Smoking Bear is an award-winning boutique production house founded by director Rubika Shah and writer-producer Ed Gibbs, creating cinematic documentaries, series and scripted projects for global audiences.

The company is best known for the critically acclaimed feature documentary WHITE RIOT, which won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary at the 63rd BFI London Film Festival prior to its international premiere at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. Released theatrically worldwide in 2020/21, the film was a New York Times Critic’s Pick, nominated for Best Documentary at the British Independent Film Awards, and BAFTA-longlisted in 2021.

Their current slate includes the feature documentary MAD DOG OF EUROPE, produced with Le Bureau Films and Heimatfilm, and WASP WOMAN, a limited docuseries commissioned by Sundance Now and AMC+, produced with Embankment.

Rubika Shah is a 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough recipient whose other recent work includes two campaigns for Academy Award-winning production company Grain Media, including the drama series FIGHT BACK for YouTube, Tribeca and the United Nations. She is currently developing her debut fiction feature with BBC Film.

Ed Gibbs hails from a background in film and music journalism. Prior to producing, he was the Sunday newspaper critic for The Sydney Morning Herald, also writing and/or broadcasting for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, The Guardian,  Rolling Stone, GQ, Empire and MOJO, among others.