Cinematographer Joan Hutton csc was born and raised in southern Ontario, Canada. 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.

Joan was one of Canada’s first female cinematographers and is the first woman to be awarded the prestigious csc by the Canadian Society of Cinematographers. She is a member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and is currently the president of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.

 In 1994, Joan received the WIFT-T Crystal Award for Outstanding Achievement. She is the recipient of the 1997 Blizzard Award for the documentary If Only I Were An Indian, and the 1998 Gemini Award for Best Photography in a Comedy for The Newsroom. She also received the Fuji Award from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers for outstanding service to the CSC.