About the Documentary

Jeff Smith teaches political science as an adjunct instructor at Washington University in St. Louis. He has also taught at Dartmouth College and the University of Missouri, St. Louis. His courses have covered Congress, public policy, race in American politics and election campaigns. Smith received the Washington University Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

In 2001, Smith co-founded the Confluence Academies, a group of urban public charter schools. He currently serves on the board of directors. Smith also serves on the Missouri Charter Public School Association’s board of directors and has worked in the St. Louis Public Schools as an evaluator. Smith has taught ACT prep courses for disadvantaged students and consulted for the Vashon Compact, a nonprofit focused on improving achievement at ten of the city’s lowest-performing schools.

Smith has coached youth soccer and baseball and mentored several area student-athletes. He coaches a basketball team at Matthews-Dickey Boys Club, and coached basketball camps for ten summers. He also serves on the boards of directors for St. Louis Scores, a non-profit bringing soccer and creative writing to inner-city youth; the National Conference for Community and Justice, a group devoted to fighting bigotry; and Cultural Leadership, a nonprofit teaching black and Jewish students about each group’s history to help build bridges between them.

Smith was a national merit scholar at the University of North Carolina, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a double major in African American Studies and political science. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Washington University. During graduate school, Smith served as political analyst for KMOV-TV and the BBC. He has advised several Democratic candidates, ranging from state legislative to presidential aspirants, including Bill Bradley and Howard Dean.

The Filmmakers

Frank Popper
Frank Popper is a former high school English teacher who accidentally discovered the wonders of photography when he wandered into the art department and watched a photo teacher enlarging a black-and-white negative. He decided to leave teaching and become a photographer. Over the course of several years, photography morphed into multimedia, and finally, filmmaking.

Popper produced The Lounge People, a feature film starring Buck Henry, Christine Ebersole, Amanda Plummer and B.D. Wong, which aired on Starz. He was principal videographer of EROICA!, a documentary that aired on Independent Lens about the Eroica Trio’s collaboration with a classical music composer. Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? is his first feature-length documentary.

Matt Coen
Matt Coen is the CEO and founder of myCapture, Inc., a company that works with major media companies and other businesses and organizations to help them integrate photos into their websites and make them available for purchase. Before starting myCapture, Coen was co-founder and CEO of SportsHuddle.com, Inc., an online high school network that partnered with newspapers.

Earlier in his career, Coen oversaw daily operations, headed strategic planning and developed and implemented an Internet strategy at Public Voice for Food and Health Policy, an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. From 1992 to 1994, Coen served as a manager and consultant to a number of congressional and senatorial campaigns. He holds a B.A. from Connecticut College.

Michael Kime
Michael Kime is a partner in the St. Louis, Missouri law firm of Sauerwein, Simon, Blanchard & Kime. His legal practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and finance.

Originally a native Louisianan and graduate of Louisiana State University’s law school, Kime moved to St. Louis in 1994. Actively involved in grassroots politics, he served on the Missouri Steering Commission for Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign and managed ground operations for that effort in St. Louis. He has also served as campaign manager and in other positions in various local elections.

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