Congrats to East Bay filmmaker and SDFF alum Nels Bangerter on the Emmy wins for Dick Johnson Is Dead (Kirstin Johnson, 2020). The film won Creative Arts Emmys for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, Directing in Documentary Filmmaking, and Cinematography in a Non-Fiction Program. Dick Johnson Is Dead was shortlisted for an Academy Award before this win, and is among the final crop of films able to “double dip” in both competitions.
Bangerter co-wrote and edited the film, and also worked as an editor on the SDFF Selections Out In The Silence (2009) and Kuma Hina, (2014) both of which were written and directed by filmmaking partners and festival regulars Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson. Bangerter was also a consulting editor on SDFF 2016 mini Best of Luck with the Wall (Dir. Josh Begley), a 7-minute voyage across the US-Mexico border, stitched together form 200,000+ satellite images. In addition to engaging with audiences at his films, Bangerter has been a lively figure at SDFF, consistently giving feedback at Peer Pitch and making himself available to new filmmakers.
Bangerter and Johnson previously collaborated on Cameraperson (2016), another imaginative and complex piece of work that met with critical acclaim. While Dick Johnson Is Dead shares a self-reflexive quality with Cameraperson, it is also a deeply personal piece of workin which daughter/filmmaker Kirsten Johnson explores how movies can be used to grapple with some of life’s most profound experiences.
Dick Johnson Is Dead was produced by Netflix and is available to stream there now.