Kirsten Johnson is an award-winning New York-based documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. She is a faculty member at NYU. She graduated from Brown University in 1987, with a BA in Fine Arts and Literature. After two years in West Africa working on local fiction and documentary film projects, she attended the FEMIS (the French National Film School) in Paris. Her film credits include “Derrida” (2002), a documentary on French philosopher Jacques Derrida, the documentary “Darfur Now” (2006), and “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” (2008) which won the Tribeca Film Festival Best Documentary.

Her other works include “The Oath” (2010) and “Citizenfour” (2014), both directed by Laura Poitras. “The Oath” is about Osama bin Laden’s driver, Abu Jandal, for which Johnson won an award from Sundance. “Citizenfour” concerns Edward Snowden and his revelations about the NSA. Her most recent film, ‘’Cameraperson,’’ is exposing her own role behind the camera as Kirsten reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. So far, ‘’Cameraperson’’ has won 22 awards, including San Francisco International Film Festival, Sheffield International Documentary Festival and Cinema Eye Honors Awards.