Originally from Iran of Armenian descent, Christine Khalafian’s short-form directing works have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, and Rotterdam International Film Festival, among others. She made her network TV directing debut with an episode of Ryan Murphy’s 9-1-1: Lone Star starring Rob Lowe in season 3 and returned to shoot her second episode in season 4. This latest episode won the network TV ratings for the night it aired.
Her most recent short film, Five Minutes, shot entirely during the quarantine, premiered at the Florida Film Festival and screened at the Austin Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, and Portland Film Festival among others. She produced and directed the feature documentary The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights, which premiered on PBS/Independent Lens and was invited by Michelle Obama to screen at The White House during the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington.
She’s an Emmy nominated editor with experience in scripted, documentary, and docu-series projects. She’s a mentee of the American Cinema Editors (ACE) Diversity program, a fellow of Film Independent’s Project Involve program, and a mentee in Ryan Murphy’s Half Initiative, during which she shadowed producing director Brad Buecker on four episodes of 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star. She lives in Los Angeles.