Biography

Tommy Haines is a filmmaker with Northland Films. In 2019, Haines returned to his Northern Minnesota roots as the director of his latest film, Hockeyland, a coming of age story set in the competitive hockey sphere of Minnesota's north country. Indiewire's senior film critic, David Ehrlich, hailed Hockeyland as a "must-see...raw and brutally absorbing", the film premiered at DocNYC, screened in over 175 theaters nationwide by Greenwich Entertainment and was a 2022 Critics Choice "Best Sports Documentary" nominee. Saving Brinton (2018), premiered at AFI Docs, aired nationwide on PBS' America Reframed, received a 93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and was named one of "the Best Movies of 2018" (Washington Post). Gold Fever (2013), an examination of invasive mining in an indigenous Guatemala community was awarded the 2013 International Federation for Human Rights Film Award. His debut feature, Pond Hockey, (2008) dubbed "the best hockey movie ever" (ESPN), became a touchstone in the discussion on the over-structured world of youth sports. Tommy's films have played at over 80 festivals in 43 countries, including IFF Rotterdam, Thessaloniki, Edinburgh IFF, Jeonju, Seattle IFF, Big Sky, Denver Starz and Doc NYC. He lives in Iowa City with his family where he curates the Vino Vérité screening series and floods his backyard rink every winter.

- IMDb mini biography by: Andrew Sherburne