Robert Kenner
| Robert Kenner | |
|---|---|
| Born | California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Film director, film producer, television director, television producer, screenwriter, television writer |
| Years active | 1971–present |
Robert Kenner is an American film and television screenwriter, television director, film director, film producer, and television producer.
His career began in 1971 as an assistant cinematographer, and produced his first motion picture, 3:15 - The Moment of Truth, in 1984 (although it was not released until 1986). His second feature film did not come until 1991's Lonely Hearts.
His first breakout project was the televised documentary The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal, which he produced for the National Geographic Society and which aired in 1993 on PBS.[1] The following year, he directed and produced Russia's Last Tsar for National Geographic and PBS.[2][3] He also directed and produced America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Good-bye in 1996.[2][4] The International Documentary Association presented the picture with the Strand Award for Best Documentary.[5]
Kenner began a long association with the award-winning PBS documentary television program American Experience in 1998. That year he directed and produced the widely reviewed Influenza, 1918 (about the 1918 flu pandemic)[6] and followed it up with John Brown's Holy War (about abolitionist John Brown) in 2001.[7][8] His first documentary which he wrote, directed and produced was War Letters, which aired on American Experience in 2001. The documentary is based on the 2001 New York Times best-selling book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars by historian Andrew Carroll.[8][9] He produced the episode, "The Road to Memphis," for the 2003 PBS documentary series, The Blues,[10] and in 2005 produced and directed the Vietnam War documentary, Two Days in October.[11][12][13] The documentary was the season premiere of American Experience.[13] The film, which is based on David Maraniss' book They Marched into Sunlight, looks at the parallels between a Viet Cong ambush of a U.S. Army patrol (and the subsequent cover-up of the loss by the American military) and a violent clash between police and student protesters at the University of Wisconsin–Madison—events which occurred 24 hours apart in October 1967.[12] The episode was nominated for and won the award for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking at the 2006 Emmy Awards.[14][15]
In 2008, Kenner produced and directed the documentary film, Food, Inc., which examines large-scale agricultural food production in the United States, concluding that the meat and vegetables produced by this type of economic enterprise leads to inexpensive but environmentally harmful and unhealthy food.[16]
[edit] References
- ^ Zad, Martie. "Ballard Explores Graveyard of Guadalcanal's Lost Fleet." The Washington Post. May 23, 1993.
- ^ a b Byrne, Bridget. "TV Special Puts A Face On Endangered Species." Rocky Mountain News. January 24, 1998.
- ^ "The Last Tsar." Fort Worth Star-Telegram. March 6, 1996.
- ^ Ellin, Harlene. "Plight of Endangered Species Is Brought Into Focus In Special." Chicago Tribune. January 23, 1998; "Photographers 'Put A Face' On Endangered Species." Philadelphia Inquirer. January 25, 1998.
- ^ "IDA Names 1998 Distinguished Achievement Award Winners." Press release. International Documentary Association. October 30, 1998.
- ^ Phillips, Barbara D. "America's Forgotten Plague." Wall Street Journal. February 10, 1998; "'Influenza, 1918' Airs Tonight On PBS." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. February 9, 1998.
- ^ Vognar, Chris. "PBS Explores the Enigma of John Brown." Dallas Morning News. February 27, 2000; Blight, David W. "John Brown: Triumphant Failure." The American Prospect. March 13, 2000.
- ^ a b Ryan, Suzanne C. "From the Trenches." Boston Globe. November 9, 2001.
- ^ Rosenberg, Howard. "Dispatches From the Trenches." Los Angeles Times. November 9, 2001; "'War Letters' Lets Soldiers Speak." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. November 11, 2001; Mink, Eric. "War, In Their Own Words." New York Daily News. November 9, 2001.
- ^ Gallo, Phil. "The Road to Memphis." Daily Variety. September 26, 2003; Pareles, Jon. "The Blues? Or Shadows of the Blues?" International Herald Tribune. September 23, 2003; Kalina, Paul. "A Feel for the Blues." The Age. July 14, 2005.
- ^ Wiegand, David. "Two Documentaries and Two Wars That Still Divide Nation." San Francisco Chronicle. October 15, 2005; Perry, Tony. "Documentaries Make War A Bitter Reality." Los Angeles Times. October 14, 2005.
- ^ a b Allis, Sam. "'Two Days' Turns Ambush and Protest Into A Powerful Lesson About Vietnam." Boston Globe. October 17, 2005.
- ^ a b Weintraub, Joan. "PBS Series Sets Sail for American Dream." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. October 16, 2005.
- ^ "Creative Emmys." Daily Variety. August 21, 2006.
- ^ Martin, Denise and Chang, Justin. "HBO Golden Thanks to Royalty, 'Rome'." Variety. August 19, 2006.
- ^ Severson, Kim. "Eat, Drink, Think, Change." The New York Times. June 3, 2009; "New Film Offers Troubling View of US Food Industry." Associated Press. June 7, 2009.
