Robert Stone (director)
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Robert Stone is a British-American
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
maker. His work has been screened at dozens of film festivals and televised around the world, notably seven of his films have appeared on PBS's ''
American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
'' series and four of his films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (including Closing Night Film in 2009). He is an Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary and a three-time Emmy nominee for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.


Life and career

Stone was born in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and educated in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. His father Lawrence Stone was a noted historian and chair of the History Department at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
in
Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...
where Robert grew up, graduating Princeton High School in 1976. He was later educated at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, did a brief stint at
Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...
in Paris and at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. Known in large part for his innovative use of archival material in historical documentaries, Stone has directed several well received documentaries that he has shot himself, including ''American Babylon'' (2000) and, most recently, '' Pandora's Promise'' (2013), which makes the environmental case for nuclear energy as a solution to climate change. His only foray into fiction filmmaking was a counter-factual fake historical documentary for German television called '' World War Three'' in 1998. In addition to his work making feature-documentaries, in the early 1990s he was commissioned to create a 24-part semi-interactive permanent installation at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston. His work with environmental issues, particularly the worldwide acclaim surrounding his film Pandora's Promise, led him to co-found the non-profit clean energy advocacy group Energy for Humanity with environmental campaigner Kirsty Gogan and philanthropist Daniel Aegerter. Stone is also one of 18 co-authors of the Ecomodernist Manifesto which challenges conventional thinking about the meaning of sustainable development. He also co-authored a companion book of the same name to be published by Ballantine Books. Stone lives in New York's
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...
with his wife, Shelby Stone, a film and television produce, and his two sons, Luc and Caleb, from a previous marriage.


Accolades

His debut work was the Academy Award-nominated '' Radio Bikini'' (1988), about nuclear tests performed around
Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , , ), known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 19th century and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. The atoll is at the no ...
in 1946. Starting in 2017, Stone wrote, directed and edited a 6-hour documentary mini-series for PBS called '' Chasing the Moon'', an epic political and social history of the space race. The film aired in 2019 coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing, earning Stone his third Emmy nomination for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and his second nomination the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay, and a duPont-Columbia Award among many other awards.
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
film critic
Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
stated that Stone "may be the most under-celebrated great documentary filmmaker in America." His films ''Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst'' (2004) and ''Oswald's Ghost'' (2008) both received Emmy nominations for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking; Gleiberman hailed them as "two of the most explosively insightful documentaries of the last decade". For ''
Earth Days ''Earth Days'' is a 2009 documentary film about the history of the environmental movement in the United States, directed by Robert Stone (director), Robert Stone and distributed by Zeitgeist Films in theaters. ''Earth Days'' premiered at the 2009 ...
'' (2009), Stone received a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay.


Filmography

*'' Radio Bikini'' (1988) *''The Satellite Sky'' (1990) *''Farewell, Good Brothers'' (1992) *'' World War Three'' (1998) aka ''Der Dritte Weltkrieg'' *''American Babylon'' (2000) *'' Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst'' (2004) aka ''Neverland: The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army'' *''Hollywood Vietnam'' (2005) *''Oswald's Ghost'' (2008) *''The Civilian Conservation Corps'' (2009; broadcast by PBS's ''
American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
'') *''
Earth Days ''Earth Days'' is a 2009 documentary film about the history of the environmental movement in the United States, directed by Robert Stone (director), Robert Stone and distributed by Zeitgeist Films in theaters. ''Earth Days'' premiered at the 2009 ...
'' (2009) *'' Pandora's Promise'' (2013) *''Cold War Roadshow'' (2014) *'' Chasing the Moon'' (2019) *'' Taken Hostage'' (2022)


'' An Ecomodernist Manifesto''

In April 2015, Stone joined with a group of scholars in issuing ''An Ecomodernist Manifesto''. The other authors were: John Asafu-Adjaye, Linus Blomqvist,
Stewart Brand Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American project developer and writer, best known as the co-founder and editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He has founded a number of organizations, including the WELL, the Global Business Networ ...
, Barry Brook. Ruth DeFries, Erle Ellis, Christopher Foreman, David Keith, Martin Lewis, Mark Lynas, Ted Nordhaus, Roger A. Pielke Jr., Rachel Pritzker, Joyashree Roy, Mark Sagoff, Michael Shellenberger, and Peter Teague


References


External links

*
Robert Stone Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Robert American documentary filmmakers American Experience British emigrants to the United States Living people Film directors from New Jersey Film directors from New York City Place of birth missing (living people) University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Year of birth missing (living people) People from Princeton, New Jersey Princeton High School (New Jersey) alumni British environmentalists Writers Guild of America Award winners