Mark Christopher (director)

Mark Christopher
Christopher in 2015
Born (1963-07-08) July 8, 1963 (age 61)
Fort Dodge, Iowa, United States
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter

Mark Christopher (born July 8, 1963, in Fort Dodge, Iowa) is a screenwriter and director most known for directing 54 (1998).[1]

Within the film community, he is better known for the success of the director's cut of the film that premiered at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival.[2] 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."[3][4] The story of the films destruction and resurrection was featured on New York magazine's Vulture.com website.[5] and The Guardian[6] and Elvis Mitchell's interview with Mark Christopher on KCRW's The Treatment.[7]

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.[8] [9]

  1. ^ "Mark Christopher". Princess Grace Foundation-USA. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Foundas, Peter Debruge,Scott (16 February 2015). "Critics Look Back on Berlin, Where Kink and Quality Collide". Retrieved 12 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Gilbey, Ryan (12 February 2015). "Berlin 2015 review: 54: The Director's Cut – a disco-era Cabaret thrusting its way to delirium". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  4. ^ "54 Bombed in 1998. Now It's Been Resurrected as a Cult Gay Classic". 16 February 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  5. ^ Jordan, Louis (February 16, 2015). "54 Bombed in 1998. Now It's Been Resurrected as a Cult Gay Classic". Vulture.
  6. ^ Gilbey, Ray (February 12, 2015). "Berlin 2015 review: 54: The Director's Cut – a disco-era Cabaret thrusting its way to delirium". The Guardian.
  7. ^ "Mark Christopher: 54: The Director's Cut". 14 July 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  8. ^ Desk, TV News. "OWN to Premiere REAL LIFE: THE MUSICAL, 8/3". Retrieved 12 April 2018. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  9. ^ Holden, Stephen (August 28, 1998). "FILM REVIEW; Sex, Drugs and Disco As a Hustler Gains A Suspect Celebrity". The New York Times.