Chris Mason Johnson
Writer-director Chris Mason Johnson has created a visually compelling film about an important subject that until now had pretty much defied cinematic expression.
- The San Francisco Chronicle
Chris Mason Johnson’s most recent feature film as writer-director, Test, was a New York Times Critics Pick; a two-time Grand Jury Prize Winner at Outfest Los Angeles (Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenwriting); an Official Selection at the Berlin International Film Festival, among dozens of other festivals worldwide; and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award in 2015.
Chris’s first feature film as writer/director, The New Twenty (2009), won numerous festival awards and was hailed by LA Weekly as “a sleek and accomplished debut film.”
Chris began his career as a dancer in ballet and modern companies, including the Frankfurt Ballet in Germany and the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Since his transition to film and prior to making his own movies, Chris worked as Head of Development at Open City Films in New York, and as a Script Editor and Analyst for Miramax, Dimension, Disney, ABC Family and Fine Line.
He has taught filmmaking and/or screenwriting at Amherst College, California College of the Arts, Rutgers University, Mt. Holyoke College and Smith College, and he has taught dance at UCLA. Chris graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Amherst College.