Robert Kolodny | |
|---|---|
 Kolodny on set | |
| Born | Freehold, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | School of Visual Arts |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2010–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.
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]
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 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.
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]
| 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 | Additional Cinematography | ||||
| Frankie Cooks | Yes | Yes | TV | |||
| 2016 | Kate Plays Christine | Yes | Additional Cinematography | |||
| 2017 | La Noche de la Especies | Yes | Yes | With Cecilia Vicuna | ||
| 2018 | Bisbee '17 | Yes | Additional Cinematography | |||
| Disappeared Quipu | Yes | Yes | Yes | With Cecilia Vicuna | ||
| 2021 | Procession | Yes | ||||
| 2022 | All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Yes | Additional Cinematography | |||
| 2023 | The Sweet East | Yes | Additional Cinematography | |||
| The Featherweight | Yes | Feature Debut | ||||
| 2024 | Rite Here Rite Now | Yes | Yes | |||
| Pavements | Yes | |||||
| 2025 | V/H/S/Halloween | Yes | Segment: Kidprint | |||
| Henry Miller's Paris | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary short | ||
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 | |
| 2025 | "Orlando in Love" | Japanese Breakfast | Editor |
| "Picture Window" | Japanese Breakfast | Editor | |
| "Bunky Pop" | Sleigh Bells | Editor | |
| "Stay in Your Lane" | Courtney Barnett | DP, Editor |
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