Kirsten Johnson Extra Credit

Kirsten Johnson’s documentary film, Cameraperson, took place in numerous places such as Foča, Bosnia, Jasper, Texas, Sana’a, Yemen, and more. Initially, all the locations from around the world were laid out and presented one by one with no context. Upon first glance the clips are not vexing or offensive in any way and come off as a harmless documentary, with some beautiful scenery. However, as the film progressed, the gullibility of the film faded away and the locations slowly started to fit within a more concrete framework. Behind all the beautiful scenery was a hidden tragedy which Johnson uncovered through interviewing people and obtaining their own person experiences and anecdotes. She conveyed the people’s struggles not only through spoken words, but through visual elements as well such as the rugged landscapes of some countries or key pieces of artifacts.

One part where Johnson struggled with was with were the peasants, who were the only Muslims living in the area after an ethnic cleansing by the government. She struggled with the idea of knowing that she will leave a place of war which she filmed. Because she can only do and leave so much behind, she ended up returning to the peasants in the end to Foča, Bosnia after five years and showed them the completed film. Despite her film being centered around devastating themes such as war and violence, she believes that the memories she made while spending time with the people erased those bad memories.