Meet Christopher of Glendale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher.

Hi Christopher, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I credit my parents for introducing me to the world of cinema. My mom would take me to the local Harkins Theater in Flagstaff, and we’d see the latest and greatest films Hollywood had to offer. My dad and I had a different tradition, staying in, ordering pizza, and watching the classics. Without realizing it, they created a curriculum that shaped me. The big theatrical experience introduced me to the large-scale worlds of Lord of the Rings, The Matrix and Star Wars, while the intimate at-home experience exposed me to films like Stand By Me, Pathfinder and Raising Arizona.

Movies introduced me to the world, revealing places and characters that I could only dream of. All of a sudden this small town kid was running the New York streets with the Jets and the Sharks, or fighting with Maximus on the battlefields of Germania. Movies expanded my worldview and fueled my love for history, culture and above all… stories.

Growing up, becoming a filmmaker was never really a thought. It was more like an unconscious dream sitting quietly in the back of my mind. I didn’t own a Super 8. I didn’t learn through stills. We never filmed home movies. But that dream found its way out through writing. I started journaling my life experiences, turning them into stories and eventually into short scripts. What started as a hobby became a passion, and in college I finally stopped lying to myself and left my Creative Writing major for the Media Arts program.

This was a humbling experience as it was my first time truly diving into the technical world. Talk about a fish out of water. I failed fast and failed often, soaking up film theory and continuing my deep dive into the endless list of films you must see. However, the most crucial education came from my fellow peers. Watching them hone their craft and execute at a high level allowed me to believe I could do the same. So when our senior thesis films came around, I gave it my all.

After premiering our film at the Berlinale Film Festival, I relocated to Los Angeles and fully immersed myself into the industry. I started as a production assistant while writing and developing my own projects on the side. I worked my way from spec commercials to winning paid commercial gigs. From there, I was signed as a commercial director, and eventually expanded into documentary work as well. I’ve been blessed to work on a wide range of projects that challenge me as an artist and give me a platform to highlight my community. I’ve continued to grow and elevate in my career but at the same time… feel like I’m just beginning to discover my true voice.

Today, I’m still pushing myself as a director and continuing to grow in the commercial space with the amazing team at Voyager TV. At the same time, I’m developing original narrative projects under my production company, Homage Pictures — where we focus on building genre-forward stories across shorts, features, and larger worlds that I’m excited to explore.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If everything was smooth, we’d all be jelly. I don’t think that’s a good joke but it was the first thing I thought of when I read this question.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I thought I would quickly get hired by a production company, start in development, and climb the ranks from there. After sending out tons of emails and dropping my resume around town, I was still looking. My first paid gig as a production assistant was an 18-hour day on a pilot sizzle, where I was micromanaged by toxic overlords, and concluded with the director physically choking the producer in front of the crew because they were fighting about overtime. I got paid $50. And then they told me if I was lucky, I could get another $50 tomorrow if I did returns… I’m rich.

Luckily, that was my first and last experience of that type. As I moved forward, I met some incredible people who truly helped shape me and gave me opportunities that mattered. I began mentorships in artist development programs, started building my professional network, continued to direct on the side and craft my portfolio. But I also had to survive. I took odd jobs. I ran errands. I was a personal driver. I even shopped for groceries on Instacart. Anything to keep the dream alive.

Then when I was 27, I hit my crossroads moment. I had built up my experience, I directed work that I believed in, and I was ready for the next move in my career. However, I was only being offered PA gigs on projects that I knew I could direct. I had to face the truth that if everyone in my network knew me as a production assistant, they were never going to suddenly start seeing me as a director. At some point you have to stop waiting for permission and just start claiming it. From that moment, I introduced myself as a director and never looked back.

Even now, the road still isn’t smooth. My challenges have evolved. Early on it was survival. Now it’s more creative – Which project should I throw myself into next? What’s the best way to cheat this location? How do we get these shots before the sun rises? Can we really pull this off with a two day shoot? – Those are still challenges but they’re the good kind, the “happy challenges” that I’ve worked my whole life to have. Now, I solve these with a team of creatives who are genuinely excited to figure out the day’s challenges because we’re all here to make something special.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My upbringing has had a huge influence on how I create as an artist. Raised as a mixed-race kid in a town that borders the Navajo Nation, I was surrounded by friends, families and communities that had a wide range of perspectives. People taught me different ways to live, different ways to treat people, different ways to see the world. I cherish that upbringing because I can feel how it shaped me. It shaped the way I think, the way I move through life, and the way I create.

With the work I create today, my Native American heritage often plays a central role. As a member of the Navajo Nation, I’m prideful in being a Native director working in the 21st century. I don’t take that lightly. It’s been my life’s work to create films, television, documentaries, and commercials that properly represent who we are as Native people and communities. I strive to make stories that honor our people, stories that show strength and our humor and our purpose. As I continue to build my voice and flesh out the new stories I want to tell, finding new ways to combine representation and genre is definitely at the forefront of my mind. What stories and characters have yet to be seen? How do we continue to build the representation we want to see? And how do we continue to create awesome movies along the way?

I grew up watching heroes light up that silver screen and now I think it’s time to make new ones. Just ones that we can see a little more of ourselves in. There have been a few moments through my work where I think I’ve been able to achieve that… and those are the moments I’m most proud of.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @nataanii_cegielski

Image Credits
Charles Frank, Cassidy Murphy