Christopher Castillo

Christopher Ad. Castillo is the first born son of iconic filmmaker Celso Ad. Castillo, he was nominated for The Remy Martin Emerging Filmmaker Award for writing and directing the psychological thriller The Sky is Falling in which Variety states “ Pic showcases Castillo's stylistic flair and his impressive behind-the-camera control of the frame”.

He was Program Director of NewFilmmakers Series West, the Los Angeles counterpart of New York’s prestigious NewFilmmakers Series. Together with Eli Roth, he was chosen to be one of five filmmakers to be featured in an Independent Film Channel documentary about new filmmakers titled “A Shot in the Dark” which he was glad never aired.

He grew up on a steady diet of European and Japanese cinema and American genre films such as horror and noir. Influences range from Akira Kurosawa, Roman Polanski to David Fincher, Wong Kar Wai and Nicolas Refn Winding. He has also directed several music videos and believes that art and intelligent filmmaking can be mixed with commercialism.

He was a participant in Cinemalaya 2013 with his third feature film, the psychological thriller The Diplomat Hotel. And his fourth feature film In Darkness We Live was in competition at the 2014 QCinema International Film Festival where it won 2nd place in The Audience Choice Award and garnered two Best Actor nominations. Australia's Screen-Space states that “...there is no denying he is a keen craftsman with vivid, idiosyncratic storytelling instincts.”

He believes that art and commerce can co-exist in cinema.