JOAN CHURCHILL   

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Joan filming Searching for Jimi Hendrix (1991)
Dirs. Chris Hegedus, DA Pennebaker
Photo by Alan Barker

Biography

Filmmaker and cinematographer Joan Churchill began her career shooting on iconic music films, including Gimme Shelter, No Nukes, and Jimi Plays Berkeley, which she also directed. She worked on An American Family, the definitive vérité study of dysfunctional family life, Punishment Park, which reflected the domestic turmoil of the Vietnam era and Pumping Iron, which introduced the world to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Churchill has collaborated extensively with Nick Broomfield on numerous films including Lily Tomlin, Aileen: Life & Death of a Serial Killer, Kurt & Courtney, Biggie & Tupac, Tattooed Tears and Sarah Palin: You Betcha! Her work on Soldier Girls earned her a BAFTA, the first woman to be so honored, as well as the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.

Churchill and her partner, Alan Barker, work on long term projects as directors, producers and crew including: two TV vérité series, The Residents and the Emmy-winning American High. They have recently brought out two shorts on their mentor, legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler. Their other recent credits include Bedlam, a DuPont Columbia Award-winning film and Medicating Normal, both about the broken mental health system.

Churchill is the first pure documentary cinematographer to be accepted into the American Society of Cinematographers and one of the few women. She received their inaugural Lifetime Documentary Award in February, 2025. Her accolades include DOC NYC’s Life Time Achievement Visionary Award, a BAFTA, two DuPont Columbia Awards, the Prix Italia, IDA’s Award for Outstanding Cinematography; CamerImage’s Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking.

Teacher and mentor, Churchill has been the Kodak Cinematographer in Residence at UCLA 2006 (the first woman and first documentary filmmaker selected). She has taught documentary and film workshops at UCLA, USC, Chapman, Loyola Marymount University, Art Center College, and The National Film & Television School in the UK. She has shown her work, won awards and served on juries and panels for MacArthur, Peabody, Sundance, AFI, MoMA, Traverse City, Tribeca, LA Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center, IDFA, Sheffield, Full Frame, Cameraimage, Viennale and La Cinématheque du Documentaire a la BPI. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, she has served on the AMPAS documentary executive board for 14 years.

Joan filming Punishment Park (1971)
Dir. Peter Watkins
Photo by Paul Motian

Awards, Accolades, Accomplishments

• American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Lifetime Documentary Award
  
• DOCNYC Visionary Award
  
• British Academy Award (BAFTA) Flaherty Documentary Award—First woman
  
• Prix Italia
  
• DuPont Columbia Award for Outstanding Journalism
  
• IDA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Cinematography
  
• California State Bar Award for Distinguished Reporting
  
• Hague Peace Prize
  
• Amnesty International Doen Award
  
• Women in Film’s Kodak Vision Award/Documentary
  
• Camerimage Award for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking
  
• Sundance, Chicago, Tribeca & IDFA Festivals’ Prizes
  
• UCLA Cinematographer in Residence 2006—First woman & first documentarian
• American Society of Cinematographers (ASC)—First pure documentary cinematographer and one of the few women
• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Member—Documentary Executive Board for 14 years

Joan filming Blow Up (1997)
Dir. Mike Rossiter
Photo by Alan Barker

 

Film Clips

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