Season 3 Episode 8 – Experimental Filmmaker Johnny Kalangis
Johnny Kalangis (he/him) is a multi-award-winning film director, installation artist, and digital media creative from Toronto/T’karonto, Canada. He is a first-generation white settler of Greek descent. His first feature film, the anti-romantic micro-budget comedy Jack & Jill, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (1999) and was executive produced by Atom Egoyan. His second film, Love Is Work, won the People’s Choice Award at the Whistler International Film Festival (2005) and was the closing gala at the Canadian Film Festival in Toronto. His horror-comedy, The Mad (2007), starring Billy Zane, opened the Canadian Film Festival (Toronto) and enjoyed cult classic status.
Johnny has done interactive, narrative film art installations at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche on three occasions. The pieces Road Trips, Road Trips (1984), and, Airwaves allowed visitors to interact with their physical space to create and collaborate on their narrative experiences.
Johnny is currently the VP of Digital at Toronto’s Cream Productions. He executive produced CNN’s Behind The Desk, The Story of Late Night (WINNER! 2022 Webby Award) podcast, and the A Ghost Ruined My Life with Eli Roth (Discovery) podcasts. He also creates interactive digital media projects in augmented and virtual reality. He has designed games and game narratives and, this year is also the executive producer on an album release. Previously, he was a producer and executive at CBC Digital/TV and VP, Creative Director, Digital, and the multi-award-winning company, marblemedia.
He studied English, film theory and criticism, filmmaking, and interactive digital media at Western University, New York University, and the Canadian Film Centre.
