Christian got his first opportunity to direct a film, the short feature entitled Black Angel which accompanied the UK release of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Christian followed "Black Angel" with another short, The Dollar Bottom (1981), which won the 1981 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He followed that success with the thriller The Sender (1998), which received much critical acclaim and a nomination for Best Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Promoted by Quentin Tarantino as his favourite film the year of its release.

His directing credits include the 1994 Orion Pictures release _Nostradamus (1994), starring Tcheky Karyo, Rutger Hauer, Julia Ormond and F. Murray Abraham. The HBO premiere movie The Final Cut (1995), Underworld (1996) starring Denis Leary, Joe Montagna and Annabella Sciorra. Masterminds (1997) starring Patrick Stewart, Vincent Kartheiser. Joseph & Mary starring Kevin Sorbo. Christian has also directed numerous high profile commercials, including worldwide campaigns for SEGA, Taco Bell, Jeep, Lancia, Fiat and Chrysler/Dodge. Major music videos for Duran Duran’s Election Day and Chris De Burgh. Christian's work as an art director and production designer was highly regarded. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his art direction on Ridley Scott's Alien(1979). His other art direction credits include Life of Brian (1979), Ken Russell's Mahler(1974) and Peter Hall's Akenfield (1974)