Chris Rahm Portrait

CHRIS RAHM: CINEMATOGRAPHER | FILMMAKER

I’m an independent filmmaker from New York’s Hudson Valley. I’ve had the pleasure of shooting, editing and producing documentary films that have been featured on networks like Netflix, VICELAND, Nat Geo and NBC Universal.

I arrived in filmmaking the long way around.  Having my childhood in the 1980’s and coming of age in the 1990’s made me part of a generation that straddled the analog/digital divide. As a teenager I discovered an immense passion for photography, slinging a Pentax K1000 around with me wherever I went, exposing countless rolls of black and white Tri-X and T-Max at concerts in the local punk scene in between art projects. With my first PC, I learned the earliest versions of page layout applications like Aldus Pagemaker and QuarkXPress in order to help produce zines, show flyers and album artwork.  I would go on to heist my fathers VHS camcorder and make goofy short films with my friends, editing the footage between multiple VHS decks. My very first job as a creative was working in the pre-press department of a screen printing shop before heading to college in Montréal, Canada at Concordia University as part of their multi-disciplinary Design Art program.  Though I continued to shoot photos, I came onto the job market during the dot-com boom of the early aughts and worked as a web designer – a lucrative but unfulfilling detour – before an opportunity allowed me to pivot back into filmmaking as an editor, and then as a cinematographer, and more recently a producer/director.  I’ve been here ever since.

Over the last decade, I settled into the filmmaking community of the Hudson Valley, 100 miles north of New York City, consistently making documentary shorts on the environment for director Jon Bowermaster‘s studio Oceans 8 Films.  While most professionals seeking consistent work would have no choice but to locate themselves in New York City, I’m lucky to have been kept busy producing films upstate.

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NORTHGUILD PRODUCTION

In 2015, I started a production company, Northguild, with two other local filmmakers: Devin Pickering and Kashka Glowacka. The filmmaking scene here has boomed in recent years, allowing me to be part of this evolution, working with mainstays like Stockadeworks and Hudsy.tv.  While above-the-line professionals are still reflexively sourced from the metro area through city-based production companies, agencies and studios – our community of upstate creative pros still continue to make the case that when it comes to talent, we punch above our weight.

Wether you are a director/producer, agency or commercial client, I’m available for hire as a cinematographer. Though I’m very selective about working as editor or colorist, I’ll always listen to a project.

I’ve got a versatile skill set oriented around serving as a Director of Photography, Cinematographer, Gaffer, or 1st Assistant Camera. I’m also a fully insured and licensed FAA UAV drone operator with years of flying experience.  I have a robust understanding of workflows from pre-production to post-production, making me a strong candidate for working at the center of a team, as a leader, where I’ve often been over my 25+ years of experience.

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ACCOLADES & AWARDS

“Farmscape Ecology” 2020
[Cinematographer, Editor]
Off. Selection Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
Off. Selection Princeton Environmental Film Festival

“Seeds of Hope” 2019
[Cinematographer, Editor, Co-Producer]
Off. Selection Wild & Scenic Film Festival

“The Bleeding Edge” 2018
[Add’l Lead Cinematographer]
Off. Selection Tribeca Film Festival

“Restoring The Clearwater” 2018
[Co-Director, Cinematographer, Producer]
Off. Selection Sonoma International Film Festival
Winner Award of Excellence Best Shorts Competition
Winner Award of Excellence Impact Docs
Off. Selection Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital

“Vicarious Resilience”
[Editor, Cinematographer, Co-Producer]
Off. Selection Woodstock Film Festival 2018
Off. Selection Docs Without Borders Film Festival 2019
Off. Selection Atlantic City Cinefest 2019

“Dear President Obama” 2016
[Editor, Cinematographer, Co-Producer]
Winner DOC LA American Environmental Film Award
Winner DOC LA Environmental Hero Award
Off. Selection San Francisco Green Film Festival
Off. Selection Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
Off. Selection Mountainfilm Festival

“Dear Governor Brown” 2015
[Co-Producer]
Off. Selection Wild & Scenic Film Festival

“Sink or Swim: Learning the Crawl in the Maldives” 2015
[Co-Producer]
Off. Selection Frozen River Film Festival
Off. Selection Wild & Scenic Film Festival

“Paradise is There” 2015
[Editor, Cinematographer, Co-Producer]
Off. Selection Woodstock Film Festival

CONTACT

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