hope ain't free

Alfonso Johnson is a Filmmaker from Queens, NY. He directed comedian Mike Epps's Netflix comedy special: Indiana Mike, which he produced alongside the Emmy Award winning production company, Magic Lemonade. He was a writer for the NAACP IMAGE AWARD winning Audible Narrative Podcast, YES WE CANNABIS, produced by Broadway Video. His film, MOTHS & BUTTERFLIES won top honors at American Black Film Festival including the HBO Award for Best Short Film. He was a recipient of the New York Foundation of the Arts and Fellows Grant (2022), and a recipient of the New York City Artists Corps Grant (2021). He is an alumni of the Ryan Murphy HALF INITIATIVE PROGRAM with 20th Century Fox, HBO DIRECTORS ACCESS PROGRAM, FILM INDEPENDENT’s FAST TRACK, SCREENWRITERS LAB, and the SUNDANCE CATALYST PROGRAM.

He’s currently in post-production for his documentary SOMETHING IN THE TREES, which examines the life and nefarious circumstances surrounding the death of his close friend Dominique Alexander, a 27 year old Black man who was found hanging from a tree in Fort Tryon Park in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan on June 9th 2020.