The Stone Child

Christopher Martini is the son of sculptor, Raffaele Martini, from Rome Italy, and ex-parole officer, Pat Margolin, from Dallas Texas. Chris’ step-father is Emmy-Award Winning actor, Stuart Margolin, best known for his role of Angel on “The Rockford Files”. In 1996 Chris graduated NYU Film School and has been working as an editor since. His most recent credits are “Gulf War Syndrome: Killing Our Own”, a feature doc about Gulf War vets, which won four awards, including Best Documentary at the World Fest Houston International Film Festival, as well as being accepted in thirty film festivals, and “Vaccine Nation”, which won Honorable Mention at the 2008 Accolade Awards and the Special Jury Award at the 2008 Worldfest Houston International Film Festival. Additionally, Chris edited the feature, “Green Diggity Dog”, starring Joe Estevez, which won the Audience Choice Award at Slamdunk Film Festival and National Lampoon’s “Dirty Movie”, starring Chris Meloni, Mario Cantone, Robert Klein, Larry Holmes and Cyndi Lauper. Chris’ first entry into the industry was as a child actor in the HBO feature, “The Glitterdome”, where he played an abused child, opposite John Lithgow, in a scene described by the actor at the AFI as one of his most memorable in his career. Chris wrote and will direct “The Stone Child”, a feature film about a Lakota boy struggling for identity as he is torn between the two worlds of his Mormon mother and Native-American father. Chris spent years researching and writing the script, which led him to Salt Lake City and Pine Ridge Reservation, where he formed a circle of allies both on and off the reservation, as well as sponsoring a Lakota child, Kestral Falcon Little. The script was Shortlisted at the 2002 & 2004 Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, was awarded Quarter-Finalist at the Slamdance and Page International Script Competitions, and was an Official Selection at the 28th Annual IFP Market and a Semi-Finalist for the script award. While at IFP, Chris had an epiphany and quickly arranged a fundraiser in order to make a short based on the feature. The word spread through the Native community and Chris found art pouring in from Native artists all over the country, as well as Native musicians to perform. With the money raised, Chris set out for South Dakota where he shot the short version with a splinter crew, led by Larry Pourier, “Skins”, and shot by AFI alumni John Rotan, on Super 16mm. “The Stone Child” short film was shot entirely with non-professional Native-American actors and was selected in 2007 and 2008 for a total of twenty-one US Film Festivals, was Nominated Best Native-American Film at the 2008 Trail Dance Film Festival and won the Bronze Remi at the 2008 Worldfest Houston International Film Festival. “The Stone Child” Short Film is currently being distributed by Hastings Entertainment, is part of the permanent video collection at the Heard Museum in Arizona and is being acquired by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Canada. Chris’ second feature-length screenplay, “Trooper”, about an Iraq veteran and his father, both struggling with illnesses brought home from the battlefield, was recently Awarded Finalist at the 2008 Rome Independent Film Festival. Chris is represented as a film editor by Laura Siegel and Tara Kromer at Creative Entertainment Connections Agency in New York City.I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4