Emma Kragen is a Los Angeles-based producer and cinematographer, and the CEO of Zemma Productions. She works regularly in the commercial, documentary, narrative, and corporate spaces, and maintains a dry sense of humor throughout.
Her first foray into the film industry occurred when a book she wrote at age 7, The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, was made into a feature-length film. The book has since gone on to sell over 600,000 copies worldwide and was re-released for its 25th anniversary in the fall of 2023. In 2012, the film spawned a sequel distributed by Sony Pictures.
Kragen is also a proud member of the International Collective of Female Cinematographers as well as Women in Film. She completed her MFA in Cinematography at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, and holds a BA in American Studies from UC Berkeley.
One of her proudest achievements was traveling to Antarctica with environmentalist Sir Robert Swan and his organization 2041 to document the voyage. While at UCLA, she was also featured in Variety’s 110 Students to Watch. She is a recipient of both the Motion Picture Association of America Award, as well as the Lisa Wiegand Fellowship in Cinematography.
Kragen and Zemma Productions are currently in development on a number of narrative and documentary television projects, in addition to feature film endeavors. The production company’s first documentary feature, Where She Lies, was released in 2020 with distributor Gravitas Ventures.
Kragen is unafraid of straddling the border between whimsical and profound, and is most passionate about changing the world through cinema.