Robert Koenig (filmmaker)

Last updated

Robert Koenig
Bob Koenig Nepal OCT2007.jpg
Robert Koenig during the filming of "Returned"
Born
Robert Alexander Koenig Jr.

(1975-07-09) July 9, 1975 (age 49)
Honesdale, Pennsylvania, United States
Alma mater University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Filmmakers
Occupation(s)Film director, producer, and writer
Years active1999–present

Robert Koenig (born July 9, 1975 in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, USA) is an American film director, producer, writer and editor. Koenig directed the documentary film "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army", which won the 2008 Artivist Award for Child Advocacy [1] [2] and produced "Coexist", which was nominated for Best Documentary Film by the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) [3] [4] in 2011.

Contents

Early life

Robert Koenig grew up in Hawley, Pennsylvania and graduated from the Wallenpaupack Area School District in 1993. Koenig attended the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Filmmakers to study filmmaking; he graduated in 1998. [5]

Early career

In 1999, Robert Koenig directed his first documentary, "The Wrestler's Second: The Story of Mongolia's Struggle with Yadargaa", in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. The documentary follows a Mongolian man who is diagnosed with mysterious disease called Yadargaa. The film documents his attempts to find a cure while traveling through the Gobi Desert. [6]

After Koenig returned from living Mongolia for most of 1999, he started working at WCJB-TV in Gainesville, FL. During his time at WCJB-TV, he produced and edited the documentary style show "Police Beat" from 2000 to 2003. [7]

In 2003, Koenig moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he worked in public broadcasting, WPBA, and as a special projects producer for WGCL-TV (CBS46) and WXIA-TV (11 Alive). He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on the "Georgia Aquarium's Fun Fish Facts" series in 2007. [8]

Documentary Films

In 2007, Robert Koenig teamed up with medical anthropologist, Brandon Kohrt [9] [10] to document the stories of several child soldiers who were associated with the Unified Communist Party of Nepal. "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army" [11] [12] tells the personal story of Nepali boys and girls as they attempt to rebuild their lives after fighting a Maoist revolution. Through the voices of former child soldiers, the film examines why these children joined the Maoists and explores the prevention of future recruitment.

In 2009, Koenig produced "Coexist" a documentary film that was shot in Rwanda and tells the stories of trauma survivors searching for ways to coexist with their loved ones' murderers. [13] Koenig also served as Field Producer during production of "Coexist" in Rwanda and continued to serve as the story consultant while the documentary was in post-production. [14] "Coexist" premiered in Boston in November 2010 [15] and in March 2011, "Coexist" was nominated for Best Documentary Film by the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA). [3] [4] For the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, "Coexist" aired on PBS’s World Channel on April 16, 2014 and was reviewed by The New York Times . [16]

Philanthropy

In 2014, Robert Koenig along with Brandon Kohrt and Libby King MacFarlane founded HeartMind International, a public charity (501(c)(3)) with the mission to provide culturally-appropriate and sustainable mental health care to vulnerable populations. [17] [18] After the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, HeartMind International implemented its earthquake response plan by offering psychological first aid training for first responders, community health workers, and NGO workers through Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO-Nepal). [19] [20]

Filmography

Robert Koenig at the 2008 Artivist Film Festival & Awards 2 Robert Koenig hi res.jpg
Robert Koenig at the 2008 Artivist Film Festival & Awards

Director/Writer/Producer

Producer

Bibliography

Robert Koenig has published articles and photos including:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)</span> Political party in Nepal

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (Nepali: नेपाल कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी (माओवादी केन्द्र)), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre) or CPN (MC), is the third largest political party in Nepal and a member party of Samajbadi Morcha. It was founded in 1994 after breaking away from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre). The party launched an armed struggle in 1996 against the Nepalese government. In 2006, the party formally joined mainstream politics after signing a peace agreement following the 2006 Nepalese revolution.

Roman Kroitor was a Canadian filmmaker who was known as a pioneer of Cinéma vérité, as the co-founder of IMAX, and as the creator of the Sandde hand-drawn stereoscopic 3D animation system. He was also the original inspiration for The Force. His prodigious output garnered numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, three Cannes Film Festival awards, and two Oscar nominations.

<i>The War Tapes</i> 2006 American documentary film

The War Tapes is a 2006 American war documentary film directed by Deborah Scranton. The film is the first documentary account of the 2003 invasion of Iraq to be produced by the soldiers themselves. The film follows three New Hampshire Army National Guard soldiers before, during, and after their deployment to Iraq about a year after the invasion. Their unit was Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), which deployed from March 2004 to February 2005.

<i>Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire</i> 2004 Canadian film

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire is a 2004 Canadian documentary film about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It was directed by Peter Raymont and inspired by the book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2003), by now-retired Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire. It was co-produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Société Radio-Canada, White Pine Pictures, and DOC: The Documentary Channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raoul Peck</span> Haitian filmmaker and activist

Raoul Peck is a Haitian filmmaker of both documentary and feature films. He is known for using historical, political, and personal characters to tackle and recount societal issues and historical events. Peck was Haiti's Minister of Culture from 1996 to September 1997. His film I Am Not Your Negro (2016), about the life of James Baldwin and race relations in the United States, was nominated for an Oscar in January 2017 and won a César Award in France. Peck's HBO documentary miniseries, Exterminate All the Brutes (2021), received a Peabody Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artivist Film Festival & Awards</span> International film festival and awards ceremony

The Artivist Film Festival & Awards is an international film festival and awards ceremony dedicated to recognizing activist efforts of filmmakers, specifically in the areas of human rights, child advocacy, environmental preservation, and animal rights.

<i>The Poet</i> (2007 film) 2007 Canadian film

The Poet is a 2007 Canadian drama film starring Nina Dobrev, Colm Feore, Roy Scheider, Kim Coates and Daryl Hannah. It was written by Jack Crystal and directed by Damian Lee, with an estimated budget of CAD $11 million. It was released in the United States as Hearts of War.

The Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed on 21 November 2006 between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal —at the time known as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sushma Joshi</span>

Sushma Joshi is a Nepali writer, filmmaker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Her fiction and non-fiction deal with Nepal's civil conflict, as well as stories of globalization, migration and diaspora.

<i>Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepals Maoist Army</i> 2008 American film

Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army is a 2008 documentary film directed by American filmmaker Robert Koenig, and written by Robert Koenig and Brandon Kohrt. The documentary premiered in Hollywood, CA at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in 2008 at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival, where it won the Artivist Award for Children's Advocacy. Returned also won the award for Best Documentary Short at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival that same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child labour in Nepal</span>

The incidence of child labour in Nepal is relatively high compared with other countries in South Asia. According to the Nepal Labour Force Survey in 2008, 86.2% of the children who were working were also studying, while 13.8% of the working children were not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sas Carey</span> American film director

Sas Carey is an American film director, author, teacher, holistic nurse, and spiritual healer. She is best known for her four feature documentaries: Gobi Women's Song, Ceremony, Migration and Transition and her two books Reindeer Herders in My Heart: Stories of Healing Journeys in Mongolia, and Marrying Mongolia: A Memoir. She founded the non-profit Nomadicare, which works to support and preserve traditional Mongolian nomadic culture through healthcare, films and stories.

<i>The Witness</i> (2000 film) 2000 film by Jenny Stein

The Witness is a 2000 documentary film about animal rights directed by Jenny Stein. It was produced by James LaVeck. LaVeck and Stein's non-profit organization is Tribe of Heart.

<i>Cysgod Rhyfel</i> British TV series or programme

Cysgod Rhyfel, also known as The Shadow of War, is a 2014 documentary film which explores the mental effects of conflict on former soldiers and their families. Predominantly in Welsh, the film was first broadcast on S4C on 18 May 2014. It was directed and produced by John Evans.

Eric Stover is an American human rights researcher and advocate and faculty director of the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Goldman (producer)</span> American film producer

Julie Goldman is an American film producer and executive producer. She founded Motto Pictures in 2009. She is an Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning producer and executive producer of documentary feature films and series.

Stanley Jackson (1914–1981) was a Canadian film director, producer, writer and narrator with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Beni attack</span> Maoist attack on Beni, Nepal

The 2004 Beni attack was one of the biggest attacks by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist, during the Nepalese Civil War (1996–2006). Almost the entire Western Division of the PLA, numbering around 3,500, attacked government positions in Beni, the district headquarters of Myagdi district in western Nepal, on 20 March 2004 at around 10 pm. Hundreds of civilians were used for logistics. Around 90 soldiers of the PLA and dozens of police and military personnel as well as civilians died. Multiple government buildings were destroyed and dozens of members of the civil service and government forces were kidnapped by the PLA.

References

  1. "Robert Koenig". IMDb .
  2. "www.artivists.org". www.artivists.org. January 27, 2012.
  3. 1 2 "2011 Africa Movie Academy Awards Nominees List " « MyWeku MyWeku". Myweku.com. March 5, 2011. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Archived March 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Robert Koenig". IMDb .
  6. "The Wrestler's Second: The Story of Mongolia's Struggle with Yadargaa (Video 2008) - IMDb". IMDb .
  7. Archived September 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Emory University | Department of Anthropology Newsletter | Brandon Kohrt Film". Anthropology.emory.edu. Archived from the original on June 12, 2010.
  10. "DER Documentary: Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army". Der.org.
  11. "Preload Image Page". Nepaldocumentary.com.
  12. "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army". Digital Himalaya. October 15, 2012.
  13. "Coexist-Documentary Film Outreach Project " What is Coexist?". Peacedocumentary.org. Archived from the original on July 29, 2010.
  14. 1 2 "Coexist-Documentary Film Outreach Project " Filmmaking Team". Peacedocumentary.org. Archived from the original on August 1, 2010.
  15. "Coexist-Documentary Film Outreach Project " 2010". Peacedocumentary.org. Archived from the original on March 11, 2011.
  16. Genzlinger, Neil (April 9, 2014). "Reconciliation Held Together With Bleeding Stitches 'Coexist,' About Rwanda 20 Years Later, on PBS" 2014". The New York Times .
  17. "HeartMind International: Our Founders". heartmindinternational.org.
  18. "HeartMind International". heartmindinternational.org.
  19. "Earthquake-ravaged Nepal getting help from Towson area". baltimoresun.com.
  20. "HeartMind International: Earthquake Response". heartmindinternational.org.
  21. "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army". IMDb . August 22, 2008.
  22. "The Wrestler's Second: The Story of Mongolia's Struggle with Yadargaa". IMDb . October 17, 2008.
  23. "Returned". IMDb . September 22, 2009.
  24. "Coexist (2010) - IMDb". IMDb .
  25. "People Will Talk TV (TV Series 2013– ) - IMDb". IMDb .
  26. "Coexist (2014) - IMDb". IMDb .
  27. "Book Review: A Detroit Nocturne by Dave Jordano". April 14, 2018.
  28. "AN_Koenig_Kohrt_Child+Soldiers+after+War_article_May09.jpg (image)". 2.bp.blogspot.com.
  29. "Global Health Narratives: A Reader For Youth". Ghn4c.org.
  30. Global Health Narratives for ChangeAboutTimelineAbout. "Global Health Narratives for Change – About". Facebook.
  31. "Science News: Heal Thy Neighbor". sciencenews.org. November 29, 2013.
  32. Disasters in Field Research. rowman.com.