Today, we’d like to introduce you to Chris Durr.
Hi Chris, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
In the beginning, I was just a skate park kid exploring suburban and urban landscapes with my friends. I’ve always enjoyed movement and getting creative with how I was maneuvering through spaces, which I think translates to my interest in cinematography and motion. I was filming back then, but I never thought about using a camera artistically until much later – there’s an old mini DV tape somewhere out there that just has clips of me falling down short flights of stairs on a skateboard over and over. Just because it was fun does not mean I was a very gifted skater.
Later in my high school years, I had a health scare that shook me up, and in turn, determined my direction in storytelling through film. I basically had a cancer misdiagnosis that left me in limbo and as a dramatic teenager, I of course thought I was going to die and felt a tremendous sense of regret that I hadn’t done anything meaningful with my short time. After some tests came back negative, I ate 6 or 7 advil by the advisement of my doctor and the lump on my right nut miraculously disappeared. Soon after, I canceled my university plans, reconsidered what I wanted to do with myself, and it was like I had been unleashed. I also noticed everyone was getting pretty clingy with these new color touch screen palm pilots at the time, and I was already playing around with filmmaking. It got me thinking and I decided at that moment that I wanted to reach as many people as possible with a positive impact through film before my time was done.
My early documentary work awarded me a partial scholarship to The Kansas City Art Institute, which was the only way that was an option. When I got there, I was hooked! There’s a lot more to say, but from then on, it was a matter of practicing the craft of cinematography until the quality of my work began to satisfy my taste, and I’m still chasing that moving target today.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There’s always a struggle. That’s just part of living. You kind of have to love solving difficult problems creatively to do what I’m doing. There’s always more to learn, and every new challenge is a puzzle to solve, so I try to surround myself with people excited to run at problems.
There’s a lot working against a young filmmaker who entered the scene post-financial crisis while based in the middle of the country. The industry has historically been most active on the coasts or larger marketplaces, but I believe in some ways KC has given me bigger opportunities and challenges early in my career. If I had gone straight to the coast, I might have been waiting in line for quite a long time.
Most recently in the struggles department, I experienced losing a friend very close to me and my community in a tragic hiking accident. I’ve re-assessed a lot of my life and career path because of that and have shifted my emphasis from commercial filmmaking to narrative and documentary. It has already begun to give me joy and teach me new lessons. I have once again in my life been reminded that “everything will kill you, so do something fun.” Rest in peace, Patrick Monroe.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe you can tell us more about your work next?
I love stories. I love listening to them, reading them, telling them, and capturing them in an image. Stories told through cinema are especially powerful and moving to me, so that’s been my medium of choice for the past 15 years. Professionally, I’m most known for my commercial cinematography, but artistically, I’m more interested in working with directors in the narrative and documentary format.
Sharing a passion for what I am making with directors and creatives is extremely satisfying work, and I consider myself very fortunate to do something I love every day. Most recently, I’ve been writing my first feature-length film inspired by a close encounter experience in 2009. As a proof of concept, I wrote and directed the short film version, titled “Others,” which will be screened locally this summer and will be touring film festivals internationally beginning early Fall ’24 through the next year.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the COVID-19 crisis?
It was definitely an inflection point for the entire world. For better or worse, we were all confronted with ourselves at the same moment. I was startled by our inability to come together in solidarity when it seemed like everything was at stake.
Then, I was equally startled by the realization that the information based on was being manipulated and manufactured by our media, pharmaceutical companies, and governing bodies. The division this caused was damaging, and I aspire to bridge these gaps in my small way by telling inspiring stories of empathy, humanity, and community.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chrisdurr.com
- Instagram: @chrisdurr__ @others.film
- Linkedin: Chris Durr
Image Credits
Travis Young, Bafe Michael Nderitu, and Chris Durr
