Johnny Bassett
History | Film | Data
Thanks to a wide range of professional experiences since 2012, I'm skilled at interdisciplinary research, working in other languages and cultures, and telling stories. I work with teams to find and share information that changes peoples' perspectives.
Born and raised in New Hampshire, I now live in Seattle, WA, where I'm finishing a PhD in the history of Southeast Asia and starting to look for new opportunities in interdisciplinary, public service-oriented research.
Before grad school, I worked for five years in the film industry in New York City — both as a production coordinator and as an editor for fiction and documentary films. Films I worked on played at festivals around the world, including Sundance, Cannes, SXSW, Full Frame, DOC NYC, Hot Docs, and Clermont Ferrand.
In 2016, an editing job brought me to Vietnam and the Philippines, where I had some of the most interesting conversations of my life: talking to supporters of then-President Duterte about their controversial leader. Those conversations cued me in to a fascinating history I knew nothing about, which in turn led me to graduate school, where I now study one of the stories my interviewees often referenced: the economic history of Davao City.