CHRISTIAN DE REZENDES

Founder and Filmmaker

 

Through his company, Breaking Branches Pictures (est. 1996), de Rezendes has produced critically acclaimed feature films including 41, a documentary about the youngest victim of the Station Nightclub Fire, Getting Out of Rhode Island, a fully improvised dramedy feature, Alzira's Story, the family inspired documentary, and Raising Matty Christian, a documentary feature about a man born without full limbs whose accomplishments inspired thousands.  The film received 10 festival awards and can be seen on Amazon. 

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Christian's other notable works include several short films, such as Memories for Sale, Revealed: Portraits from Beneath One's Surface, Cat Scratch, Zach: A Film About Epilepsy and Fred and Emile, a short about the first LGBTQ couple of be married in Lowell, Massachusetts, which aired on WGBH Boston, as well as music videos for musicians Eric Barao, Stefan Couture and Ed Sweeney.  To date, his work has received more than 40 filmmaking awards. Many of his twenty plus directing credits have been broadcast on PBS and screened internationally at film festivals. 

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In the fall of 2022, after 11 years of production, the first half of his documentary series Slatersville: America's First Mill Village premiered on Rhode Island PBS and now streams internationally on the PBS app.  Slatersville was honored with two Regional Boston/New England Emmy Nominations for Outstanding Documentary and Outstanding Musical Composition, which it won.  The series also received a Gold Telly Award for Documentary Series and three film festival awards from the Mass Indie Film Fest, Block Island Film Festival and the LifeArt Festival.  The second half of Slatersville is now in post-production, with the goal of reaching a Fall 2024 release.