Chris Metzler

Chris Metzler (born May 23, 1974) is an American film director known for documentaries. His documentaries Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (2010) and Rodents of Unusual Size (2017) are listed in the 100 Best Documentaries ranked by the Tomatometer at Rotten Tomatoes [1]

Chris Metzler
Metzler at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2010
Born (1974-05-23) May 23, 1974
Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Southern California (B.S.)
OccupationIndependent documentary filmmaker
Years active1996–present
Spouse(s)
Nadja Mark
​
(m. 2015)​
Children2

Early life and education

Metzler was raised in a Baha'i family in Independence, Missouri to parents David Metzler, an inventor and entrepreneur, and Lynda Metzler, a teacher.[2]

Metzler graduated with a degree in business and cinema from the University of Southern California.  In his studies he was introduced to both music video and documentary filmmaking by Academy Award nominated filmmaker Tom Neff who taught a course on music video production. The students taking the course (USC CNTV 499) shot various music videos for country music artists such as Radney Foster, Lee Roy Parnell, Flaco Jiménez and others with financing from the record label Arista Nashville.[3]

Career

Metzler's film directing and producing work has resulted in frequent partnerships with Jeff Springer.[4]

They made their way to Nashville country and Christian music video industries, before finally forsaking their souls to commercial LA rock n’ roll.  Their music video for the band Third Day for the song Consuming Fire won a Billboard Music Award in the category of Best Christian Video.[5] The video was shot on location in Bombay Beach, California and other areas around the Salton Sea.

Metzler co-directed the John Waters' narrated documentary, Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea,[6] with Jeff Springer which premiered at the 2004 Slamdance Film Festival.  The film went on to screen at 200 film festivals worldwide, win 37 awards for Best Documentary, and was broadcast on the Sundance Channel and the PBS series America ReFramed.

In 2010, he completed the Emmy nominated documentary film, Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, co-directed with Lev Anderson and shot and edited by Jeff Springer.[7] The film was critically acclaimed with Rotten Tomatoes having the film listed as 100% "certified fresh" and is ranked #57 on the list of the Top 100 Documentaries of All Time.[8]

His most recent theatrically released film, co-directed with Quinn Costello and Jeff Springer, is the ITVS funded documentary Rodents of Unusual Size (2017) about giant invasive swamp rats, nutria threatening coastal Louisiana and is narrated by Wendell Pierce.[9]

Metzler is a two time recipient of the Bay Area Video Coalition’s Mediamaker Award.

Filmmaking Style

The style and offbeat subject matter of Metzler's work is heavily influenced by filmmaking predecessors such as Errol Morris and Les Blank. [10] A frequent theme of many of his films is the subjective notion of success and failure amidst the backdrop of the American Dream.[11]

Metzler frequently utilizes narrative elements within his documentary films, namely stylized cinematography, animation, narration (John Waters, Laurence Fishburne, Wendell Pierce) and original musical scores composed by rock bands (Friends of Dean Martinez, Fishbone, Lost Bayou Ramblers).[12]

The use of artistic additions to documentary films is rejected and criticized by cinema vérité style filmmakers. Cinéma vérité (/ˈsɪnɪmə vɛrɪˈteɪ/; French: [sinema veʁite]; 'truthful cinema') is a style of documentary filmmaking, invented by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with the use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind crude reality.[13][14][15]

Filmography

References
  1. "Top 100 Documentaries". Rotten Tomatoes. 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  2. Niccum, Jon (September 21, 2012). "Director from KC follows his California dreams". The Kansas City Star.
  3. Atwood, Brett. Billboard (magazine), article, "USC students Learning on the Job," January 20, 1996.
  4. "Jeff Springer". IMDB. 2017. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  5. Third Day. "Third Day Timeline (1996)". Archived from the original on March 20, 2006.
  6. Rainer, Peter (1 June 2007). "Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea (R)". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
  7. Webster, Andy (6 October 2011). "'Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone' — Review". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  8. "Top 100 Documentaries of All Time". Fandango Media. 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  9. Board, RT Editorial (6 October 2011). "'Top 100 Documentary Movies' — Review". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  10. "California Dreamin' (2004)". Pitch Weekly. 2004. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  11. "Fishburne on Fishbone: Rock & Roll Documentary (2012)". The San Diego Reader. 2004. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  12. "Interview: Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler, 'Everyday Sunshine'(2012)". Slackerwood. 2012. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  13. Glossary of rouchinan terms at MAITRES FOUS net
  14. Ricky Leacock and “The Sense of Being There” Archived 2013-06-14 at the Wayback Machine – Article by Stephen Altobello at IMN
  15. Camera that Changed the World – Article at BBC
  16. "Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2004)". IMDb. 2004. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  17. "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (2010)". IMDb. 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  18. "The State of Creativity (2015)". IMDb (2015). 2015. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  19. "Rodents of Unusual Size (2017)". IMDb (2017). 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  20. "Heath Ceramics: The Making of a California Classic (2019)". IMDb (2019). 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
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