Paul Rachman (born in New York, New York, on September 13, 1962) is an American
film director who directed the highly praised 2006 documentary on punk music
American Hardcore, which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival and was released by
Sony Pictures Classics. He is also one of the founders of the
Slamdance Film Festival. He started his career as a
music video director with low-budget videos for hardcore punk bands
Gang Green and the
Bad Brains. He was later signed to Los Angeles–based
Propaganda Films, where he directed music videos for bands
Alice in Chains,
The Replacements,
Kiss,
Pantera,
Joan Jett, and
Roger Waters, among many others. He made his feature film debut with the low-budget film noir
Four Dogs Playing Poker, starring
Forrest Whittaker,
Tim Curry and
Balthazar Getty, released by
Warner Home Video. He lives in New York City.