Chris Martini    [ resume ]   [ website ]

Christopher Martini is the son of sculptor, Raffaele Martini, from Rome Italy, and ex-parole officer, Pat Margolin, from Dallas Texas. Chris’ step-father is Stuart Margolin, Emmy Award winning actor, “The Rockford Files”, “Days of Heaven”. Chris’ first entry into the industry was as a child actor in the HBO feature, “The Glitterdome”, where he played an abused child, opposite John Lithgow, in a scene described by the actor at the AFI as one of his most memorable in his career. At ten years of age, Chris asked for a “closed set” and demanded of the Canadian Producer, to be paid in US dollars. Chris had other notable appearances as an actor in episodic television on CBS’ “Promised Land”, but after watching too many Ingmar Bergman films at an early age he quickly became seduced by filmmaking and started making home movies with his brother, Max, actor, “Saving Private Ryan”, “Contact”, “The Unit”, putting him in every film, with his sister, Michelle, costume designer, “25th Hour”, “Scary Movie 2”, “Save the Last Dance”, dressing the actors.

Chris later applied to and was accepted on scholarship to NYU film school. Before film school, Chris was given the great opportunity to apprentice edit for a Canadian editor, George Appleby, who taught him how to edge-code, synch up and edit 35mm film on Moviola and flatbed, for an ABC Movie-of-the-week. When the editing room flooded in the middle of the job, after having to re-synch the entire film, Chris perfected the mechanics of film editing and was granted a job as a Teacher’s Assistant in the editing department at NYU. In 1996 Chris graduated NYU Film School. After a short career as a Camera Assistant and a Boom Operator on “Touched by an Angel”, Chris left the grind of production to return to his first love – editing. He has been working as an editor ever since. His most recent credits are “Gulf War Syndrome: Killing Our Own”, a feature doc about Gulf War vets, which won four awards, including Best Documentary at the World Fest Houston International Film Festival, as well as being accepted in thirty film festivals, and “Vaccine Nation”, which won Honorable Mention at the 2008 Accolade Awards and the Special Jury Award at the 2008 Worldfest Houston International Film Festival. Additionally, Chris edited the feature, “Green Diggity Dog”, starring Joe Estevez, which won the Audience Choice Award at Slamdunk Film Festival and National Lampoon’s “Dirty Movie”, starring Chris Meloni, Mario Cantone, Robert Klein, Larry Holmes and Cyndi Lauper.

Chris wrote and will direct “The Stone Child”, a feature film about a Lakota boy struggling for identity as he is torn between the two worlds of his Mormon mother and Native-American father. Chris spent years researching and writing the script, which led him to Salt Lake City and Pine Ridge Reservation, where he formed a circle of allies both on and off the reservation, as well as sponsoring a Lakota child, Kestral Falcon Little. The script was Shortlisted at the 2002 & 2004 Sundance Institute Feature Film Program and was awarded Quarter-Finalist at the Slamdance and Page International script competitions, and was an Official Selection at the 28th Annual IFP Market and a Semi-Finalist for the script award. While at IFP, Chris had an epiphany and quickly arranged a fundraiser in order to make a short based on the feature. The word spread through the Native community and Chris found art pouring in from Native artists all over the country, as well as Native musicians to perform. With the money raised, Chris set out for South Dakota where he shot the short version with a splinter crew, led by Larry Pourier, “Skins”, and shot by AFI alumni John Rotan, on Super 16mm. “The Stone Child” short film was shot entirely with non-professional Native-American actors and was selected in 2007 and 2008 for a total of twenty-one US Film Festivals, was Nominated for Best Native-American Film at the 2008 Trail Dance Film Festival and won the Bronze Remi at the 2008 Worldfest Houston International Film Festival. “The Stone Child” Short Film is currently being distributed by Hastings Entertainment, is part of the permanent video collection at the Heard Museum in Arizona and is being acquired by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Canada. Chris’ second feature-length screenplay, “Trooper”, about an Iraq veteran and his father, both battling illnesses brought home from the battlefield, was recently Awarded Finalist at the 2008 Rome Independent Film Festival.