President of the TFCA from 2009-2016, Brian D. Johnson served as a Senior Writer and film critic at Maclean’s from 1985 to 2013, and is now a Contributing Editor at both Maclean’s and Zoomer magazines. He has also worked as filmmaker, musician and broadcaster. Born in England and raised in Toronto, he has written for publications ranging from The Globe and Mail to Rolling Stone, winning three National Magazine Awards. He has hosted onstage interviews with authors and filmmakers, notably an evening of conversation with Al Pacino at Massey Hall in 2013. He has published a book of poetry, Marzipan Lies; a novel, Volcano Days, and three non-fiction books—including a history of TIFF, Brave Films, Wild Nights: 25 Years of Festival Fever (2000). Johnson has also written, produced and directed two short films, Tell Me Everything (2006) and Yesno (2010), and two award-winning documentary features, both released in theatres across Canada after touring festivals around the world—Al Purdy Was Here (2015) unearths the story of an iconic Canadian poet with a cast that includes Leonard Cohen and Margaret Atwood; and The Colour of Ink (2022), winner of a Canadian Screen Award, explores our primal medium through the eyes of a Toronto inkmaker and a spectrum of artists ranging from a Japanese calligrapher to a New Yorker cartoonist.