Robert Kolodny is an American film director, writer and cinematographer. His 2023 debut feature film, '' The Featherweight'', premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. He was a cinematographer for the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

-winning documentary film

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed ''All the Beauty and the Bloodshed'' is a 2022 American biographical documentary film about photographer, artist, and activist Nan Goldin. The film is produced, co-edited and directed by Laura Poitras, and tackles Goldin's life through her advoca ...

, released in 2022.

Early life

Kolodny grew up in

Freehold Township, New Jersey Freehold Township is a township in western Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Crisscrossed by several major highways, the township is a commercial hub for Central New Jersey (home to the Freehold Raceway and Freehold Raceway M ...

, and attended Freehold High School where he began making films at a young age after developing a fascination with motion pictures. He studied Film Direction at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

in New York City, where he studied under Manfred Kirchheimer. During this time Kolodny began an artistic collaboration with Chilean poet and artist

Cecilia Vicuña Cecilia Vicuña (born 1948) is a Chilean poet and artist based in New York and Santiago, Chile. Her work is noted for themes of language, memory, dissolution, extinction and exile. Critics also note the relevance of her work to the politics of e ...

Career

In 2010, Kolodny formed the production company House of Nod. Through this company he began to create commercial work as well as music videos with

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

based artists such as

Japanese Breakfast Japanese Breakfast is an American indie pop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 2013. The project is fronted by vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Michelle Zauner; she is joined in its current iteration by long-serving music ...

Frankie Cosmos Greta Simone Kline (born March 21, 1994), also known by the stage name Frankie Cosmos, is an American musician and singer. She is known for her independent releases, inspired by Frank O'Hara's poetry, Do it yourself, DIY ethics of K Records and ...

, LVL UP and Gabby's World. In 2013 Robert Kolodny won an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for directing a season of the culinary TV program Frankie Cooks. The same year he directed the short film ''Fly on Out'' which won the grand prize at the AbelCine

Vision Research ''Vision Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal specializing in the neuroscience and psychology of the visual system The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to perception, detect and process ...

Miro High-Speed Inspiration Challenge. Around this time Kolodny began working as a documentary cinematographer, initially on '' Lenny Cooke'' by the

Safdie brothers Josh Safdie, Joshua Henry Safdie (born April 3, 1984) and Benny Safdie, Benjamin Safdie (born February 24, 1986) are independent American filmmakers and actors based in New York City, who frequently collaborate on their films. They are best know ...

and then with Robert Greene on '' Kate Plays Christine'' and '' Bisbee '17''. He worked his way up to being the

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

for Greene's

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film ''

Procession A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

'',

Alex Ross Perry Alex Ross Perry is an American filmmaker and actor. Prolific in independent film, he is best known for writing and directing ''Listen Up Philip'' (2014) and ''Her Smell'' (2018). Early life Perry is Jewish. He grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania ...

Pavements Pavement(s) or paving may refer to: Surfacing * Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways * Sidewalk, a walkway along the side of a road, called a pavement in British English * Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface * Co ...

and one of the cinematographers of the

-winning and

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nominated ''

'' by

Laura Poitras Laura Poitras (; born February 2, 1964) is an American director and producer of documentary films. Poitras has received numerous awards for her work, including the 2015 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ''Citizenfour'', about Edwa ...

. For several years Kolodny was working on a nonfiction film about Bulgarian Olympian

Serafim Todorov Serafim Simeonov Todorov (; born 6 July 1969) is a former Bulgarian Olympic boxer. He won three consecutive gold medals at both the World and European Championships, and silver at the 1996 Olympics. He is the last boxer to defeat Floyd Mayweath ...

. In 2018, he created the film elements for ''Disappeared

Quipu ''Quipu'' ( ), also spelled ''khipu'', are record keeping devices fashioned from knotted cords. They were historically used by various cultures in the central Andes of South America, most prominently by the Inca Empire. A ''quipu'' usually cons ...

'' which appeared at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and

MALBA The Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires (, mostly known for its acronym MALBA) is an art museum located on Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, in the Palermo, Buenos Aires, Palermo section of Buenos Aires. History Created by Argentina, Argentine busin ...

. The massive

site-specific art Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork. Site-specific art is produced both by commercial artists, and independently, and can ...

art piece included a looping four channel video projection composed of intricately drifting ancient

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

textiles. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Kolodny collaborated playwright

Taylor Mac Taylor Mac Bowyer (born August 24, 1973) is an American actor, playwright, performance artist, director, producer, and singer-songwriter active mainly in New York City. In 2017, Mac was the recipient of a "Genius Grant" from the John D. and Cath ...

on several of musical specials that streamed online and then later were performed live. In 2022 he was named one of

Doc NYC Doc NYC (stylized as DOC NYC) is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 specia ...

's 40 under 40. Key collaborators in Kolodny's work include his cinematographer brother Adam Kolodny, producer Bennett Elliott, Robert Greene,

and

Sean Price Williams Sean Price Williams is an American cinematographer and film director. Williams is known for his work as a cinematographer, frequently collaborating with Alex Ross Perry and the Safdie Brothers. He made his directorial feature film debut with '' T ...

. Robert Kolodny is a professor of film at his alma mater, the School of Visual Arts, where he teaches directing and screenwriting.

''The Featherweight''

'' The Featherweight'' was Robert Kolodny's feature film directorial debut. It tracks the post-retirement career of former world champion boxer

Willie Pep Guglielmo Papaleo ( Middletown - September 19, 1922 – November 23, 2006) was an American professional boxer, better known as Willie Pep, who held the World Featherweight championship twice between the years of 1942 and 1950. Papaleo was born ...

and his troubled road to a comeback, as a

direct cinema Direct cinema is a documentary genre that originated between 1958 and 1962—principally in Quebec and the United States—and was developed in France by Jean Rouch. It is a cinematic practice employing lightweight portable filming equipment, han ...

film crew documents his daily life. Starring James Madio,

Ron Livingston Ronald Joseph Livingston (born June 5, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Peter Gibbons in ''Office Space'' (1999) and Captain Lewis Nixon III in the miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers'' (2001). Liv ...

Stephen Lang Stephen Lang (born July 11, 1952) is an American stage and screen actor. He gained fame for his role as main antagonist Miles Quaritch, Colonel Miles Quaritch in James Cameron's ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'' (2009), for which he won the Saturn ...

Keir Gilchrist Keir David Peters Gilchrist (; born 28 September 1992) is a Canadian actor. On television, he portrayed Marshall Gregson on the Showtime comedy-drama '' United States of Tara'' (2009–2011) and headlined the Netflix comedy-drama ''Atypical'' ...

and Ruby Wolf, the film received critical acclaim for its realism and intricate craft. Guy Lodge from

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

said: "Kolodny puts nary a foot wrong in his precise replication of a midcentury vérité aesthetic and gaze, from the particular grain and thrust of the camerawork to the authentically abrasive tone and tenor of the performances." '' The Featherweight'' premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in the

Orizzonti ''Orizzonti'' ( 'Horizons') is a section of the Venice Film Festival's official selection. It runs as a parallel section to the main competition for the Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Fe ...

competition. Later it was selected as the closing film of the 54th International Film Festival of India. Kolodny was received the John Schlesinger Narrative Award from the Provincetown International Film Festival and the Peter Brunette Award for Best Director at RiverRun International Film Festival for his work on the film.

Influences

Robert Kolodny has publicly cited the work of several directors as being influential to him, including

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self- ...

and

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

as well as the

movement, specifically the work of D. A. Pennebaker and

Albert and David Maysles Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films in ...

Filmography

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolodny, Robert American academics American male screenwriters American cinematographers Film directors from New Jersey Freehold High School alumni Living people People from Freehold Township, New Jersey School of Visual Arts alumni Writers from Monmouth County, New Jersey American film editors 21st-century American male writers Year of birth missing (living people)