Biography

Christian has been fascinated with film for as long as he can remember. He won his first film award at The Locust Valley Film Festival at the age of 15, taking second place for his co-directed and co-produced documentary "Hopeful in New York" a short film on New York City homelessness.  That experience provided the opportunity to be on set for the film, "Win Win" starring Paul Giamatti and directed by Tom McCarthy. Not only did he enjoy first hand experience working with a professional film crew, he had the added bonus of personally interviewing the cast. While continuing to make additional short films, several of them were chosen to be aired on the MSG Varsity Channel including "The Host", "Strike Out" and "Can". Christian's winning camera work was recognized when he was also asked to film several local sporting events for the same cable channel.   In 2012, ABC film critic Sandy Kenyon returned to judge The Locust Valley Film Festival for a third time. Christian came away with three awards including Best Drama and Best Overall Audience Choice. The winning film, "Yes I'm Gary" was subsequently submitted to The Sundance film festival, The C.W Post Film festival, The Albany Film Festival and to The Manhattan International Film Festival. Christian ended up being one of the 5 winners at the Manhattan International along with an academy award nominated director and had his film screened at the United Nations in April of 2013.             Christian was also invited to submit to the Rimini Film Festival in Italy for the summer of 2013 and was accepted on the spot by the festivals director. The festival is in the name of Federico Fellini and is home to 800,000 people.             Christian's graduation from high school in 2012 was highlighted by completing a two year International Baccalaureate (IB) program for film, and winning The Outstanding Film Student Award and the MSG Varsity Award and Scholarship for Film.             He writes:             “My philosophy on film is that it’s not what is said but what’s seen. It’s the small details that the director provides for an audience that should tell the story. If all stories were spoken, it would come off as a lecture, it wouldn’t be interesting. People need to see film for what it is, an art form. As a director I strive to tell stories of realism so an audience can relate back and have the chance to see themselves as the character, although; that’s not to say a story should always be believable. I like to fire back upon the genre of drama and contradict myself by giving a comedic element to the film.”             “As far as my future in film making is concerned, I strive to be an Academy Award winning director before the age of 30. As the dream is a difficult one and desired by so many, I can only hope to get there by offering the industry something new, an original thought.” Christian is now a first year student at Hofstra University where he is majoring in film and continues to write, direct and produce Independent film projects.

Birthday: 1994-11-10

Born At: Bayville, New York