New York-born Robert KRAMER (1939-
1999) was one of the founding members
of Newsreel, a collective that used avantgarde
film to energize the anti-Vietnam
War movement in the 1960s, and produced
roughly 50 works with the group. He
then continued to channel his output
toward critiques of contemporary society
through films that tiptoed the line between
documentary and fiction. After moving to
Paris in the 1980s, KRAMER expanded
the scope of his artistic endeavors to include
feature-length films, short films, and videos.
KRAMER’s notable works include the script
for The State of Things (1982), which he cowrote
with director Wim WENDERS, and
Route One/USA, which won the Mayor’s
Prize at the 1989 Yamagata International
Documentary Film Festival.