Christian Swanberg
- Actor
- Art Department
- Art Director
After being born in upstate NY, Chris' family moved to Bogota Colombia.
After five years, they moved to Nairobi, Kenya. His father worked for
USAID as an economist. Then his family moved to Newton, MA, and then
finally settling in Alexandria VA in 1982. Ever since he was 7 years
old and seeing Star Wars for the first time, Chris fell in love with
movies. After seeing a special documentary on the making of the film,
he was hooked on the idea of making movies. Chris got his first camera
after High school, from his first boss at a local dry cleaner in VA
where he worked after graduating from Annandale High School (Star Wars
star Mark Hamill attended this school for one year). in 1993, Chris
entered the world of Civil War reenacting.
Always a history buff, Chris engrossed himself in learning the period and growing an appreciation for the importance of honoring those who gave their lives in service to our country. In 2004, Chris quit his full time job to go back to school to study Digital filmmaking at the Art Institute of Washington. While a student, Chris tried to instill his passion for history into his projects. He assisted fellow students with their projects but received very little support in return.
Nevertheless, he endeavored to persevere and made two historically based short films, one set in the Civil War, the other, WW2. Chris not only wrote the stories, he was the director, producer, production designer, storyboard artist, costumer and prop master and editor of these projects. Chris has spent years watching Behind the scenes documentaries of his favorite movies and learned alot of valuable lessons about the craft of filmmaking. After graduating in 2008, Chris shot a couple of weddings and returned to the workforce, but still with the passion for film and art dwelling within him. Chris is even returning to the ranks of reenactors after more than a decade away. Chris hopes to use his contacts in the reenacting community to make more Civil War films and a web series as well as stories set in WW2 and westerns. When he graduated from the Art Institute of Washington, he was given an award for his dedication to history and for standing up for his fellow students.
Always a history buff, Chris engrossed himself in learning the period and growing an appreciation for the importance of honoring those who gave their lives in service to our country. In 2004, Chris quit his full time job to go back to school to study Digital filmmaking at the Art Institute of Washington. While a student, Chris tried to instill his passion for history into his projects. He assisted fellow students with their projects but received very little support in return.
Nevertheless, he endeavored to persevere and made two historically based short films, one set in the Civil War, the other, WW2. Chris not only wrote the stories, he was the director, producer, production designer, storyboard artist, costumer and prop master and editor of these projects. Chris has spent years watching Behind the scenes documentaries of his favorite movies and learned alot of valuable lessons about the craft of filmmaking. After graduating in 2008, Chris shot a couple of weddings and returned to the workforce, but still with the passion for film and art dwelling within him. Chris is even returning to the ranks of reenactors after more than a decade away. Chris hopes to use his contacts in the reenacting community to make more Civil War films and a web series as well as stories set in WW2 and westerns. When he graduated from the Art Institute of Washington, he was given an award for his dedication to history and for standing up for his fellow students.
