Emory Chao Johnson (he/they) is an award-winning filmmaker based on unceded Tongva land in the San Gabriel Valley. Primarily working in non-fiction, Emory’s films focus on looking deeply beyond expectations through a trans lens.

Emory is currently developing their debut feature documentary, Tainan Story, which was selected for the 2026 Sundance Institute Trans Possibilities Intensive. They are also directing a documentary short on artist Laura Kina with Tadashi Nakamura (Third Act) as producer.

Emory’s short film, To Write From Memory (2023), premiered at Berlinale and was nominated for a TEDDY, the queer film award at Berlinale. It won Best International Short Film at Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival and the Golden Reel – Best Documentary Short at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. In 2026, the film returned to Berlinale in a retrospective shorts program celebrating 40 years of TEDDY.

F1-100 (2021), their previous short, screened at Hawai‘i International Film Festival, Filmfest Dresden, and won jury awards at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and CAAMFest.

Emory participated in Nava Mau and Level Ground Film Fellowship's inaugural cohort in 2026. Previously, Emory was a production fellow on Sam Feder’s Disclosure and was involved with the OutFest OutSet filmmakers program. Emory is a member of the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc) and holds an MFA in Film from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.

In addition to his creative practice, Emory has worked in support of diverse voices as Multimedia Producer for Foundations and Futures: Asian American and Pacific Islander Multimedia Textbook, and as a former staff member at A-Doc and Visual Communications.