Justin Derry

Justin Derry is a New York born cinematographer and filmmaker who now resides in Brooklyn, NY. During his high school years, Justin started traveling around with friends photographing skateboarding. This led him to his decision to study filmmaking at Champlain College in Burlington, VT where he focused his studies on cinematography.

After college, he decided to move back to New York to find his place in the independent film industry. Working his way up from the bottom, Justin spent several years as a lighting technician and a gaffer. He learned the technique behind his craft by working on over 20 feature films. While working as a gaffer, several films he lit premiered in major film festivals including, Alex Ross Perry’s, Listen Up Phillip (2014) which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2014, he finished his first feature film 9 Line about Veterans struggling with PTSD. Then he lensed a film titled Cul-De-Sac (2016) that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the NBC Universal award for best short film. Following that film’s success, he continued his passion for feature film work with a documentary Rosebud (2019) about the life of young hip-hop artists on the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation, Minor Premise (2020) a dark science fiction thriller about the combined emotional sections of a person that define “self”, and The Atlantic City Story (2020) starring Jessica Hecht and Mike Faist.

When Justin is not shooting Films, Documentaries, or TV he focuses on capturing commercial projects that are heavily story driven. Justin has shot dozens of nationally broadcast commercials including spots for Ray Ban, Kit Kat, MLB, American Eagle Outfitters, Wendy’s, McCafe, & ESPN. Story will always form the foundation of Justin’s work.