Biography


James Chressanthis, ASC, GSC is an artist, cinematographer and director whose work spans the worlds of mixed media / photography, feature films, television movies, music videos and documentaries. Chressanthis contributed significant photography to the Oscar® winning film Chicago and has been nominated three times for the television Emmy®. He directed the Cannes premiere feature documentary No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos.

Chressanthis eclectically trained in engineering, sculpture, drawing and photography, and when not on film sets, he creates pieces combining traditional photography and graphic media. This work represents an ongoing interchange and cross fertilization of temporal film, digital and handmade media. "My work began looking through cameras, both still and motion picture. I look where the ancient and traditional  intersect with the archetypal and modern. My subject is the  flow of memories both real and imagined of what was, what is and what will be: love, pain, birth, conflict, joy, the patterns and rhythms of light and art."

Chressanthis served as a Cultural Envoy for the United States Department of State in Mongolia and Russia and has taught Master Cinematography Classes all over the world. 

He received Master of Fine Arts degrees from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and the American Film Institute, Los Angeles. He lives with his wife, artist Robin Becker, at their home and studio complex in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

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