Robert Kramer’s politics were as a radical as his approach to making films. A founder of the leftist Newsreel collective, he went on to direct documentaries and dramas, and films that blended both. Disgusted with the politics of the United States, he lived for decades in self-imposed exile in France.

Directed and narrated by Kramer’s longtime cinematographer and sometime producer, Richard Copans, LOOKING FOR ROBERT is a retrospective of Kramer’s work, and a love letter to a colleague and friend.

Copans assembles telling moments from groundbreaking films like ROUTE ONE/USA and DOC’S KINGDOM, and includes never-before-seen rushes. And he shares unique insights into Kramer’s sometimes unorthodox process. In one case, that meant setting off to film a 2,500-mile road movie over a period of five months — with only a five-page outline, and without watching any rushes the whole time.

While the relationship between the two men was at times stormy, Copans remained the “loyal indispensable helper.” He loads film, frantically keeps the money coming when a shoot goes over-budget, and sleeps in cheap motels, all to fulfill his friend’s vision. What emerges in LOOKING FOR ROBERT is not only an intimate portrait of an artist, but also the moving biography of a friendship.

Select Accolades

• Viennale 2024 (Austria)