Carbon Films has announced that multitalented director Christian Mangachena has joined their roster. Christian brings a distinctive visual style to advertising that feels unfamiliar, raw and real. As a director with a background in cinematography and editing, Christian uses camera angles, locations, textures and colour palettes to take a deep dive into culture that feels unconventional and refreshing. Christian brings something that we don’t think we’ve seen before and with the production chops of Carbon, we can’t wait to see more.

Carbon’s Executive Producer Kirsten Clarence says, ‘Christian is an extremely talented individual whose work is like none other. Honestly, he is prolific. He’s shooting something every week and his visual style feels specific but not fabricated and doesn’t feel referenced.’

Having mostly directed fashion, sports films and music videos, that is not only where his talents lie – it’s the visual storytelling and ability to create compelling narratives that run through Christian’s work and we’re excited to see this in more varied boards going forward. We can definitely imagine how prestige brands will be chomping at the bit for his visual language.

Inspired by the likes of late director Valentin Petit and David Fincher, Christian weaves culture, movement and a keen eye for aesthetics into his films. Even when capturing the grittiness of a location, Christian breathes life into it, immersing his audiences in his worlds and showcasing a strong style and a unique texture that feels raw yet sophisticated. ‘Motion is what inspires me, bouncing, framing, finding interesting ways of telling a story,’ adds Christian.

Talking about locations, Christian says: ‘I don’t need to fabricate anything. I will find the meat in any location I shoot in. Locations are like another character for me, one I have to know inside out. I don’t think you can accurately reflect the hood if you’ve never been in the hood. I shoot from experience, many experiences.’

It’s important to note that the guy behind all this cool work, is a really down-to-earth funny dude that just wants to talk film the whole day, which we love! Surprisingly Christian’s background is in chemical engineering which he eventually ditched, much to his family’s dismay, for the world of filmmaking – first editing and cinematography and then directing. This non-traditional path has contributed to Christian’s distinctive viewpoint and storytelling technique – he knows how to make something look good with a camera and an edit folks, and we’re pretty sure his family is over the whole engineering thing by now, surely!

Carbon Films partner and director, Mzonke Maloney, adds, ‘To be able to sign such a rich creative voice in advertising is so exciting. Christian doesn’t try hard, his work isn’t forced. There is this cultural perspective and elevated aesthetic that doesn’t feel added on, but instead authentic and new.’