Johnny Derango

Over the past 15 years, Johnny Derango has established himself as a talented, respected, and sought after cinematographer. In his many endeavors as a director of photography as well as a producer, Johnny strives to tell each story truthfully, with equal parts grace and technical prowess, as he thrives on overcoming every projects individual challenges.

Johnny graduated from Columbia College Chicago and continues on as part of the great line of Cinematographers the school has produced, which include former ASC president Michael Goi as well as Academy Award Winners Mauro Fiore and Janusz Kaminski.

After college, at age 23, Johnny began his career with the 35mm feature film "In the Land of Merry Misfits," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007. Quickly following that, he joined Fox Television's one-hour police drama, "Hollywood Vice." Johnny has also worked as a director of photography for Warner Brothers, Disney, Discovery Channel, TRU TV, and MTV among others.

In addition to his expertise as a cinematographer, Johnny has served as a producer on several of his projects. In 2011, Johnny held both roles on the film "Lost on Purpose," which starred Jane Kaczmarek, C. Thomas Howell, James Lafferty with Dale Dickey and Octavia Spencer.

His most recent feature, "Small Town Crime", is a thriller with dark humor that showcases an Academy and Emmy level cast. Ex-cop Mike Kendall (John Hawkes) discovers the body of a young woman and, in an act of self-redemption, becomes hell-bent on finding the killer. While his uncouth and quirky detective style helps break open the case, his dogged determination unwittingly puts his sister (Octavia Spencer) and best friend (Anthony Anderson) in danger. Additional cast members include Robert Forster, Clifton Collins, Jr., Michael Vartan, James Lafferty, Daniel Sunjata, Caity Lotz, Jeremy Ratchford, Don Harvey, Stefanie Scott and Dale Dickey. The film received rave reviews after its SXSW Film Festival World Premiere.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]