Chris Moukarbel

Directing

Biography

Chris Moukarbel (born in 1978; New Haven) is a documentary film director, writer, producer and contemporary artist. His first feature documentary Me at the Zoo (Me @ The Zoo) premiered in competition at Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and was acquired by HBO Documentaries. The film charts the rise of YouTube and tells the story of an early viral Internet celebrity, Chris Crocker of “Leave Britney Alone!” fame. Moukarbel was approached by Sheila Nevins to direct the Emmy nominated documentary Banksy Does New York for HBO. He is also the creator and director of the HBO series Sex On // which takes a look at sex and relationships in the Information age. It was conceived as a reboot of the classic show Real Sex. His work often explores technology and identity. Moukarbel directed and produced the award winning film Gaga: Five Foot Two. It premiered at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix. His documentary Wig explores the New York City drag queen scene and the drag festival Wigstock. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on May 4, 2019, and premiered on June 18 on HBO. His first narrative feature film Cypher starring Tierra Whack premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival where it won the award for best U.S Narrative Feature.

Filmography Movies

Acting

MOVIE

Comma Boat

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In Comma Boat, we're stuck in a mock-authoritarian fantasy--a power trip. The film centers around a director-character played by Trecartin who oscillates between feelings of omnipotence and self-doubt. As if a post-human, post-gendered reincarnation of the Fellini character in 8 ½, the director gloats and frets about professional and ethical transgressions. "I know I lied to get ahead," he admits at one point. "I've made up so many different alphabets just to get ahead in my field." The director is fancier now, but the fear nags that he might be "repeating" himself "like a dumb soldier ova and ova and ova and ova." The meta-connection to the artist's own career, while obvious, is also a decoy. All art, at some level, is about the artist. Here, reflexivity is the surface level, providing a decodable veneer that encases something more unsettling and complex. Single-channel and 3-channel versions.

Item Falls

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In Item Falls, we are peaking. We start out at a casting call, but before long we're firmly in the grip of hallucination, shedding our anxieties and evidently regressing to the animation era, a time when stunt chickens were mere chicklets. Friendly archetypes float in and out of what seems like our bedroom. The red-headed Jenny has returned, but this time she's squeaky and trusting. Unlike in Center Jenny, here our perspective is literally centered. The camera seems to be the in middle of the room, which is good, because we're too blissed out to move. Luckily, our hallucinations look directly at us.

Cypher

6.4(0.0K)

Cypher is a fictional pseudo-music documentary about the artist Tierra Whack and the conspiracy theory that secret societies run the music world.

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Cypher

Self

Production

MOVIE

Me @ the Zoo

4.2(0.0K)

An intimate look at a controversial young video blogger, regarded by millions as the Internet's first rebel folk hero.

Me @ the Zoo

4.2(0.0K)

An intimate look at a controversial young video blogger, regarded by millions as the Internet's first rebel folk hero.

Gaga: Five Foot Two

7.4(0.6K)

Follow pop provocateur Lady Gaga as she releases a new album, preps for her Super Bowl halftime show, and confronts physical and emotional struggles.

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Gaga: Five Foot Two

Director of Photography

MOVIE

Walking with Pasolini

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A documentary about Pier Paolo Pasolini and his film 'Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma'.

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Walking with Pasolini

Camera Operator

MOVIE

Walking with Pasolini

Not rated yet

A documentary about Pier Paolo Pasolini and his film 'Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma'.

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Walking with Pasolini

Editor

MOVIE

Banksy Does New York

6.8(0.1K)

On October 1, 2013, the elusive street artist Banksy launched a month-long residency in New York, an art show he called Better Out Than In. As one new work of art was presented each day in a secret location, a group of fans, called “Banksy Hunters,” took to the streets and blew up social media.

Banksy Does New York

Cypher

6.4(0.0K)

Cypher is a fictional pseudo-music documentary about the artist Tierra Whack and the conspiracy theory that secret societies run the music world.

Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.

Not rated yet

A playful and illuminating self-portrait of writer Jeremy O. Harris as he workshops and mines Slave Play, the provocative play that thrust him into the spotlight, with a new cast of young actors from New York’s William Esper Studio.

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Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.

Producer

MOVIE