'Hats Off' is Jyll Johnstone's third film. Her first, 'Martha and Ethel' premiered at Sundance in 1994 and was subsequently presented at film festivals including Toronto, San Francisco (Grand Prize), Hamptons (Best Documentary), Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and others. It is the story of two women of disparate background (Martha, 4 feet 8 inches high and refugee of Nazi Germany, and Ethel, 6 foot 1 inches tall and native of South Carolina) whose life path led them to two social pedigreed families in post World War II New York, where they found employment and a home as nannies for two growing broods of children. 'Martha and Ethel' garnered Ms. Johnstone a Directors Guild nomination and the film has been distributed by Sony Picture Classics.

'Throwing Curves', Ms. Johnstone's second film, is the story of famed ceramicist and industrial designer Eva Zeisel. The film follows Ms. Zeisel from her birth in Hungary in 1906 through her career in many of the 20th century's hot spots of design, including Berlin in the '20's, Russia in the '30's and New York in the '50's. The film interweaves her design work with her dramatic life story, including imprisonment in the Soviet Union, escape from Nazi Germany and setting up a new life as an immigrant in post-war New York City. The film explores as well the delicate tension that arises for Ms. Zeisel between the responsibilites of motherhood and her pioneering career in the industrial arts.

The filming of 'Hats Off' began in 1996 and was completed in the summer of 2007.

Ms. Johnstone was born and raised in Manhattan, attended Bard College and graduated from NYU with a degree in Journalism. Before moving to northern California in 1992, she had been an actress in New York. She is the mother of two children, and manages Canobie Films, Inc., producer of documentaries on contemporary social issues.