Originally from Seattle, Chris Johnson moved to Montreal, Quebec to pursue his undergraduate degree in film production at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Concordia University. During his four years at the university, Chris sat on the executive boards of several student groups, worked for community organizations such as Montreal Holocaust Memorial Museum, and spent three years with the Savoy Society at McGill University producing various theatrical productions.
As a filmmaker, Chris’ films indulge his ongoing fascination with human interaction and psychology along with social issues. Pretty, Gay and Available, for example, explored the confines of internalized homophobia. Upon its showing at Montreal’s Image+Nation LGBT Film Festival, Matthew Hays of the Montreal Mirror proclaimed Pretty, Gay and Available “Chris Johnson’s alternately witty and touching meditation on dating.”
Apart from his own film and photographic work, he has also collaborated with artists and directors in various roles and capacities from assistant director and stage manager, for theatre, film, and print. His strong skill set in art direction and production design has been aptly demonstrated in his work on the films Les Mercredis de Rose by acclaimed director Guylaine Dionne and The Pen and the Sword, produced in part by the National Film Board of Canada.
Chris is the recipient of the Kodak Award for Excellence in Filmmaking as well as the B.F. Lorenzetti Scholarship for Excellence in Filmmaking. He currently resides in New York City.