Cinematographer Joan Hutton csc was born and raised in southern Ontario. She completed her education at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto and immediately began work as director of The Rise and Fall of Nina Polanski, a highly regarded animated film produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
She was one of Canada’s first woman cinematographers. She is the first woman to be awarded the prestigious csc by the Canadian Society of Cinematographers. She was president of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers for twenty two years and is currently Editor in Chief of the magazine Canadian Cinematographer.
In 1994 she received the Toronto Women in Film Outstanding Achievement Award. Recipient of the 1997 Blizzard Award for the documentary If Only I Were An Indian. Recipient of the 1998 Gemini Award for best photography in a comedy for The Newsroom. Three time winner of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers Best Photography Award. Recipient of the Fuji Award from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers for outstanding service to the CSC.