The Biography of Cristóbal Krusen

Cristóbal Krusen was born and raised in Tampa, Florida. While an English major at Harvard University, he intended pursuing a career as a novelist and poet. A growing interest in photography and the history of cinema, however, led him to simultaneously explore the world of filmmaking. Eventually, he changed his major and schools, graduating from the New York University School of Film and Television in 1976. His filmmaking career began that same year in New York City with a small production company making commercials and industrial films. In the years that followed, Cristóbal worked for other companies in a range of capacities, including script reader, film editor, writer, and finally director/producer. For several years, he worked exclusively as a screenwriter; joining the Writer’s Guild of America, East and writing scripts for independent feature productions.

In the mid-1980s, Cristóbal began to focus on Spanish-language productions for U.S. based relief agencies and Christian ministries overseas. In 1988, he founded Messenger Films, and produced his first dramatic film, the award-winning Ropa Nueva para Felipe (New Clothes for Felipe). In 1989 and 1990, Cristóbal completed work for a Master of Fine Arts Degree (with an emphasis on film directing) at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

From 1991 to the end of 1999, Cristóbal produced dozens of award-winning television docu-dramas in Latin America and Africa, as well as internationally broadcast commercials, and his second motion picture, the award-winning ¿Con Quién Te Vas? (With Whom Will You Go?). This movie has been dubbed, or sub-titled, into French, English, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Tagalog, and Swahili.

In 2003, Cristóbal completed his third film, Final Solution (shot on location in Cape Town, South Africa and currently airing nationally over PBS). By way of a true-life story set in the apartheid era of South Africa, Final Solution takes a penetrating look at racism and injustice, while at the same time exploring themes of healing and reconciliation. In addition to appearing in Africa as an official entry at the Durban International Film Festival, the Jozi Summit Film Festival, and the Zanzibar International Film Festival, Final Solution has received the following awards: Best Picture at the ICVM International Film Festival, the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland International Film Festival, the Gold Award for Theatrical Features at the Houston International Film Festival, Best Picture and Best Musical Score at the Down Under International Film Festival in Australia, the John Esvang Humanitarian Award at the Marco Island Film Festival, and Film of the Year at the WYSIWYG Film Festival in San Francisco.