About

Russell Gienapp

Cinematographer / Director

Russell Gienapp is a cinematographer and director with dual US and Canadian citizenship based in Toronto, with more than 25 years of experience capturing story. He is proud to be a descendant of his mother’s unbroken matriarchal line of Indigenous strength and the son of his father’s German settler grit. His work spans social-issue documentaries, exploration and adventure projects, and commercial campaigns. He brings to every project a strong technical understanding paired with an artist’s eye and a photographer’s aesthetic.

Making feature documentaries to hybrid documentary series, he has traveled the globe telling stories for broadcasters around the world. “How I Got Here”(BYUTV), “Political Blind Date” (TVO),, “Extreme Ice Machines”(Discovery), “Company Town” (CBC), “Gambling on Extinction“(TVO, ZDF), “Giraffes: The Forgotten Giants” (Nature of Things),“You Gotta Eat Here!” (Food Network). Russell also enjoys shooting and directing commercial content like the highly successful social media commercial series for Spin Master’s Fuggler campaign with over 5.5 million views on youtube. He has also shot commercials for Ontario Lottery, Canadian Turkey Growers and Sauve (Unilever).

He has enjoyed working on many science and natural history films; raccoons in Toronto, crows in Seattle, Asian carp on the Illinois River, puffins in Newfoundland and giraffes in Kenya for “The Nature of Things” (CBC). His extreme cold expertise has taken him numerous times to the high arctic “March to the Pole” (History) and the mountains of Mongolia “Beast Legends” (SYFY). Projects have also taken him to the North Atlantic for “Cold Water Cowboys” (Discovery Channel) and searching for underwater mysteries in Laos, Philippines, Saba, and Tinian Island Dive Detectives (History Channel / Smithsonian Channel). For Russell, “home” is anywhere there is a story to capture. DEMO REELS

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