Joanna Natasegara is an English film producer and director, and the Academy Award-winning founder of Violet Films, a London-based production company known for finding the political in the personal. She won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short for The White Helmets (2016) and received a further Academy Award nomination, for Best Documentary Feature, for Virunga (2014), both directed by Orlando von Einsiedel; her other producing credits include the Oscar-nominated The Edge of Democracy, the Netflix docuseries Heart of Invictus, and Disney's Oscar-nominated short Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó. Her work has earned two Peabody Awards and over 100 award nominations in total. She made her directorial debut with The Disciple, which premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
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Biography from TMDB.
- Producer and director, also writer
- 10 on MovieCove · 17 credits in all
What are Joanna Natasegara's films like?
Across their 10 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Society and Survival.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 9
A split, not a type: Light 3 · Serious 1 · Dark 5
Grounded 9 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
A split, not a type: Gentle 1 · Charged 3 · Intense 5
Steady 6 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 2
Straight-faced 8 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 4 · Even-paced 5 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 6 · Full focus 2
A split, not a type: Easy watch 0 · Affecting 5 · Heavy 4
Resolved 8 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
- Happy2
- Bittersweet5
- Ambiguous2
- Other1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Joanna Natasegara's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 6 of their 10 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (5).
Subscription and free streaming for Joanna Natasegara's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
17 credits, 10 with a MovieCove page.
Yanuni(2025)
Midcredits score: 91st percentile of all films
The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)
The Dating Game (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
Snow Leopard Sisters (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
Shoot the People(2025)
Midcredits score: 73rd percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Nai Nai & Wài Pó(2023)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
We Dare to Dream(2023)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all films
Heart of Invictus(2023)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all shows
Tigre Gente (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Sophie and the Baron (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Evelyn(2018)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films
The Edge of Democracy(2019)
Midcredits score: 84th percentile of all films
The White Helmets(2016)
Midcredits score: 91st percentile of all films
Virunga(2014)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all filmsThe Price of Kings: Shimon Peres (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)
Midcredits score: 80th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
POV (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1988)
Career shape
A full career of 15 titles from 1988 to 2026.
Biggest box office
Shoot the People (2025)
Highest rated
Virunga (2014)
Most popular right now
The Price of Kings: Yasser Arafat (2012)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
an Oscar from 8 major nominations, 2015–2020.
- Oscar, nominated · Best Documentary Feature
- Oscar, won · Best Documentary Short Subject
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking
- Oscar, nominated · Best Documentary, Feature
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special
- BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Documentary
+2 other major bodies · 2 nominations
- Producers Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures
- Independent Spirit Award, nominated · Best Documentary
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Joanna Natasegara's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 85th percentile, the median of all 9; across their 9 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 89th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up8
- 50th to 74th1
- 25th to 49th1
Shape of the crowd
4 of their 10 titles are Divisive.
- Universally Loved1
- Divisive4
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Mixed1
Reviewers score the atmosphere 78/100 and the pacing 60/100 in their films, across 6 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Joanna Natasegara work with?
People who share at least 2 of Joanna Natasegara's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Franklin Dow shares the most, 5.
Directors
- Orlando von EinsiedelShared titles: Heart of Invictus (2023), Evelyn (2018), The White Helmets (2016), Virunga (2014)See all 4 shared titles with Orlando von Einsiedel
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Franklin DowShared titles: Heart of Invictus (2023), We Dare to Dream (2023), Evelyn (2018), The White Helmets (2016), Virunga (2014)See all 5 shared titles with Franklin Dow
- Patrick JonssonShared titles: Heart of Invictus (2023), Evelyn (2018), The White Helmets (2016), Virunga (2014)See all 4 shared titles with Patrick Jonsson
- Masahiro HirakuboShared titles: Evelyn (2018), The White Helmets (2016), Virunga (2014)See all 3 shared titles with Masahiro Hirakubo
- Richard JephcoteShared titles: Heart of Invictus (2023), We Dare to Dream (2023)See all 2 shared titles with Richard Jephcote
Producers
- Abigail Anketell-JonesShared titles: Heart of Invictus (2023), We Dare to Dream (2023), The Edge of Democracy (2019), Evelyn (2018), The White Helmets (2016)See all 5 shared titles with Abigail Anketell-Jones
- Leonardo DiCaprioShared titles: Yanuni (2025), Virunga (2014)See all 2 shared titles with Leonardo DiCaprio
- Jason Spingarn-KoffShared titles: The Edge of Democracy (2019), The White Helmets (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Jason Spingarn-Koff
- Maxyne FranklinShared titles: The Edge of Democracy (2019), Virunga (2014)See all 2 shared titles with Maxyne Franklin