Robert Kolodny (filmmaker)

Robert Kolodny
Robert Kolodny on set
Born
Freehold, New Jersey
EducationSchool of Visual Arts
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • cinematographer
  • professor
Years active2010–present

Robert Kolodny is an American film director, writer and cinematographer. His 2023 debut feature film, The Featherweight,[1] premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.[2][3] He was a cinematographer for the Peabody Award-winning documentary film All the Beauty and the Bloodshed[4], released in 2022.

Early life

Kolodny grew up in Freehold Township, New Jersey, and attended Freehold High School[5][6] 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[7] in New York City, where he studied under Manfred Kirchheimer.[8] During this time Kolodny began an artistic collaboration with Chilean poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña.[9]

Career

In 2010, Kolodny formed the production company House of Nod.[10] Through this company he began to create commercial work as well as music videos with Brooklyn based artists such as Japanese Breakfast,[11] Frankie Cosmos,[12] LVL UP[13] and Gabby's World.[14]

In 2013 Robert Kolodny won an Emmy for directing a season of the culinary TV program Frankie Cooks.[15] The same year he directed the short film Fly on Out which won the grand prize at the AbelCine Vision Research Miro High-Speed Inspiration Challenge.[16]

Around this time Kolodny began working as a documentary cinematographer, initially on Lenny Cooke by the Safdie brothers and then with Robert Greene on Kate Plays Christine and Bisbee '17.[17] He worked his way up to being the director of photography for Greene's Netflix film Procession,[18] Alex Ross Perry's Pavements[19] and one of the cinematographers of the Peabody Award-winning and academy award nominated All the Beauty and the Bloodshed by Laura Poitras.[20] For several years Kolodny was working on a nonfiction film about Bulgarian Olympian Serafim Todorov.[21]

In 2018, he created the film elements for Disappeared Quipu which appeared at the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and MALBA.[22] The massive site-specific art art piece included a looping four channel video projection composed of intricately drifting ancient Andean textiles. During the COVID-19 pandemic Kolodny collaborated playwright Taylor Mac on several of musical specials that streamed online and then later were performed live.[23] In 2022 he was named one of Doc NYC's 40 under 40.[24]

Key collaborators in Kolodny's work include his cinematographer brother Adam Kolodny,[25] producer Bennett Elliott,[26] Robert Greene,[27] Alex Ross Perry[28] and Sean Price Williams.[29] Robert Kolodny is a professor of film at his alma mater, the School of Visual Arts, where he teaches directing and screenwriting.[30]

The Featherweight

The Featherweight was Robert Kolodny's feature film directorial debut.[31] It tracks the post-retirement career of former world champion boxer Willie Pep and his troubled road to a comeback, as a direct cinema film crew documents his daily life.[32] Starring James Madio, Ron Livingston, Stephen Lang, Keir Gilchrist and Ruby Wolf, the film received critical acclaim for its realism and intricate craft.[33] Guy Lodge from Variety 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."[34]

The Featherweight premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in the Orizzonti competition.[35] Later it was selected as the closing film of the 54th International Film Festival of India.[36] Kolodny was received the John Schlesinger Narrative Award from the Provincetown International Film Festival[37] and the Peter Brunette Award for Best Director at RiverRun International Film Festival[38] 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[39] and Martin Scorsese[40] [41] as well as the direct cinema movement,[42] specifically the work of D. A. Pennebaker and Albert and David Maysles. [43]

Filmography

Year Title Director Writer Cinematographer Editor Notes
2010 Shelter Yes Yes Yes Short
2013 Fly on Out Yes Yes Yes Yes Short
Lenny Cooke Yes Addtional Cinematography
Frankie Cooks Yes Yes TV
2016 Kate Plays Christine Yes Addtional Cinematography
2017 La Noche de la Especies Yes Yes With Cecilia Vicuna
2018 Bisbee '17 Yes Addtional Cinematography
Disappeared Quipu Yes Yes Yes With Cecilia Vicuna
2021 Procession Yes
2022 All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Yes Addtional Cinematography
2023 The Sweet East Yes Addtional Cinematography
The Featherweight Yes Feature Debut
2024 Rite Here Rite Now Yes Yes
Pavements Yes


Music videos

Year Title Artist(s) Role(s)
2013 "Nightshade" LVL UP Director
2015 "Broken Necks" Gabby's World Director
"Really Love" Body Language DP
2016 "National Parks" Big Ups Director
"The Closing Door" LVL UP Director
"Everybody Wants To Love You" Japanese Breakfast Producer
"Jane Cum" Japanese Breakfast Producer
"Thick Skin" Bellows Director
"Tummy Ache" Diet Cig Director
2017 "Machinist" Japanese Breakfast Producer
"Road Head" Japanese Breakfast Producer
"Bobby" Alex G Producer, Editor
2018 "Boyish" Japanese Breakfast Editor
"Carnations" Palehound Director, Editor
"Cut Me Off" Madeline Kenney Director, Editor
2019 "Dylan Thomas" Better Oblivion Community Center Editor
"Aaron" Palehound Director, DP, Editor
"Worthy" Palehound Director, DP, Editor
"Wannago" Frankie Cosmos Director, Editor
2021 "Sam Jam" Covey Director, Editor
"1991" Covey Director, Editor
"I Wrote You a Song" Chad Lawson Director, DP
"Be Sweet" Japanese Breakfast Editor
"Savage Good Boy" Japanese Breakfast Editor
"Dig" Barrie Director, Editor
"Quarry" Barrie Director, DP, Editor
2022 "Harness Your Hopes" Pavement Editor
"Metal Myths" Ghost Producer, DP, Editor
"Bones" Soccer Mommy Editor
"Across That Fine Line" Nation of Language Director
2023 "Days Move Slow" Bully Editor
"Too Much, Enough" Nation of Language Director
"Jesus He Knows Me" Ghost DP, Editor
"Tidal Session" Momma Producer, DP, Editor
"Ghostwriter" Speedy Ortiz DP
2024 "Stopping and Staring" Gustaf Editor
"Missing Out" Maya Hawke DP, Editor
"Dark" Maya Hawke DP, Editor
"I'm A Man" Kim Gordon Editor
"After Hours" Christian Lee Hutson DP, Editor
"Paradise Pop. 10" Christian Lee Hutson DP, Editor

References

  1. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (2024-08-08). "'The Featherweight': Willie Pep Boxing Movie From Appian Way Unveils Trailer, Sets Fall Release". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  2. ^ "Biennale Cinema 2023 | The Featherweight". La Biennale di Venezia. July 13, 2023.
  3. ^ Yorker, The New (2024-09-13). "The Trendiest Piercing Studios in N.Y.C." The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  4. ^ https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/all-the-beauty-and-the-bloodshed/
  5. ^ Keller, Stephanie. "Dynamic duo", Asbury Park Press, May 2, 2006. Accessed September 15, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Rob Kolodny and Chris Rowand, both 18 and seniors at Freehold High School, are the Lolligaggers.... Rob and Chris grew up together in Freehold Township and have been inseparable since they can remember."
  6. ^ "Freehold, NJ - Student Film Depicts Escape From Concentration Camp - VINnews". January 3, 2010.
  7. ^ "Robert Kolodny | Faculty Listing | School of Visual Arts | SVA NYC". School of Visual Arts | SVA | New York City.
  8. ^ "Manfred Kirchheimer – John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation…".
  9. ^ "Cecilia Vicuña: Disappeared Quipu". www.brooklynmuseum.org.
  10. ^ "See New York City Through the Eyes of Martin Scorsese | No Film School". nofilmschool.com.
  11. ^ "Japanese Breakfast's "Boyish" Video Takes You Back to a School Dance - SPIN".
  12. ^ Brown, Jake (September 4, 2019). "New Frankie Cosmos video: Wannago". Glorious Noise.
  13. ^ "LVL UP Share Sweetly Surreal "The Closing Door" Video, Stream Return To Love in Full - Paste Magazine".
  14. ^ Boilen, Bob (2015-10-02). "First Watch: Eskimeaux, 'Broken Necks'". NPR.
  15. ^ "nyemmynominations2015". www.nyc.gov.
  16. ^ "Miro Challenge Grand Prize Winner Announced | Company News | News | AbelCine".
  17. ^ "Film Forum · Introduction by BISBEE '17 Filmmaker Robert Greene and Q&A with Producer Bennett Elliott and Additional Cinematographer Robert Kolodny". Film Forum. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  18. ^ O'Falt, Chris (September 20, 2021). "Robert Greene Did Not Make This Film, at Least Not the Way You Think".
  19. ^ Mintzer, Jordan (September 4, 2024). "'Pavements' Review: Alex Ross Perry's Multifaceted Portrait of the Influential '90s Band Is All-Encompassing and a Bit Exhausting". The Hollywood Reporter.
  20. ^ "All The Beauty and the Bloodshed". lichter-filmfest.de.
  21. ^ Fasano, Maria Luisa (September 6, 2023). "Interview with Robert Kolodny: 'The Featherweight', Punching Through History".
  22. ^ "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org.
  23. ^ "Company". Taylor Mac Holiday Sauce.
  24. ^ "40 UNDER 40 - CLASS OF 2022".
  25. ^ Peikert, Sarah Shachat,Mark (2024-09-01). "Venice 2024: How 41 Cinematographers Shot Their Festival Films". IndieWire. Retrieved 2024-09-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Crowell, Mark (2018-08-27). "Bennett Elliott Produces Bisbee '17". SVA BFA Film. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  27. ^ Corte, Laura Della (2023-09-05). ""The Featherweight" (Film 2023) interview with director Robert Kolodny". Fred Film Radio. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  28. ^ Murthi, Vikram (2022-04-13). "How Alex Ross Perry and DP Robert Kolodny Made a New Video for Pavement's "Harness Your Hopes" - Filmmaker Magazine". Filmmaker Magazine | Publication with a focus on independent film, offering articles, links, and resources. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  29. ^ Hudson, David (March 12, 2024). "First Look 2024".
  30. ^ "Robert Kolodny". SVA BFA Film.
  31. ^ Romney2023-09-03T12:15:00+01:00, Jonathan. "'The Featherweight': Venice Review". Screen. Retrieved 2024-09-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ Gyarkye, Lovia (September 3, 2023). "'The Featherweight' Review: A Poetic Tribute to Boxing Champion Willie Pep". The Hollywood Reporter.
  33. ^ Solomons, Adam (September 3, 2023). "'The Featherweight' Review: Robert Kolodny's Debut Film Is as Agile as Its Irrepressible Protagonist".
  34. ^ Lodge, Guy (September 20, 2023). "'The Featherweight' Review: Lovingly Textured Faux-Documentary Charts a Champion's Slide Into the Shadows".
  35. ^ Saito, Stephen (2023-09-03). "Robert Kolodny's "The Featherweight" - Venice 2023 Film Review". The Moveable Fest. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  36. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (November 7, 2023). "'Catching Dust,' 'The Featherweight' to Bookend Goa Film Festival, Michael Douglas to Deliver Masterclass".
  37. ^ Provincetown, PO Box 605; office, Massachusetts 02657413-9369 for showtimes487-3456 for box. "Awards". Provincetown Film.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  38. ^ Loftin, Nate (May 23, 2022). "RiverRun International Film Festival - AWARDS".
  39. ^ "The Featherweight". Reverse Shot.
  40. ^ Lindsay, Taylor (January 27, 2014). "Watch: 'Scorsese's New York," A Three-Minute Visual Love Letter".
  41. ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/1fm5qi6/robert_kolodny_the_featherweight_2023_in_the/
  42. ^ https://www.moviemaker.com/the-featherweight-robert-kolodny/
  43. ^ https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/featherweight-movie-director-robert-kolodny-60s-docs-interview-1235046448/