filmmaker. designer. consultant.
I tell stories that move people to action and bring us closer together. I use a camera for a lot of this work, and my mind for all of it.
nathan lee johnson.
Much of my career has been spent inside and around international nonprofits. I have directed and produced projects in more than 50 countries. Most begin with a complicated subject and a basic question: how can we make this clear without flattening it?
I am known for leading my projects to completion on time despite the huge challenges I often face: multi-country coordination, sensitive subjects, dangerous locations. I take a lot of pride in my professional reputation, which seems to be “Nathan will figure out how to get this done, anywhere in the world.”
My documentary film work includes Digging In, a feature documentary about American agriculture, and Force of Water, about clean water access.
I put myself onscreen with The Drawdown Report for Sustainable Harvest International, which became the centerpiece of several fundraising campaigns. I edited the PBS documentary Heart of the City and produced Land of Opportunity, both of which received Mid-America Emmy® Awards.
I am a freelance producer/director for Future Studios in the UK, creating true-life content for some of the largest channels on YouTube.
I have also led communications from inside organizations. I held senior roles at Mavuno Congo, Sustainable Harvest International, Global Forest Generation, and Vatheuer Family Foundation. These jobs, all for relatively small organizations, exposed me to the internal complexities of the nonprofit sector and made me better at providing services to it.
While doing all of this, I’ve gotten really good at travel logistics, so I’ve been asked to design a few travel experiences like major donor visits and staff retreats.
I speak English, Spanish, and French. I live in Kansas City with my partner and my son.
