#11: Kirsten Johnson

On Assignment's season two premiere is the first episode in a series called, Women We Love. These episodes will feature great conversations with women who are out in the field setting an example for our students with their outstanding reporting. All have a special connection to our Columbia J-School Prizes Department. Our first episode features filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, whose film Cameraperson, was the final screening at the duPont sponsored film series Film Fridays last spring. She has worked as the principal cinematographer on over 40 feature-length documentaries. Some of her credits include award-winning pieces like “The Invisible War,” “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Women, War and Peace.” Kirsten has a longstanding collaboration with Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras and is credited as cinematographer for “The Oath,” “Citizenfour,” and the upcoming "Asylum." Her directorial debut, Cameraperson, is a deeply personal and autobiographical film that Kirsten calls, “an acknowledgement of how complex it is to film and be filmed.” It was an official selection for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Cameraperson opens at the IFC Center in New York City on September 9th.