Mark Christopher (director)
| Mark Christopher | |
|---|---|
 Mark Christopher in 2015 | |
| Born |
July 8, 1963 Fort Dodge, Iowa, United States |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter |
Mark Christopher (born July 8, 1963 in Fort Dodge, Iowa) is a screenwriter and director most well known as the director of the Ryan Phillippe, Mike Meyers, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell and Mark Ruffalo-starring film, 54.[1]
Within the film community, he is better known for the success of the director's cut of the film that premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2015. With over 30 minutes of re-shoots cut out of the 1998 version, and over 40 minutes re-instated, the film was universally lauded by critics and hailed as a "jubilant resurrection" and "a lost gay classic." The story of the films destruction and resurrection was featured on New York magazine's Vulture.com website.[2] and The Guardian[3] and Elvis Mitchell's interview with Mark Christopher on KCRW's "The Treatment".[4]
Mark Christopher also directed three short films, all of them theatrically distributed: "The Dead Boys Club" (1992), an influential short of the New Queer Cinema wave as cited by B. Ruby Rich in her Sight & Sound article that defined the genre; "Alkali, Iowa" (1995), winner of the Teddy at the Berlin International Film Festival (1996); and "Heartland," Strand Releasing (2007). He is also known for his television writing and creation of musical programming, including "Real Life: The Musical" that premiered on OWN in 2012.
Filmography
- "Heartland" (2007) (writer, director)
- Pizza (2005) (writer, director)
- 54 (1998) (writer, director)
- Boys Life 2 (1997) (segment: Akali, Iowa) (writer, director)
- Boys' Shorts: The New Queer Cinema (1993) (director)
- The Dead Boys' Club (1992) (director)