Brian D. Johnson is a Canadian journalist and filmmaker, best known as an entertainment reporter and film critic for Maclean's.[1]
He first joined the magazine in 1985. In early 2014, Johnson announced his retirement as a full-time staff member of the magazine,[2] although he remains an occasional freelance contributor. He has also contributed to Rolling Stone and The Globe and Mail, and has won three National Magazine Awards for his writing.[3]
He was a founding member of the Toronto Film Critics Association, and served as the organization's president from 2009 to 2017.[4]
Johnson has also published the poetry book Marzipan Lies (1974), the novel Volcano Days (1994)[1] and the non-fiction book Brave Films, Wild Nights: 25 Years of Festival Fever (2000), a history of the Toronto International Film Festival.[5]
As a filmmaker, he directed the short films Tell Me Everything (2006)[6] and Yesno (2010).[7] His first feature film as a documentarian, Al Purdy Was Here, debuted at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival,[8] where it finished third in the voting for the Grolsch People's Choice Documentary Award.[9]
His documentary film The Colour of Ink premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.[10]
He is married to writer and broadcaster Marni Jackson.[5]