Kirsten Johnson and Jessica Kingdon
Kirsten Johnson, whose Dick Johnson is Dead was nominated for the Feature Doc Oscar in 2021, spoke to Jessica Kingdon about her 2022 Oscar-shortlisted film Ascension, which cinematically explores the pursuit of the ‘Chinese Dream’. “I can feel your pleasure as filmmakers and cinematographers in particular, and I also I have to say I do think it’s really an ode to the great art of documentary producing,” said Kirsten.
Click here to see the whole conversation between Jessica and Kirsten. Excerpts follow.
“I do think of this film as a camera person’s film,” Kirsten told Jessica early in their conversation. “I made a film called Camera Person several years ago. It is very much the way I approach thinking about filmmaking. When I saw this film [Ascension], I was so jealous. I was like “I wanna be filming this with you!” I experienced so much pleasure watching the film.
“Because I can feel your pleasure as filmmakers and cinematographers in particular, and I also have to say I do think it’s really an ode to the great art of documentary producing, that you were able to make a film that talks both about systems and evokes these huge questions…and can also address individual experience, and also is so involved in aesthetics. And for me it’s a film about the future: I felt like I was seeing humans from the future, even if all the film is in our present.”
Jessica replied: First I’ll say that it’s an honour to be in conversation with you about this film. I have been a fan of your work for long time. And I love Camera Person. So it’s very surreal for me to hear you talking about my film and loving it. Yes you are right, the process of shooting it was a lot of fun. Extremely pleasurable. And I miss it. I miss going and shooting. That was one of the most creatively satisfying elements…
“I know a lot of people have different relationships to when they shoot. For me it was kind of an act of trying to disappear and make myself as small as possible so that I could allow the things in front of my camera to really shine and speak. A lot of it had to do with me trying to get out of the way. My own way, other people’s ways.
Click here to see the whole conversation between Jessica and Kirsten.
