Biography
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Rudy Childs is an award-winning documentary filmmaker/producer from Rockland, Massachusetts, a rock photographer whose work has appeared in numerous publications, a producer of boxing programming and a married father of four. Incorporating vintage video footage from the 1980s, his four full-length documentaries on heavy metal music (Heavy Metal Picnic, Tension: 25 Years Underground, 1984: Riding Into Hell, 1985: Indestructible) and have won worldwide acclaim. Another, 21 Years: A Folded Flag, about the cathartic plight of a son discovering who his dad was after his hero father died in the Vietnam War, is now widely screened within the Veteran’s community. Additionally, he contributed vintage footage to 2022’s Hammerjacks: The Rockumentary and produced a documentary short from footage of a 1985 heavy metal field party in Maryland called Stoned to the Bone, which screens before it. Rudy’s extensive photography portfolio of seminal rock bands like Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne in their primes have been incorporated into many coffee table books chronicling their careers, including shots from epic concerts like Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and the US Festival ‘83. Rudy is also shopping his memoirs (Riff-Raff and Rock ‘n ‘ Roll) to hundreds of literary agents. For the extensive resume click here.Rudy’s latest venture is directing and editing the feature The Dogmatics: A Dogumentary (2023) that chronicles the band who helped birth the Boston punk scene in the early 80s. His friendship with The Dogs dates back to 1973, and over the years he has filmed them as they began as a fledgling garage band, to hosting them as a national touring act when they played DC’s iconic 9:30 Club. When bassist Paul O’Halloran perished in a motorcycle accident in 1986, the band broke up, and Rudy has always wanted to tell their story without ending it on a sour note. He made it so when, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Paul’s older brother Jimmy jumped on bass and the band added James Young on mandolin. The Dogmatics are not only touring, but they’ve written new music that, along with their old catalog, is now streaming on all major platforms to critical acclaim. The Dogumentary is now being considered along the national film festival circuit, with the opportunity for the band to play after every screening. Check out www.thedogmatics.com for more information.