Co-sponsored by the School of Art
About Kirsten Johnson
Kirsten Johnson’s work stems from deep interests in cinema language, the power of the camera and the ethical complexities of filming. Her most recent movie, which she made in collaboration with her father, DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD premiered at Sundance 2020 where it won the Jury Prize for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling. The film won The Critics Choice Award for Best Director and Best Documentary Feature. It made the Oscar shortlist and was nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys. Johnson won the Emmy for Best Director. The film currently plays on Netflix and will be released on DVD as a part of the Criterion Collection. Her previous film, CAMERAPERSON, premiered at Sundance 2016, was shortlisted for an Academy Award, won the National Board of Review “Freedom of Expression” prize, and won three 2017 Cinema Eye Honors. Named one ‘Top Ten Films of 2016’ by The New York Times and The Washington Post, it was the Grand Jury Winner of 9 international festivals, was featured on many top films of the decade lists and is distributed by The Criterion Collection. Her short, THE ABOVE, premiered at the 2015 New York Film Festival and was nominated for the IDA’s ‘Best Short Award’ for 2016. Kirsten’s camerawork has appeared in the Academy Award-winning CITIZEN FOUR, Cannes Premiere RISK, Academy Award-nominated THE INVISIBLE WAR, Tribeca Documentary winner, PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL, Cannes winner FAHRENHEIT 9/11. She shared the Sundance 2010 Cinematography Award with Laura Poitras for their work on THE OATH. She and Katy Chevigny co-directed the Berlinale premiering DEADLINE, which won the Thurgood Marshall Award. In 2017, she was awarded the Chicken and Egg Breakthrough Filmmaker Award, became a Sundance Art of Nonfiction Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow. She is at work on a collaborative project with global reach currently entitled Camerapeople of the 21st Century. She is one of the 5% of women in the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers).