Biography

Writer / filmmaker

Christopher is currently adapting Peter Stansky’s ground-breaking biography Orwell: The Transformation, into a five part limited series. This Rashoman-esque look at how George Orwell came to write his most famous novel, 1984, is told from the different perspectives of those who knew him best. In this time of rising authoritarianism and “alternate facts,” 1984 is once again at the top of best-seller lists.

Previously, Christopher adapted Thomas Keneally’s (Schindler’s List) epic novel of Africa, To Asmara, into a feature film for London-based Global Watch Films. Christopher is also developing three dramatic hour-long medical television series with his writing partner, the author and surgeon, Dr. Joshua Spanogle, including The Bend, about a hotshot Miami plastic surgeon who founds a gender affirmation surgery clinic in a small, conservative Wyoming town.

Christopher is also the author the art heist novel, The Mona Lisa Speaks. Published by Over The Edge Books, this glowingly reviewed thriller is a fictional modern re-telling of the actual theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911. 

An award-winning filmmaker, Christopher wrote and directed This Is Not A Test, which won five awards at major film festivals, including best director at the Boston International Film Festival and the audience award at the Urbanworld Film Festival. A satire about homeland security, in which a man’s fear of a possible terrorist attack drives him to extremes, it stars Hill Harper, Robinne Lee, and Tom Arnold and premiered on Showtime. Christopher also directed the last two installments of the profitable Wishmaster series of movies, distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment. His other credits as a director include the Lionsgate thriller, Beyond Redemption, with Andrew McCarthy and Michael Ironside, which premiered on HBO.

Christopher started directing features after he won an Academy Award™ for best student film for his short, Mr. October, a romantic comedy about a guy who believes he’s cursed by the month of October. Christopher graduated with an MFA from the University of Southern California Film and Television Program. 

Christopher is also an accomplished film editor and was nominated for an Emmy™ for best editing for his work on James Cameron’s Expedition Bismarck. He also collaborated closely with Garry Shandling, editing over eight hours of original documentary and comedic material for the “Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show" collection.

Christopher came to USC after graduating from Yale with a degree in literature and philosophy where his thesis examined film's relation to literature. Christopher is a citizen of the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. He is currently based in Los Angeles.

Projects

Orwell

Based on Professor Peter Stansky’s seminal biography, “Orwell: The Transformation,”this five part series is a Rashomon-esque look at the intimate, personal experiences that made Orwell the writer of 1984. His real life story is little known, but full of drama, intrigue, death-defying feats, and betrayal. This series is told from the different perspectives of those who loved him, hated him, or risked their lives for him, including his best friend in Paris when he was “down and out”; his first wife; his commander in Spain during their Civil War; his Indian female co-worker at the BBC during the Blitz; and finally from the POV of his young son during Orwell’s dark last days when he was writing 1984.  This story resonates more than ever with our current situation as it delves into the fallout of the great depression and income inequality, violent revolutionary change, and Orwell’s battle with tuberculosis

The Last Transport

A high concept, science fiction feature film written by Dr.  Joshua Spanogle and Christopher Angel, that will star Michael Trucco (Battlestar Galactic) and Jon Huertas (This Is Us).

"In 2021, the last transport off a doomed Earth has two seats on it -- but four people show up."

To Asmara

In the spirit of such classic films as The Killing Fields, The Last King of Scotland, Hotel Rwanda, and Blood Diamond, To Asmara tells the morally fraught tale of a female African freedom fighter embroiled in a brutal and violent conflict. Set in the 1980s amidst the fighting at the front lines in the harsh and wild landscape of Eritrea, this is a high-stakes, high-drama story of love amidst the horrors of modern warfare. These characters grapple with the meaning of morality and heroism during wartime, and how far to push themselves in the pursuit of liberty. This story is based on the experiences of famed author Thomas Keneally (Schindler’s List) in Eritrea during the war, and his resulting highly acclaimed novel.