Natasha Johns-Messenger is an artist and filmmaker who was born in Australia, and lives and works in New York. International exhibitions have taken place in Tokyo, Bogota, China, The Netherlands, Taiwan and USA. Currently, Natasha is being commissioned by Percent For Art and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, for her piece Alterview 2013 for Hunters Point HS/IS 404, New York. In 2012 Johns-Messenger completed an MFA in Film, Columbia University, New York, and Masters of Research in Fine Art (Installation), at RMIT Melbourne in 2000. In 2009 she was commissioned by the New York Public Art Fund for her work ThisSideIn & in 2010 created Recollection for No Longer Empty, New York at Governor’s Island. In 2007, Johns-Messenger won the Den Haag Sculpture prize presented by Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands and was a studio resident at the ISCP in New York (International Studio and Curatorial Program) under the Australia Council for the Arts, studio residency program.
The MFA in Film at Columbia University marked Johns-Messenger’s shift into narrative film with an ultimate aim of combining her love of abstraction and experiential installation within narrative film. Blackwood her final graduate film- won 3 awards at the 2012 Columbia University Film Festival, including Alumni Award- Best Film, National Board of Review Prize and Adrienne Shelly Foundation Best Female Director. Blackwood premiered at the Warsaw Film Festival in 2012 and has shown at over 50 film festivals continuing to win numerous awards including; Best Student Short Film, Williamsburg International Film Festival 2013, Winner of the National Student Competition, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival 2012 and an award of Merit from Lucerne International Film Festival 2012. Her first graduate film Off-Ramp won Best Student Film and Best Actress at LA International Underground Film Festival and has also shown at many festivals.
Natasha is currently exhibiting art in New York City and Melbourne.
Winning Project: Blackwood
Forced to care for a daughter she has never met, Lena’s maternal instincts kick in.
Blackwood Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/withoutabox/vi909026585
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Off-Ramp:
A lonely older woman learns more than she bargains for when she tries to save the life of a suicidal young man.
Off-Ramp Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/withoutabox/vi2922224921