Mike Christie (director)

Mike Christie
Born
Manchester, England (1969)
Occupation(s)Film and TV Director and Producer
Years active1991–present
Known for

Mike Christie is a British film and television director and producer who has made films for the BBC, Channel 4, Sky, Discovery, History Channel, Apple, Showtime and Red Bull. His career began in the 1990s working with the artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman – who he met at meetings of Act Up London – on projects including the book At Your Own Risk.[1] Other early collaborators included Pet Shop Boys[2] and Suede[3] with whom he worked from 1992 to 1997.[4] In 1997, he co-created Drop the Debt,[5] the mainstream music and entertainment industries campaign of the Jubilee 2000 movement, fronted by Bono and others, and led to the cancellation of more than $100 billion in debt owed by 35 of the poorest countries.[6]

Christie's Parkour documentaries Jump London (2003)[7][8] and Jump Britain (2005), debuting Sebastien Foucan, presented the discipline to a global audience for the first time. In recognition, in 2010, Christie was nicknamed the "godfather" of Parkour by one of the sport's publications.[9][10] Following the success of Jump London, in 2004 Mike Christie founded production company Carbon Media, which was sold to ITV in 2009.[11]

  1. ^ "At Your Own Risk". blackwells.co.uk.
  2. ^ "Michael Christie". BFI.[dead link]
  3. ^ "Suede – Introducing The Band". Discogs.
  4. ^ "Church Bells Are Calling: Suede And The Making Of The Insatiable Ones". Clash Magazine.
  5. ^ Goldman, Paula (2010). From Margin to Mainstream: Jubilee 2000 and the Rising Profile of Global Poverty Issues in the United Kingdom and United States. Harvard University. p. 32.
  6. ^ Welby, Justin, (2016) Dethroning Mammon, Making Money serve Grace. London, Bloomsbury, (p. 154)
  7. ^ McLean, Gareth (10 September 2003). "TV review" – via www.theguardian.com.
  8. ^ Glaister, Dan (14 January 2017). "Inside the daredevil world of parkour, Britain's newest, gravity-defying sport" – via www.theguardian.com.
  9. ^ "Jump Magazine Issue 1". Issuu.
  10. ^ Kidder, Jeffrey L (2017). Parkour and the City: Risk, Masculinity, and Meaning in a Postmodern Sport. Rutgers University Press. p. 157.
  11. ^ Holmwood, Leigh (6 January 2009). "ITV buys 25% stake in independent production company Carbon Media" – via www.theguardian.com.