Chris has collaborated with dancers (including Dagdha Dance Company of Limerick, Ireland; Kino Dance of Boston; Jimena Bermejo of Boston), video artists (Findlay//Sandsmark of Norway), and playwrights (Rinde Eckert and director Robert Woodruff on the opera "Highway Ulysses" with the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge) over the course of his musical career.
For the past 20 years, he has also built up a body of work scoring films. His collaborations include work on short films, feature films, and documentaries.
Chris' most recent film is Julia Halperin and Jason Cortlund's "Crookedfinger." It was presented at the Independent Film Festival of Boston in May 2024, among other festivals.
This is the third film Chris has scored for Julia and Jason. The others are "Now Forager" and "Barracuda," a 2017 feature film that was nominated for the SXSW Gamechanger Award and the SXSW Grand Jury Award.
Chris composed the film score for the feature film "Buck Run," which had its world premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2019. The movie is directed by Nick Frangione and stars James Le Gros. Variety says: "The drifting electric guitar of Chris Brokaw’s score further amplifies a timelessly melancholy air."
"Barracuda" had its US release in October 2017. In addition to its nominations as SXSW, it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the Oak Cliff Film Festival.
Hollywood Reporter writes: "Scored by Chris Brokaw with lots of evocative guitar, this unsettling, quietly edgy genre piece maintains its grip on the viewer throughout."
The feature film 'Barracuda' has a film score by Chris (see this poster full size)
Chris began scoring films in 2004 with Roddy Bogawa's feature "I Was Born But". He has scored these works:
I WAS BORN BUT (2004, Roddy Bogawa)
ROAD (2005, Leslie McCleave)
SOSPIRA (2010, Lana Z Caplan)
NOW, FORAGER (2012, Julia Halperin+Jason Cortlund)
TAKEN BY STORM: THE ART OF STORM THORGERSON (2013, Roddy Bogawa)
BARRACUDA (2017, Julia Halperin+Jason Cortlund)
MOTHER'S GARDEN (2018, Derek Johnson)
BUCK RUN (2019, Nick Frangione)
CROOKEDFINGER (2024, Julia Halperin+Jason Cortlund)
"Road" won the award for Best Original Score at the Brooklyn International Film Festival. Both 'Now, Forager' and 'Taken By Storm' enjoyed week long screenings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Chris also composed music for 3 "Heni Talks" directed by Roddy Bogawa in 2018:
Jonas Mekas: The Making of Andy Warhol's 'Empire' (watch)
Ashley Bickerton: Looking For Something Beyond (watch)
"I love scoring films, and welcome new work and collaborations. I find it both intuitive and challenging. My hope is to give a director what she/he wants while surprising us both in the process. I tend to work entirely with physical instruments and play most of it myself, though I have employed other musicians from time to time. I also try to bring both standard and unorthodox approaches to sound design."
