Meet Christopher Beeson | Filmmmaker, Teacher, Creative Professional

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christopher Beeson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christopher, why did you pursue a creative career?
Making art in any form has been my primary way of engaging with the world for as long as I can remember. It’s how my brain processes things. There was never a conscious choice of deciding to have a creative career, but really just a matter of figuring out what that would look like. I think for humans who identify as ‘artist’ or ‘creative’ by default, making things, developing those skills and finding your voice is what you naturally do with your time and energy, and if you fully devote yourself to that process, the money and career parts naturally follow. Being an artist or creative is not an easy path because you’re often inventing your own ways to make a living. I’ve had to take non-creative jobs along the way to support my ‘habit,’ but was able to use those as opportunities to become more savvy about business, finance, marketing — the tools every artist needs to succeed long-term. Being creative about how you leverage opportunities that seem outside of your scope is an essential skill. I’ve been fortunate to have found a way to be a maker of art and creative projects and also build a career that sustains those projects.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

My ‘day job’ is Program Manager and Lecturer with the Department of Film & Television at CU Denver. I also teach film production, editing, and digital effects classes. I’m also a documentary filmmaker, and do most of my own filming, editing, animations, and music. I’m very happy with the way ‘Hog Haven,’ my most recent documentary, has been received. It’s the culmination of so many of my intentions and beliefs. The film is a profile of Hog Haven Farm Sanctuary in rural Colorado. It advocates for the welfare of farm animals, who are the most tortured and abused of all animals, for the scientific and humane benefits of a plant-based lifestyle, and it features a fiercely powerful female business owner (who is also a Columbine survivor).

I was able to secure national distribution for ‘Hog Haven’ on PBS stations and a deal with Collective Eye Films for educational distribution as well. The film has played at festivals internationally and is up for a few awards. Along the way I’ve met so many amazing people in the animal rescue community and learned so much about animal welfare and plant-based living – it’s been a real education for me. I even went from being vegetarian to vegan in the process.

I’ve made several documentaries about social welfare and animal advocacy, and everything sort of came together in this film. I feel like it really says what I want it to say in the voice I wanted to use. It’s taken many years of trial-and-error for me to become a decent filmmaker. Making a film may be the most complex of all art forms because it requires broad range of highly technical skills, a deep understanding of how film language and storytelling operate, and a 10,000-foot overhead view of the sort of art you’re trying to create. Getting a film out into the world also requires a lot of experience in DIY marketing, fundraising, and distribution. I’m very fortunate that my job is managing an undergraduate film program, teaching film, and working every day with professional filmmakers. Otherwise, ‘Hog Haven’ would still be just a thought jotted down in a notebook somewhere.

I won’t bore you with the whole crazy route I took to get here. Suffice to say I didn’t go straight from film school to being a PA and working my way up the ladder, then being a director. I did get to work in ‘Hollywood’ for several years and learn the industry, but didn’t even realize I wanted to be a filmmaker until I’d made a bunch of other kinds of art: graphic design, painting, animation, video editing, writing, composing and playing music… then I started making films and realized that it contains all of these things in one medium, AND you can tell a story using all these different elements at once. Films contain everything. They are to me the ultimate art form.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If you’re a film buff, the Mayan Theater on South Broadway, a 1930 Art Deco Mayan Revival-style movie house, is a must-go. It’s a spectacular building. Watch a film in their huge main theater. For arthouse cinema, try the SIE FilmCenter. For music, Boulder Theater is one of my favorites — if you don’t feel like getting smashed by the crowd, head up to the balcony for a great view of the stage. Denver is also a great place for vegan food — so many choices — current favorites are Vital Root, So Radish, and Sunday Supper or the tasting menu at Somebody People is transcendent. On a nice day, pick a hike and just go – Lost Lake via the Hessie Trail is a workout but worth it, and your dog can swim in the lake! Drive up to Lyons and get a beer at Oskar Blues then blow a roll of quarters at Lyons Classic Pinball. For local beer, Cerebral Brewing is my current obsession – grab a Rare Trait or Gasoline Rainbows. On a weekend afternoon, head to Tennyson Street in the Berkeley neighborhood and just walk around.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This is a tough question. In each phase of my life there have been people whose kindness and generosity truly made all the difference in the world. You don’t always know it when you have a mentor – sometimes it’s much later when you look back and realize that person went out of their way to help you, and that the trajectory of your life was directly shaped by them. It’s been a long time since I was in high school, but there was this core group of teachers who not only changed my life but deeply affected the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands of kids who ‘identified as artistic’ in our small and very conservative midwestern farm town. One of those teachers, Kathi Dooley, was recently singled out by a former student who is one of the Queer Eye ‘fab five.’ They did a very popular episode about Kathi where they returned to our high school to celebrate her and give her a makeover. She was even made into a Lego figure for their kit! Kathi, my English teacher Tom Burnett, music director Dan Sherman and others directed elaborate musical productions, plays and variety shows and those became my cultural and personal home base. I basically lived at school at a time when I could easily have been just a lonely weirdo from a broken home. They became my family and encouraged me to explore every creative urge. I credit them for inspiring me to be an artist and a teacher.

Website: https://www.hoghavendoc.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cbeeson99/