Joanna Bowers is a British Director, Producer and Screenwriter based in Hong Kong with a focus on telling inspiring, international stories featuring unlikely heroines on journeys to achieve the extraordinary.
Her screenwriting projects have recently reach the semi-finals of The Writer’s Lab US and The Athena List 2024.
Originally from the UK, Joanna earned her degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Leeds. After graduation, Joanna relocated to Los Angeles where she began working in television commercial production as a director’s assistant and treatment writer, before roles in development and casting. She was also a member of Theatricum Botanicum theatre company and Upright Citizens Brigade.
Joanna began directing narrative short films in 2009, working with female writers to tell original stories from unique perspectives and her films screened at festivals including Palm Springs and Louisville International film festivals. She then relocated to Hong Kong where she landed commercial and documentary assignments throughout Asia for brands including The North Face, Cathay Pacific, HSBC and various NGOs.
Joanna’s feature documentary debut "The Helper" exploring the immense maternal sacrifices of migrant domestic workers was funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign and went on to a sold out 3 month theatrical run and international distribution with releases on SVOD and streaming platforms including iTunes, AmazonPrime and and NatGeo. The film’s impact campaign gathered thousands of gestures of appreciation for migrant workers in the region.
Refocussing her directorial lens onto the environment, Joanna’s second feature documentary "reFashioned" profiled three passionate Hong Kongers spearheading radical solutions to the problems created by fast fashion. “reFashioned” premiered at Doc DMZ in Korea and Hawaii International Film Festival before theatrical releases in Hong Kong and Japan and was acquired for international distribution by Gravitas Ventures.
Joanna is currently in production on a documentary profiling seven rising-star, female basketball players from Hong Kong with their sights on America’s WNBA, hoping to make a fast-break play towards the world’s most elite sports teams.
