Production
Buffalo, New York, USA
CHRISTINE LA MONTE, producer/director/writer and former film marketing executive at Universal, Disney and Orion, is founder of La Monte Productions where current projects on the festival circuit include two Italian feature documentaries: AI WEIWEI’S TURANDOT, an Italian/US co-production with her producing partner Marta Zaccaron's Incipit Film and La Monte Productions, with Julian Lennon and Marcie Polier serving as Executive Producers and Andy Cohen as producer, the film follows Ai Weiwei as he makes his operatic directorial debut at the Rome Opera House, bringing his activist/artistic vision to Puccini’s Turandot; and VIVA VERDI!, which she is producing/writing with producing partner and director, Yvonne Russo, about Casa Verdi in Milan, the home for retired opera singers built by Giuseppe Verdi in 1896. In post production is FIGLI DEL FIUME / CHILDREN OF THE RIVER, three men in search of meaning find their ancestral roots along Italy’s Po River, and JUSTICE DEFERRED, a feature film in development based on Len Williams’ critically acclaimed legal thriller book is in development. La Monte produced the Palm Springs International Film Festival Audience Award-winning short film, DANDELION DHARMA; the Gary Goldstein scripted play, “Three Grooms & A Bride,” and the syndicated television talk show, "Marilou" starring Marilu Henner. Her directing credits include the Screen Actors Guild’s “A Heart United” with Sharon Lawrence and Jo Beth Williams, and “The Angina Monologues” with Brenda Strong. La Monte spent over 6 years at the public relations/marketing firm, Rogers & Cowan as the Executive Vice President of the Motion Picture Group; as an international strategic marketer, she worked at Italian studio, CineCittá in Rome, and served as Marketing Executive, at TV 3 New Zealand, while living in Auckland. A long-time member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, La Monte is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the Alliance of Women Directors. She is a past faculty member of New York's School of Visual Arts where she initiated the Dusty Awards, an annual festival of student short films and awards ceremony. She is on the Advisory Board of LA-based SEEfest, and is a frequent guest speaker/panelist at independent filmmaking events, including USC, UCLA and New York Film Academy; she has been the Chair of the Humanitas Awards jury panel for the past several years. With US/Italian dual citizenship, she divides her time between Los Angeles and Rome.