American Movie is a 1999 American documentary film directed by Chris Smith, produced by Smith and Sarah Price, and edited by Jun Diaz and Barry Poltermann. The film chronicles the making of Coven, an independent short horror film directed by Wisconsin-based filmmaker Mark Borchardt. Produced for the purpose of financing Northwestern, a feature film Borchardt wishes to make, Coven suffers from a troubled production, from a lack of planning to the ineptitude of the friends and family whom Borchardt enlists as his cast and crew.