Coming to Criterion Channel's Streaming Platform: Kirsten Johnson's Stunning 'Cameraperson'

Criterion Channel filling void left by shuttered Filmstruck

Kirsten Johnson's Oscar-shortlisted documentary Cameraperson will debut on The Criterion Channel streaming service this Wednesday, joining an array of nonfiction and fiction titles on the new platform.

The film explores the interpersonal and ethical dimensions of the work Johnson has been engaged in for almost two decades -- as a cinematographer on major documentaries, from citizenfour to The Invisible War.

What I'm interested in is how deep can we go?

--Cameraperson director Kirsten Johnson on her work as a documentary cinematographer

"When I'm shooting I want to know you, I want to talk to you more and whatever we've set up in the relationship of this moment -- I want more. I'm curious and I'm engaged in this way that I think people [I'm shooting] feel and they want to stay too, and so we're in something together," Johnson told Nonfictionfilm.com. "What I'm interested in is how deep can we go?" 

Criterion titles were previously available on the Filmstruck streaming service from Turner Classic Movies, a division of Time Warner. But when AT&T acquired Time Warner, it shuttered Filmstruck, preferring to pump resources into the launch of a broader streaming  platform intended to rival Netflix.

In response, Criterion set up its own streaming platform, which costs $10.00 a month, or $100 for a full-year upfront.

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Related:
>Cameraperson director Kirsten Johnson on her 'interrogation' of the cinematographer's role: 'I needed this film, to understand what I did'

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Coincidentally, The Criterion Collection is likewise adding a documentary on a renowned cinematographer of the 1940s and 50s, Jack Cardiff, whose work included the fictional classics The Red Shoes (1948) and The African Queen (1951). Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff, directed by Craig McCall, was originally released in 2010.

Also joining Criterion's platform  this month are Al Reinert's 1989 documentary on the Apollo moon missions, For All Mankind, and two documentaries on the making of Sergey Bondarchuk's epic War and Peace (along with Bondarchuk's 1965 film itself, based on the Tolstoy novel).