Meet Josiah Johnson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Josiah Johnson.

Hi Josiah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
A kinesthetic, bright-eyed sapling with peculiarities—I was a weird child, and students bullied me for my uniqueness. In due course, I became bitter and vindictive to such an extent that I hectored a few students. Fists fight, but words cut, and I was a cutter. I hated myself for the monster I grew to be. I did not want others to feel the way I felt for years.

My verbal attacks became punches to my stomach; therefore, I stopped bullying or casting aspersions, and others stopped attacking me. I did not have the breath to produce any more negativity. To some, my flux made me look less than a strong black boy. With the caveat, I did not care anymore. I embraced my weirdness, knowing it comes with creativity and empathy. I unearthed a deep awareness, searching the soil of my soul; I envisioned characters, worlds, and movies without pause. My free writing became my escape—a seed, a cathartic release. My confidence took root, and I began to write poems and perform spoken word. I also grew to be a playwright and theatre director, creating original plays for charity. I felt very much inclined to see people and nature flourish, but I needed to cultivate my gifts and skills; thus, I attended the City College of New York (CCNY). It took me years to find my path, but I did. Studying English and Theatre helped me gain a deep appreciation for storytelling. I saw a world rich in untold stories, and I longed to speak for the unspoken and show the unseen in moving images; therefore, after earning a bachelor’s degree with honors, I earned a master’s degree with distinction in filmmaking from CCNY. My undergraduate and graduate years blessed me with knowledge, kind friends, and mentors—brilliant people who wanted to make a positive change in their lives and the lives of others. I was familiar with bullying to the degree that receiving compassion was surprising. More than my talent, intelligence, or accomplishments, my kindness and gratitude led me to this fruitful place in my life. I am just like you in that I learn and grow from my hurts and mishaps—until we expire, we branch and prune, time and again.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Successes and setbacks imbued my personal and professional journey. I learned patience by way of my challenges. Do you know the agonies of constantly thinking and writing content but encountering problems producing it? I learned that independent filmmaking is costly at times. I think about Jim Jarmusch’s film, Stranger Than Paradise (1984), or Spike Lee’s, She’s Gotta have it (1986). These highly successful, small-budget, or low-budget films motivate me to find creative, cost-effective ways to tell stories at my small production company, Johnson Dream Productions, LLC. In 2022, I took a brief hiatus to help care for a sick loved one. That experience petrified me but taught me to cherish life and accept whatever delay or struggle life might bring. Understanding the gravity of the situation, I was still hopeful, working toward a better day, a better hour, a better minute. I learned our words and thoughts are powerful. Kindness is not merely for us; beyond that, it is consideration and service to others. I acquired the understanding that life is not only about my goals. The earth is a vast, wondrous world to explore, but I will become lost if I believe I am the only one in it. We have over seven billion stories to learn from and pass down. In this journey to greatness, I do not look for fans—I look for company. You should not support me from the side of the road. Get in the race, no matter how difficult the setback seems. We all have a gift, skill, or forte. Know the difference between negativity and constructive criticism and let us support each other through our personal and professional endeavors. Cheers to our betterment and new pastures!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I study, write, and direct films. Although I am a somewhat new filmmaker, I have already developed a love to entertain audiences with my work by creating experiences or escapes; moreover, I love to bring people together. My respect, support, and willingness to work with other artists set me apart. Whether one knows me as Josiah Johnson or Siah John, they know me for my nature and my first film, The Wealthiest Man in the World (2021). In this lyrical, short drama, I depict the rapprochement of two elderly characters from different classes, genders, and races, redefining wealth as love and friendship. This film follows a tenant, Dion Freeman, who suffers from a hoarding disorder, but his world is shattered when his landlady and former friend, May Burgher, evicts him. For years, Dion held on to stuff representing his late wife, while May held on to a house, the last thing she shared with her divorced husband. Dion and May, like many of us, are humans who bond over losses. My film, The Wealthiest Man in the World (2021), is a visual elegy—bitter-sweet, enunciated in Saudade. It received 15 film awards in different categories, including best screenplay, best first-time filmmaker, best student film, and best fiction short film. I also received a Simon Rifkind Journey Award scholarship from CCNY, because of this film. Although my film garnered praise or recognition from 16 festivals and exhibitions worldwide, I am most proud of how it resonated with its audiences, and I intend to keep the momentum going with my new projects. 

I am in the early stages of creating a short docu-fiction entitled Crystal’s Colors (2023), which centers around a cloistered, uninspired artist whose debilitating disorder intensifies during the covid-19 pandemic shutdown, yet she finds supportive people, treatment, and art, unconventionally. I am excited about this project because I am taking a unique approach to its storytelling. Also, I have a few surprises coming this year and next year. You can follow me on Facebook for updates, inspiration, or positive encouragement. My filmmaking purpose is to tell layered, thought-provoking stories with philosophical or religious themes in simple, well-constructed ways. My allegorical content is characterized by its poetic tone or texture, while nature plays a pivotal role. I create complex characters, like real people, both heroic and antagonistic. As a kinesthetic learner, I must feel to learn. In turn, I show my heart in everything I do. I love people of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, economic statuses/classes, ages, physical and mental abilities, religions, and beliefs. There is unmeasurable beauty in our differences and similarities, and I will capture fractions of it in my pieces as my journey continues.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I have many memories of special occasions with awesome people, but my favorite recollection is going to the amusement park with my brother, Kerwin Johnson. I love and respect my brother. I wrote the answer to this question as a tribute to him.

When I was 12 years old, my eldest brother, Kerwin, took me and his son Junior to the Coney Island amusement park (Luna Park) in Brooklyn, New York. For my nephew and I, hours seemed like minutes on that F subway train ride from Queens as we discussed our roller coaster riding and carnival game-playing plan. An extraordinary, phantasmagoric excursion was in the works; although my nephew was five years younger than me, we both knew exactly what we wanted to do, like those family members who go on vacation with you and wake up early with an itinerary when they know they should return to their beds—Junior and I were those people, in a packed train car, loquacious and loud. The physical train was noisy too. It was probably trying to tell us to shut up, but Junior and I were unmoved. Kerwin watched over us quietly, with warmth in his eyes. Junior and I touched everything—the bench seats, poles, turnstile, gates, even holding the metal handrail for balance as we hopped down the Stillwell Avenue station stairs. Careless. We did not fathom viruses and germs because the dirt was our friend. The concerted aroma of popcorn, roasted peanuts, Nathan’s famous frankfurters, and salty seawater led us to glory—I loved that smell. To the park, we rushed, watching the rides, and anticipating. We were flies, drawn to the lights, neon yellow, electric orange, hot pink, star white, and screaming cyan. The mouthwatering radiance called us, but when we entered the amusement park, Junior and I could not oblige; our faces were blank—we lost our plans in the cacophony of lights, smells, and people toing and froing. Hence, Kerwin guided us to a mountainous roller coaster, where we waited in a long line, twitching, turning, and tapping our feet. Finally, it was our chance to ride. Why did we go to the front of the roller coaster car? The last rider barfed, and that coaster was an old horse, wild, rough. I sat in my seat, fidgeting under the safety bars, as the coaster car slowly ascended, creaking, squeaking. Boom! That car dropped, and my insides rose. My heart pounded to such an extent that I think I felt my unborn children scream. Kerwin, Junior, and I went through twists, turns, highs, and lows with our hands in the air and the wind blowing on our faces and between our fingers. Junior and I saw the oceanfront from afar, and we looked at each other with warm eyes as if we drew our plan on our faces. The seagulls flew below us at a distance, but they could not reach us—we were invincible cowboys like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Well, I pretended to be. Have you ever had butterflies in your stomach, intestines, and bladder? I did, yet I could not let my nephew see that fear in my eyes, so I closed them tightly, smiled, and yelled whoo-hoo during our entire ride. 

Afterward, I rushed to the restroom, and after that, Junior and I led Kerwin to the beach, where we ran in the powdered rocks and threw stones into the ocean. We were away from the opalescent lights, amongst the wind, waves, sky, and sand. We were fire, amongst friends. “Can we have green cotton candy?” we asked Kerwin. Green made us smile. Kerwin gave all the cash he had left for the spun sugar. Unbeknownst to Junior and me, Kerwin did not have any money at home. All he had were train tokens and two dark-haired children pretending to be rabbits. Junior and I ate our fluffy, saccharine greens, laughed, and cartwheeled until an orange set in the sky. The eyes of our minds were wide open. Even if Kerwin did not buy anything, every moment was ever green and crescent at that beach. But when we left the park and sat in our subway seats, Kerwin had an arcane look in his eyes. It was not the glare he gave thuggish passengers as he placed his arm on top of us, in some sense, incubating us. His look was foreign but familiar to me, like the F train. Although Kerwin’s mouth smiled at Junior and me, his eyes were lost in random motion—restless, and cold in a sense. As we journeyed back to Queens, Junior and I began to fall asleep in the hesitant quietness, adjusting our small, sandy, amusement park-smelling bodies perfectly to turn our hard orange seats into beds. A sort of magic ensued from looking upon Kerwin’s eyes on that subway car— over time, rabbits vanished as the train’s lit interior faded to black. As a weird child, I was ignorant of the plans or sacrifices my brother made for my smiles and sweet dreams. As a man, I am exceedingly grateful.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078048926262

Image Credits
Josiah Johnson_Personal Photo: Photography by Erika Cuacuas Josiah Johnson_Relevant Image #1: Photography by Josiah Johnson, Graphic Design by Josiah Johnson, Retouching by Ximena López Josiah Johnson_Relevant Image #2: Black and White Photography by Julio Alvarez, Color Photography by Joseph Ciccarella, Graphic Design by Tiffany S. Simon Josiah Johnson_Relevant Image #3: Photography by Josiah Johnson, Retouching and Manipulation by Ximena López Josiah Johnson_Relevant Image #4: Photography by Erika Cuacuas Josiah Johnson_Relevant Image #5: Photography by Erika Cuacuas