Kris Kristensen has been haunted by film-making since his first childhood memory; watching the 1933 classic KING-KONG on television. At age ten he was entertaining his friends with his own short films. Before graduating from high school, he had won his first award for a 30 minute film titled DEALING.

Most recently Kristensen has been plying his skills as a storyteller while working as a writer on A&E's hit reality show HOARDERS, and an episode of BIOGRAPHY about MARRIED... WITH CHILDREN.

INHERITANCE was his feature film film debut as a director. It received both global and domestic distribution, was compared to ROSEMARY'S BABY and described as Hitchcockian. The film won second place at the HD Fest for Best Picture and Best Cinematography, and was also nominated for Best Director. The script was a semi-finalist at the Austin Heart of Film Festival, finishing in the 1.5% out of 3100 submissions. INHERITANCE stars Jen Taylor, better known as the voice of HALO's Cortana, and it was shot by his college companion Eric Adkins who went on to shoot SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW.

2010 saw the inaugural year of the 20/20 AWARDS which Kristensen co-founded with Korby Sears. The awards revisit the Academy Awards with the advantage of 20 years hindsight, "correcting" the Oscars to see which films have withstood the test of time.

Kristensen has found a way to merge his love of music and film, starting with his concert film ELIXIRS & REMEDIES starring musicians Robyn Hitchcock and Grant Lee Phillips. This relationship has continued to grow leading to a music video with Phillips, and documentary short for mtv.com featuring Hitchcock. The MTV spot is part of the internet THE B-SIDES, the supplemental features to $5 COVER. In addition to the Hitchcock piece, Kristensen was also commissioned to do a piece on Seattle legend Jimi Hendrix.

This love of music has also lead to directing a number of music videos for some of Seattle's finest musicians including Brent Amaker & The Rodeo, Ruby Dee And The Snakehandlers, and Mia Boyle. When Kristensen was commissioned to direct a documentary for the Seattle International Film Festival he once again turned to music, this time exploring the sense of loss between artist and audience through the tragedy perpetrated against House of Freaks frontman Bryan Harvey as explored in the film CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK.

Kristensen produced, edited and shot the short film WHITE FACE for writer/director Brian McDonald. Described as a serious comedy about racism, WHITE FACE won the audience award for best short at the prestigious Slamdance Film Festival, and one of the most profitable short films of all time.

While attending the California Institute of the Arts, Kris directed SELF-PORTRAIT. This student film was one of the first ever to receive a camera package donation from Panavision's Young Filmmaker's Program. After school, Kristensen spent seven years working in Hollywood as everything from camera assistant to film editor. During these years he wrote several screenplays, all of which finished in the top 10% of the Nicholl's Fellowship.

After moving to Seattle, Kris set out to make a demo tape, LIFE & HOW TO LIVE IT, to exhibit his directing skills. This sample reel won him the silver medal at the 1998 Emerald City Awards for Best Music Video.

In 1998, Kristensen joined forces with some of Seattle's strongest up and coming directors to co-found The Focus Ring. They are a small group of filmmakers who meet on a weekly basis to focus on the craft of directing actors. Their reputation for quality has spread throughout the community, and now Seattle's acting elite volunteer their talents to be part of this exciting new circle.

That same year, Kristensen was the director of photography on his first feature film, THE GOOD EGG, the feature film directorial debut of screenwriter Mark (NELL) Handley. With a limited crew, budget and schedule, it was a project that challenged his abilities not only as a visualist, but also as a pragmatist. Despite the constraints, it reinforced what he's known since high school; "The day I make movies for a living I'll consider myself retired, because this is what I love to do."