Disney Hall (2020), and was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic to create a new horn concerto (2021). The multi-hyphenate has also collaborated with brands such as Bang & Olufsen, Chevy, and Krug Champagne.

Bowers has multiple projects in development through Et Al Studios Productions, a production company he founded with his wife, Briana Henry.