CAMERAPERSON (Kirsten Johnson, U.S.). 102 minutes. Rating: NNNNN
Kirsten Johnson has been working as a documentary cinematographer for a decade and a half, shooting for filmmakers like Kirby Dick (The Invisible War), Laura Poitras (Citizenfour), Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11) and Dawn Porter (Trapped).
For Cameraperson, Johnson and editors Nels Bangerter and Amanda Laws have assembled footage she’s shot over the years into a personal diary, representing her peripatetic career and – almost imperceptibly – showing us the cost of bearing witness to horrors in Bosnia or Darfur or Jasper, Texas, where she covered the murder trial of the men who dragged James Byrd Jr. behind their pickup.
Johnson also hints at a much more personal toll, with glimpses of her mother’s worsening Alzheimer’s and her twins’ growth spurts between clips. It’s a graceful, deeply affecting work produced in an entirely original manner.
May 2, 6:15 pm, Scotiabank 3 May 3, 2:45 pm, TIFF 4 May 7, 6:15 pm, TIFF 4
