Alex Beckstead is a documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

maker based in San Francisco.

Beckstead graduated from the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

 with a B.A. in Film Studies. His first short film, "sXe" screened at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

. He previously directed Trailer Park Blues (2002), a film about his grandfather's struggle with alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

 while he and Beckstead's grandmother were living in a trailer park.

His current film is Paperback Dreams

Paperback Dreams

Paperback Dreams is a documentary film directed by Alex Beckstead. It is part of the KQED documentary film series, Truly CA. The film is "the story of two landmark independent bookstores and their struggle to survive...

(2008) about "two landmark independent bookstores and their struggle to survive. The film follows Andy Ross, owner of Cody's Books

Cody's Books

Cody's Books was an independent bookstore based in Berkeley, California. It "was a pioneer in bookselling, bringing the paperback revolution to Berkeley, fighting censorship, and providing a safe harbor from tear gas directed at anti-Vietnam War protesters throughout the 1960s and...

, and Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler's Books

Kepler's Books

Kepler's Books and Magazines is an independent bookstore in Menlo Park, California. It was founded on May 14, 1955 by Roy Kepler, who had previously been a staff member of the Berkeley listener-supported radio station KPFA...

, over the course of two tumultuous years in the book business."

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