Kirsten Johnson: Documentary Filmmaker & Cinematographer

Kirsten Johnson (she/her) is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer whose career spans over fifty films across two decades. Her film Dick Johnson Is Dead premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2020 where it won the Special Jury Award for Innovation in Non-fiction Storytelling. In Kirsten’s own words, Dick Johnson Is Dead is “a film in which my father dies over and over again in the hope of keeping him alive forever.”

Please welcome our special guest host, Lucy Walkowiak (she/her), co-head of the Fusion Film Festival submissions department.

In this episode, Lucy and Kirsten talk about:

Dick Johnson Is Dead
Cameraperson
Putting Kirsten’s personal life on camera
Young filmmakers
What drew Kirsten to documentaries
Filming in a conflict zone and a maternity ward
Making personal connections with documentary subjects
The future of documentaries

You can watch Dick Johnson Is Dead on Netflix.

WHO ARE WE?

Fusion Voices is the official podcast of Fusion Film Festival, New York University’s premiere student-run festival that celebrates women and non-binary creators in film, TV, and new media.

CREDITS

Producers: Lucy Walkowiak & Maya Gavant

Guest Host: Lucy Walkowiak

Hosts: Schuyler Barefoot & Carly Kline

Sound Editor: Sara Gabriela Long

Sound Mixer: Nina Leitenberg

“Dreamer” by Vodovoz Music Productions: https://youtu.be/N4ex28rjYDk

Special thanks to our faculty advisor Susan Sandler and the Fusion Voices team: Nina Leitenberg, Roni Polsgrove, Aspen Nelson, Schuyler Barefoot, Carly Kline, Maya Gavant, Sam Whitley, and introducing for the first time: Sara Gabriela Long!