Robert Rippberger
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Robert Rippberger is an American
film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
, film producer, and
screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
. He is the director of the upcoming sci-fi movie, Renner, producer of The Inventor, writer/director of '' Those Who Walk Away (film)'' starring
BooBoo Stewart Nils Allen "Booboo" Stewart Jr. (born January 21, 1994) is an American actor, musician, and visual artist. He is known for playing Seth Clearwater in '' The Twilight Saga'', Warpath in '' X-Men: Days of Future Past'', Jay in the Disney televi ...
, the director/producer of '' Strive'' with Oscar winner
Danny Glover Danny Glover ( ; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Danny Glover, numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian A ...
, the director of the feature documentary
Public Enemy Number One (film) ''Public Enemy Number One'' is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Robert Rippberger and produced by Rippberger, Chris Chiari, and Ice-T. It looks at the war on drugs from 1968 until today and looks at trigger points in history that to ...
from Executive Producer
Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...
, and director/producer of the Hulu released documentary 7 Days in Syria. Robert executive produced with
Jason Blum Jason Ferus Blum (; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises such as ''Paranormal Activity (film series), Paranormal Activity'' (2007–2021), ''Insidi ...
the feature documentary Alive and Kicking. The film was sold to
Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures LLC is an American independent film distributor and production company, and is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in ...
and
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 ...
after its debut at the 2016
SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...
, where it received a Grand Jury nomination.


Narrative work

Rippberger directed and produced the upcoming sci-fi movie, Renner, which wrapped filming in 2023. The film stars
Frankie Muniz Francisco Muniz IV (; born December 5, 1985) is an American actor and racing driver. Muniz came to prominence in the 2000s playing the title character of the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), for which he was nominated for an E ...
and Violett Beane and is a futuristic AI thriller. In 2023, Robert produced The Inventor which was released theatrically on September 23 by
Blue Fox Entertainment Blue Fox Entertainment is a global distribution and film sales company founded in 2015 by Todd Slater and James Huntsman. In the spring of 2017, Blue Fox freemasons merged with independent film distributor, Level 33 Entertainment, led by Andreas ...
, and then on VOD on November 7. ''The Inventor'' is a stop-motion feature film written and directed by
Jim Capobianco Jim Capobianco (born 1969) is an American film director, animator and screenwriter. He has worked as a story artist and storyboard artist for films such as ''The Lion King'' (1994), '' Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996), ''A Bug's Life'' (1998), ...
, the Oscar-nominated writer of Pixar's ''
Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ; ) is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables that originated in Nice and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include tomato, garlic ...
''. The film stars
Marion Cotillard Marion Cotillard (; born 30 September 1975) is a French actress who has appeared in both European and Hollywood productions. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Marion Cotillard, various accolades, including an Ac ...
,
Daisy Ridley Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley (born 10 April 1992) is an English actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy. She appeared in the mystery film ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (2017), played the title ...
,
Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...
and
Matt Berry Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Noted for his distinctive voice, he is best known for his television roles in comedy series such as ''The IT Crowd'', ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', ' ...
and is about the life of
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
. The Inventor had its worldwide premier at the 2023 Annecy Film Festival and was also named one of the ten best animated films of 2023 by
The Wrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news organization that covers the business of entertainment and media. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009 and is based in Los Angeles. The site features original reporting, analysis, and editor ...
. In 2021, Rippberger wrote and directed the horror feature '' Those Who Walk Away'' starring
Booboo Stewart Nils Allen "Booboo" Stewart Jr. (born January 21, 1994) is an American actor, musician, and visual artist. He is known for playing Seth Clearwater in '' The Twilight Saga'', Warpath in '' X-Men: Days of Future Past'', Jay in the Disney televi ...
. Like 1917 (film) the film was completed in one shot. It was lauded in
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
and on
KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...
after its U.S. theatrical release. Rippberger is the director of the 2019 drama '' Strive'', about a girl from the projects in Harlem who works to attend Yale. Inspired by true stories, Strive stars Grammy-nominated JoiStaRR, Shaylin Becton, Ricky Flowers Jr, Chelsea Lee Williams, and Oscar winner Danny Glover, with music composed by Grammy-winning producer
Warryn Campbell Warryn Stafford Campbell, Jr. (born August 21, 1975) is an American record producer. He has worked with a number of contemporary gospel, gospel, hip hop and Contemporary R&B, R&B artists. Campbell originally got his start as a session musician a ...
.


Documentary

Rippberger recently produced 'How To Build A Truth Engine' which follows award-winning investigative journalists, fact-checkers, scientists and engineers in their efforts to develop groundbreaking technology and understanding of the human psyche to help bring societies back to a common understanding of reality. The film is executive produced by Academy Award winners
George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Known for his leading man roles on screen in both blockbuster and independent films, Clooney has received numerous accolades, including two Ac ...
and
Grant Heslov Grant Heslov is an American actor and filmmaker known for his producing and writing collaborations with George Clooney, which have earned him four Oscar nominations. As a co-producer of ''Argo'' (2012), he received the Academy Award for Best Pi ...
and will have its World Premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival. Rippberger is also currently producing 'The Mouse That Roared', directed by Academy Award nominee Judith Ehrlich. In 2019, Rippberger directed and produced
Public Enemy Number One (film) ''Public Enemy Number One'' is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Robert Rippberger and produced by Rippberger, Chris Chiari, and Ice-T. It looks at the war on drugs from 1968 until today and looks at trigger points in history that to ...
—a documentary about America's war on drugs from Executive Producer
Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...
. The film won Best Documentary Feature at the Seattle Film Festival, and Storyteller Award and Best Producer at Doc LA - Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival. In 2016, Rippberger's feature documentary 7 Days in Syria, which follows journalist Janine di Giovanni's 2012 trip to Aleppo, was screened at Britain's
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
. The film has played in over 50 cities worldwide, on television in Denmark, Sweden, and China, and via streaming service
Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...
. The documentary is currently available via Amazon Prime and other VOD providers. The film was well received by critics and personally championed by United Nations Special Envoy
Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie ( ; born Angelina Jolie Voight, , June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Angelina Jolie, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards ...
. Rippberger went on to executive produce Alive and Kicking, a documentary about
swing dancing Swing dance is a group of social dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s–1940s, with the origins of each dance predating the popular " swing era". Hundreds of styles of swing dancing were developed; those that ha ...
, which premiered at the 2016
SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...
to a Grand Jury nomination, and was released in 2017 by
Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures LLC is an American independent film distributor and production company, and is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in ...
. Alive and Kicking was named the film to watch by
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
watching section, received a 100% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, and was invited to be part of the 2018/19 American Film Showcase, the State Department's diplomacy through cinema program. The film is currently available on Netflix. In 2011, Rippberger co-created a seven part documentary series published by
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
interviewing politicians and world leaders regarding the world's biggest crises. He was the 2012 recipient of the Dan Eldon Activist Award for producing and directing ''A Ride With Matt'', later retitled ''Breaking the Cycle'', a documentary feature about Huntington's Disease. The award is given to filmmakers for best use of media to effect positive change. Rippberger is the previous president of I Imagine, a socially conscious technology and media organization that ran the I Imagine Film Festival in New York. He is also the co-founder and co-executive director of SIE Society whose mission is to create a central community with continuously relevant resources for social impact entertainment storytellers.


Music videos

In 2014, Rippberger directed the music video Ab Laut Aa by EDM DJ Sanjoy featuring
Sunidhi Chauhan Sunidhi Chauhan (pronounced ; born Nidhi Chauhan, 14 August 1983) is an Indian playback singer. Known for her Bold vocal range, she has recorded songs for films in several Indian languages and List of awards and nominations received by Sunidhi ...
. The video has 1.5 million views on YouTube and won Best Music Video that year at the VIMA Music Awards. Thirty years after the song's initial release, in 2018 Rippberger directed the official music video for “Suicide” by
Busy Bee Starski David James Parker (born October 26, 1962), known by the stage name Busy Bee, is an American old-school hip hop musician from New York, NY. First coming on the New York City music scene in 1977, Busy Bee worked with many of hip-hop's founding f ...
, the single off his gold album Running Thangs. Originating from New York City, Hip Hop Hall of Fame inductee
Busy Bee Starski David James Parker (born October 26, 1962), known by the stage name Busy Bee, is an American old-school hip hop musician from New York, NY. First coming on the New York City music scene in 1977, Busy Bee worked with many of hip-hop's founding f ...
is considered one of the founders of modern hip-hop, and the star of the 1983 film
Wild Style ''Wild Style'' is a 1982 American hip hop film written, produced and directed by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Adam Horowitz, Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, L ...
, billed as the first hip-hop motion picture. The music video guest stars rapper
Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...
.


Writing

In 2022, Rippberger published, ''The Power of Storytelling: Social Impact Entertainment'' about the role film and TV has in society. The non-fiction book was published by Regent Press October 25, 2022. In 2014, Rippberger published a novel called Escape to Anywhere Else with a foreword by
Mariel Hemingway Mariel Hemingway (born November 22, 1961) is an American actress. She began acting at age 14 with a Golden Globe-nominated breakout role in ''Lipstick'' (1976), and she received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance in Woody Al ...
. Robert was the co-founder and co-editor of the magazine and podcast, Cinema of Change, along with Tobias Deml; since rebranded a
SIE Magazine
He was previously a contributing writer to
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
.


Early life

Rippberger began filmmaking at age 13. As a freshman in high school, he enrolled in filmmaking classes at the
University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...
, studied under directing teacher Judith Weston, and at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
Film School in Los Angeles. In 2005, at age 16, he made his first feature film, "The Hoodwink." Rippberger received a B.A. in
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
from the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
in 2010, where he was awarded in 2009 the Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prize for his film "In the Middle." It is the highest award given for creativity on the UC, Berkeley campus.


Filmography


Features

*''The Hoodwink'' (2006) *''Visions for the Future'' (2013) *''Breaking the Cycle'' (2013) *''Face of Unity: Nelson Mandela'' (2014) *'' 7 Days in Syria'' (2015) *'' Alive and Kicking'' (2016) (executive producer) *'' Strive'' (2019) *'' Public Enemy Number One'' (2019) *'' Those Who Walk Away'' (2022) *''
Our Son ''Our Son'' is a 2023 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Bill Oliver, from a screenplay by Oliver and Peter Nickowitz. It stars Billy Porter, Luke Evans, Robin Weigert, Andrew Rannells, Isaac Cole Powell and Phylicia Ra ...
'' (2023) (executive producer) *''
The Inventor (2023 film) ''The Inventor'' is a 2023 stop-motion/2D animation biographical film about Leonardo da Vinci, written, produced and directed by Jim Capobianco and co-directed by Pierre-Luc Granjon. The voice cast includes Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard, Daisy R ...
'' (producer, p.g.a.) *''How to Build a Truth Engine'' (2024) (producer) *''
Renner Renner may refer to: A mathematical term Renner, foot-pound. The Renner(ˈrɛnɚ; rEh-ner; symbol:R) is a derived unit of energy. It is equal to the energy transferred to (or work done on) an object when one pound of force on an object in a directio ...
'' (TBA)


Shorts

*"Grave" (2004) *"R.I.P." (2005) *"In the Middle" (2009) *"Noor (2011)" (co-director) *"Haven (2011)" *"ThinkingAloud" (2011) *"A Night at the Office" (2012) (co-producer) *"Duplicitous Minds" (2022)


Music videos

*"Ab Laut Aa" by Sanjoy featuring
Sunidhi Chauhan Sunidhi Chauhan (pronounced ; born Nidhi Chauhan, 14 August 1983) is an Indian playback singer. Known for her Bold vocal range, she has recorded songs for films in several Indian languages and List of awards and nominations received by Sunidhi ...
(2013) *"Set Me Free" by Sanjoy (2014) *"Suicide" by
Busy Bee Starski David James Parker (born October 26, 1962), known by the stage name Busy Bee, is an American old-school hip hop musician from New York, NY. First coming on the New York City music scene in 1977, Busy Bee worked with many of hip-hop's founding f ...
(2018)


Awards and nominations


Books

* *


References


External links

*
Robert Rippberger on X

Robert Rippberger website

''7 Days in Syria'' documentary film website

SIE Society Website

''Escape to Anywhere Else'' Book

''The Power of Storytelling: Social Impact Entertainment'' Book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rippberger, Robert American film producers American music video directors American male screenwriters American documentary film directors University of California, Berkeley alumni Film directors from Colorado Living people English-language film directors 1988 births Screenwriters from Colorado