Morgan Pehme

Morgan Pehme (born May 5, 1978 in New York City, USA) is an American journalist, filmmaker, and political commentator.

The son of journalist Kalev Pehme, Pehme achieved renown as a child for his success as a chess player.

Pehme attended The Dalton School in Manhattan with Josh Waitzkin, the subject of the book and film Searching for Bobby Fischer. In the book, the author Fred Waitzkin, wrote: "Morgan was a year and a half younger than Josh but had the vocabulary and wit of a smart 14-year-old, and he was already one of the three or four strongest chess players in the country in his age group (third grade and under)." Pehme was also portrayed as the character "Morgan" by actor Hal Scardino in the 1993 film adaptation of the book.

Pehme is a former United States National Scholastic Chess Champion (1993 National Junior High School Championship)[1] and represented the United States in the Boys Under 12 section of the 1990 World Youth Chess Festival for Peace in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. [1] His participation in the latter event, the student world chess championship, led to him being one of the subjects of director Lynn Hamrick's 1996 documentary Chess Kids, as well as Hamrick's 2011 30-minute follow to her original film.

As founder and CEO of the production company Merlion Entertainment, Pehme executive produced his first feature film in 2004. The movie, Exist, directed by Esther Bell, was hailed by The New York Times as "an antidote to the whimsy and solipsism endemic to much of what passes for independent film making."

The next year Pehme produced Nightmare, which he also co-wrote with the film’s director, Dylan Bank. For their collaboration, Pehme and Bank were awarded the jury prize for Best Screenplay at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. The film was released in the United States by IFC Films.

In 2012, Pehme made his directorial debut with Nothing Sacred, a fantasy horror film starring William Sadler, Thierry Lhermitte, Philippe Nahon, Eric Godon, Debbie Rochon, Naama Kates and Alan Barnes Netherton. Again, Pehme collaborated with Bank, this time as co-directors and writers. Though the film, which was shot in the United States, France and Belgium, is primarily English language, it also features sequences in French and Muscogee, a Native American language.

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