Fred Johnson

Fred Johnson is a documentary maker, teacher, and media and communications policy scholar. His work has been transmitted in a wide range of venues including the Learning and Discovery Channels, WNET-New York, PBS stations throughout the U.S., BBC 2 and BBC World Service. He has over 30 documentaries and media productions to his credit addressing a wide range of concerns including globalization, the international arms trade, Appalachian culture, poetry, urban and public space, and relationships of communications, geography and constructed space.

As a recipient of the US-UK Fulbright Television Arts Fellowship, he was sited at the BBC’s legendary Community Programmes Unit in London where he took part in early experiments with social documentary, citizen access and engagement, producing for their Open Space Series. His work has been screened in a number of media arts venues including the Northwest Film Center, the Pacific Film Archives, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the Irish Film Institute in Dublin.

Co-Producer/Director, Network 21C, a documedia project looking at US telecommunications policy and network culture.

Co-Producer/Director, Coming to Ground, a cross-platform feature documentary project with video sharing and social media initiatives; the work explores the greening and re-imagining of Kentucky agriculture after the deregulation and winding down of the tobacco economy. Currently airing on regional public broadcasting, 2012 – present

Executive Producer, The Gender Chip Project, a cross-platform digital multi-media project, directed by Helen DeMichiel, based on a documentary exploring the struggles of young women entering the science, math and engineering fields, funded by the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio Arts Council and the National Science Foundation, distributed by Women Make Movies, 1999 to 2006.

Producer/Director, Local Voices, Local Needs, an advocacy documentary for Internet and cable distribution produced with local government officials and their attorneys, Local Needs, Local Voices, addresses the negative public interest impact of Congress’ failed attempt at national telecommunications legislation, summer of 2006. Distributed to over 300 local cable channels and more widely on DVD, 2006.

Co-Producer and Co-Director, Coal Black Voices, a documentary on the poetry and work of the Affrilachian Poets, a movement of African-American writers and artists from Appalachia; commissioned by Kentucky Educational Television, broadcast regionally on Public Television, Fall 2001 – present, wide DVD distribution.

Producer and Director, Cratis Williams: Living The Divided Life, a documentary on the life of an Appalachian scholar, folklorist, cultural historian, and balladeer, funded by the Kentucky Arts Council, Ohio Arts Council, Kentucky Educational Television, and the Kentucky Humanities Council, broadcast, KET, regional Public Television, 2002 – present.

Producer and Director, Hybrid City, a documentary for the British Broadcasting Corporation portraying the social issues arising from the control and creation of urban space; transmitted on BBC 2, UK, 1992, and on the BBC World Service, 1993.

Producer and Director, Future On The Line, a documentary for the British Broadcasting Corporation, transmitted on BBC 2. Depicts the critical changes in UK telecommunications policy and community use of data communications, 1990.

Associate Producer and Co-Director, Death On Delivery, a documentary for the British Broadcasting Corporation transmitted on BBC 2, articulating the perils of government-sponsored arms trading in an era of deflating defense budgets, 1990.

Co-Producer, From The Shadows Of Power, documentary work depicting the struggles of women in the coal fields of Appalachia, Wales, and England, directed and co-produced by Jean Donohue, funded by the Kentucky Foundation on Women, Kentucky Educational Television, Ohio Arts Council, transmitted on Kentucky Educational TV 1990 – present. Selected for the Independent Focus Series, WNET, New York. 1991 screened at the Flaherty Documentary Seminar, 1993.

Executive Co-producer, Three Valleys Town Halls and Community Conversations, programs produced as part of the Three Valleys Project, a project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation that built communication and cooperation among ethnic minorities and members of dominant groups. The programs featured simulcasts of multi-lingual cable channel transmissions in Spanish and English; co-produced by The Three Valleys Project and Tualatin Valley Community Access, 1997.

Producer, Cable Franchise Town Halls, two town hall forums designed to foster citizen participation in the cable regulatory process for the impending cable re-franchising process; co-produced by the Metropolitan Area Communication Commission and Tualatin Valley Community Access, 1996, local cable distribution, Portland, Oregon.

Producer, Oregon Telecommunication Forum Teleconference, an interactive, satellite conference designed to present community media options and foster diverse participation in Oregon telecommunications planning, 1996.

Co-Producer and Director video production for Sharing Waters, a video song and performance by Shari Lauter, co-sponsored by the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Media Working Group, 1995.

Producer and Director, Metro 2040: Envisioning Our Region’s, Future, a live call-in show featuring a panel of planners and opinion leaders grappling with the regional planning work of the Portland, Oregon metro-region, sponsored by METRO Regional Government and Tualatin Valley Community Television, 1994.

Producer and Director, Information Garden Manifesto, an expressionistic experimental video exploring the ideology of the information age. Selected for the Ohio Media Arts touring video art program, curated by John Hanhardt then at the Whitney Museum, funded by the Ohio Arts Council, 1988.

Producer and Director, After The Act, a documentary examining the implications of the passage of the Cable Communications Act of 1984, national satellite distribution, The Learning Channel, 1985.

Producer/Director, Another Year, Another Number, a documentary on the hopes for democratic national policy in Cable TV, 1984.

Producer and Director, Symbol Mongers Transduce the Solid State, an expressionistic exploration of the new telecommunications era, 1980.