Christopher Monger
| Christopher Monger | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950 Taffs Well, Cardiff, Wales |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1978-present |
| Spouse(s) | Karen Montgomery (d. 2015) |
Christopher Monger (born 1950 in Taffs Well, Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh screenwriter, director and editor, best known for writing and directing The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain and writing the HBO biopic Temple Grandin. He has directed eight feature films and written over thirty screenplays.
Monger was born in Taff's Well, Wales. His father, Ifor David Monger, was the local doctor and a published author and playwright. His short story "The Man Who Lost His Boswell" remains in print. Both Christopher Mongers's parents painted, and his father was also a keen amateur photographer and filmmaker.
Christopher Monger with his younger brother Antony and friend Alan Field, started a village newspaper (The Taff's Well Times) when they were still children. It ran for two years and garnered them interviews on BBC and HTV television. Their newspaper (crudely produced by mimeograph) extolled the Surrealists as a local political party, printed fake photographs in which local landmarks had been demolished, and never printed a story based in truth.
Monger first professionally exhibited paintings at the age of sixteen in the South Wales Group at the National Museum of Wales. After attending boarding school in Taunton, Somerset, he went to the Chelsea School of Art, London, where he won the Bidduph Scholarship for painting.
After graduating he returned to Wales and was a founding member of the Chapter Film Workshop – a full production facility that allowed local talent to make films. In its first five years the workshop produced eight feature films and over fifty shorts.
Monger made his first no-budget features there including the controversial Voice Over (1981) which played festivals and was sold throughout the world.
At the same time he was film and video producer for the avant-garde theatre company Moving Being, regularly touring throughout Western Europe with such acclaimed shows as Brecht in 1984 and The Influence of the Moon on the Tides.
After the success of Voice Over, he was invited to show his films at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and shortly thereafter he moved to Los Angeles to work with producer Ed Pressman of Badlands fame.
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