Rosemary A. Rotondi
Tel: 212-989-2025
Fax: 212-989-4607
Email: rotondiresearch@nyc.rr.com
Web: archivalfilmresearch.com
Professional Experience
HOLLYWOOD RENEGADE: THE LIFE STORY OF BUDD SCHULBERG
January 2009 start date
Chief archival film researcher for this feature length documentary by Aaron Brookner.
OCTOBER 2008
August 2008 to present day
Performed archival film/stills research for documentarian Rory Kennedy, co-founder and co-president of Moxie Firecracker Films, for short film created for Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign.
MAKING THE BOYS
October 2008 to present day
Chief archival film researcher for feature length documentary by Crayton Robey on Mart Crowley’s play THE BOYS IN THE BAND and its journey to Off-Broadway in the 1960’s.
A&E BIOGRAPHY CHANNEL: Mel Gibson and The Red Hot Chili Peppers
July 2008 to October 2008
Chief archival film researcher for these two one-hour biographies by MarkMark Productions.
THE END OF AMERICA: LETTER OF WARNING TO A YOUNG PATRIOT
June 2008 to August 2008
Chief archival film researcher for this in-progress documentary based on the book by writer
Naomi Wolf. Created by Academy Award nominated documentarians Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. Release date: October 21, 2008.
http://endofamericamovie.com/index.php
http://www.variety.com/review/
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/watch/the_end_of_america/
DEEN TIGHT June 2008 to July 2008
Chief archival film researcher for this documentary by Producer Ilyas Curtis about American Muslim Hip Hop and the racism and prejudice such musicians come up against in the
music industry.
AMAZING SPORTS STORIES March 2008 to April 2008
Chief archival film researcher for a 13-episode series on “little known athletes” with inspiring stories from the past century. Produced by Red Line Films and Fox Sports Network. Running in rotation on the Fox Sports Network.
PRESIDENTIAL RACE November 2007 to July 2008
Chief Archival Film Researcher for this in-progress feature length documentary on Barack Obama and race relations in America, and racial identity by Eric Fournier.
PICASSO/BRAQUE AND EARLY FILM IN CUBISM August 2007 to September 2007
Chief Archival Film Researcher for this feature length documentary by
Arne Glimcher, The Pace Wildenstein Gallery, NY, NY.
BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL July 2007 to September 2007
Chief Archival Film Researcher for this in-progress ninety minute documentary on pin up Bettie Page. Created by documentarian Mark Mori. This film is an authorized documentary on Ms. Page and has her full cooperation. To be completed in 2009. Featured in the 30th Annual Independent Film Week in NYC, September 14-19, 2008, organized by The Independent Feature Project. http://www.bettiepagerevealsall.com
ALL IN April 2007 to October 2007
Chief Archival Film Researcher on this documentary on the history of poker playing in America. Created by 4th Row Productions. To be completed in 2009.
AN UNLIKELY WEAPON: THE EDDIE ADAMS STORY January 2007 to September 2007
Chief Archival Film Researcher for this feature length documentary on Photographer Eddie Adams by Susan Morgan Cooper. This documentary won for Best Documentary at the Avignon Film Festival, 2008. Documentary featured in the 12th Annual DOCUWEEK International Documentary Association festival, New York City, August 8-14, 2008.
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS CHRIST: DISCOVERING BETHANY
January 2007 to June 2007
Chief Archival Film Researcher for this 47-minute documentary created by 10,000 Films/Clay
Morton Productions. To be released in 2008. The documentary is concerned with the recent discovery of the baptism site of Jesus Christ in an area known as ‘Wadi al-Kharrar’ on the east bank of the river Jordan, the “Bethany Beyond the Jordan” of the Gospels.
AMERICA IS HARD TO FIND February 2004 to present day
Associate Producer, archival researcher and grant writer for in-progress 90-minute documentary
by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir/Bless Bless Productions on the Berrigan
Brothers and the Catholic Left anti-war movement.
OBSCENE May 2006 to August 2006
Archival researcher for Daniel O’Connor’s documentary on Grove Press Publisher, Barney Rosset.
This documentary was featured in The Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007.
Exhibited at The Independent Film Center, October 16, 2007 as part of the Stranger Than Fiction series.
Variety review, September 24, 2007. Opening at Cinema Village in NYC on September 26, 2008.
The New York Times review, September 24, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/movies/
The New York Magazine review, http://nymag.com/movies/features/50500/
JOURNEY TO FREEDOM
February 2003 to September 2004; June to July 2006; May 2007 to December 2007;
April 2008 to June 2008
Archival researcher for this 60-minute documentary by Deborah Shaffer about Waitstill and Martha Sharp, two Holocaust refugee advocates and World War II activists from Wellesley, MA.
To be released in 2008. http://journeytofreedomfilm.com
THE PERFECT MATCH July 2006 to January 2007
Archival researcher for 60 minute documentary by Betsy Blankenbaker on Althea Gibson, the first African-American tennis star. To be released in 2009.
BACK HOME March 2006 to June 2006
Archival film researcher on this documentary about a Rwandan genocide survivor's return to his homeland, directed by J.B. Rutagarama and produced by Linda Vester. Currently in circulation world-wide on documentary festival network. Released in 2006. Special Mention, AFI Film Festival 2006.
SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON February 2006 to April 2006
Archival film researcher for this film by Jon Dunham regarding six unique marathon runners on four continents preparing to run The Chicago Marathon.
BROKEN BROTHERHOOD: Vietnam and the Boys from Colgate
May 2004 to June 2004
Chief archival film researcher for an autobiographical documentary by filmmaker Lou Buttino. This documentary centers on the continuing unease about the Vietnam War conflict in American memory through Mr. Buttino's own experiences as a former conscientious objector and the recollections of those of his fellow Colgate University alumni from the 1960s and 1970s, some of whom served in the war. This documentary aired on New York City Public Television network station Thirteen/WNET TV
on November 13, 2005.
SAVING BON PO August 2002 to January 2003
Archival researcher for in-progress 60-minute documentary by Betsy Blankenbaker
about a Tibetan lama refugee who travels back to his homeland after 43
years in exile.
THE PRIME TIME CLOSET (Applause Books) Released
in August 2002
Served as researcher for this book by Professor Stephen Tropiano (Ithaca
College) on the history of gays and lesbians on television.
SOMETHING TO CHEER ABOUT July 2000 to September
2002
Archival researcher and grant writer for documentary by Betsy Blankenbaker
about the first all-black basketball team in Indianapolis to win a state
championship in the 1950s. Documentary premiered in April 2007 in nationwide art cinemas.
BAND OF BROTHERS: WE STAND ALONE TOGETHER August
2000 to October 2000
Archival researcher for HBO-produced documentary directed by Mark Cowen
on the 101st Airborne Division paratroopers who fought the Battle of the
Bulge. Airing on HBO as of November 2001. (This documentary accompanied
a 10-part narrative series titled BAND OF BROTHERS.) This documentary runs in rotation on HBO's and the History Channel's schedule to this day.
SPRING GARDEN July 2000 to November 2000
Archival researcher/rights clearance for a six-CD-ROM documentary series
on pregnancy and post-partum depression created by the Surgeon General
and the United States Air Force for use by the armed forces both nationwide
and internationally.
OF CIVIL WRONGS & RIGHTS May 1999 to November
1999
Archival film researcher for 60-minute documentary by Dorka Keehn and
Eric Fournier, examining the life of Fred Korematsu, who resisted the
internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II by challenging
the constitutionality of the camps to the Supreme Court. This was on the
short list of Academy Award-nominated documentaries for 2001. Accepted
into the Sundance Film Festival, January 2001. Aired on PBS' P.O.V. program on July 15, 2003. Documentary mentioned in the review, “In the Trenches,” by The
New Yorker Magazine, September 24th, 2007 issue: “PBS has also presented good work [on World War II]: a documentary in its P.O.V. series, ‘Of Civil Wrongs and Rights,’...”
NEW YORK IN THE FIFTIES October 1998 to April
2000
Archival film researcher for 90-minute documentary, based on the book
by novelist Dan Wakefield. Betsy Blankenbaker, filmmaker. Accepted into
and exhibited at the Angelika Theater’s Independent Feature Market
Place in September 2000. Premiered at the Pioneer Theater in New York
City, February 2001 and aired on the Sundance Film Channel cable network
March through June 2001.
THE DANCE OF THE WARRIOR December 1997 to December
1999
Archival film researcher for Marie Brodeur/Comarie documentary, a National
Film Board of Canada production. Acted as liaison in the US for Brodeur and investigated all
archives containing footage on war dances from a broad spectrum of international
cultures. In April 2002, this documentary won the Grand Prix Special du
Jury Prize at the 11th Annual Grand Prix International Video Danse Festival,
organized by UNESCO.
PETER FRIEDMAN June 1998 to January 2000
Administrative assistant/researcher for award-winning documentarian.
CINEASTE MAGAZINE 1995 to August 2002
Associate/grant writer for this 35-year-old film magazine. Raised operating
monies from the New York State Council on the Arts, and secured grants
from the National Endowment for the Arts/Media Arts Program for general
operating support; also received support for the magazine from the Eastman
Foundation and the Irish Institute. Wrote three major proposals per year
for Cineaste. Continue to write reviews for the magazine.
DANIEL M. REEVES/SHAKTI PRODUCTIONS, NYC and
Scotland, UK April 1986 to April 1997
I. Co-producer, grant writer, publicist and archival film researcher
for the video artist Daniel Reeves’ Shakti Productions. Other duties
included fundraising, public relations, securing artist residencies and
lecture tours, finding corporate sponsors, and arranging exhibitions for
video art tapes and installations at museums such as the High Museum of
Art, the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, the Museum of Modern Art,
Pacific Film Archives and many others. Served as Reeves’ chief
liaison with major domestic and international video art festivals, such
as Montage 93 and the New York Film Festival’s 1995 Video Festival;
with all major grant agencies, including the New York State Council on
the Arts, New Television, Art Matters, Inc., the National Endowment for
the Arts/Media Arts Program and Visual Arts Program and the New York
Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Program; with major video art curators
and video distributors in the US and overseas; and with television stations
such as New Television, WGBH, Le Sept Arte and Channel Four. Raised $275,000
in grants and $75,000 in corporate in-kind donations. In 1990, was instrumental
in Reeves obtaining a six-month International Cultural Exchange Fellowship
with Japan, through the NEA.
II. Performed the above responsibilities for Reeves on the following
video art tapes and installations: GANAPATI/A SPIRIT IN THE BUSH (1986),
SOMBRA A SOMBRA (1988), OBSESSIVE BECOMING (1995), THE WELL OF PATIENCE
(1988), and EINGANG/THE WAY IN (1990, 1993), and ONE WITH EVERYTHING (1997).
THE BRANDON TEENA STORY 1994 to 1997
Grant writer/researcher for documentary by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir,
Bless Bless Productions. Arranged and secured initial in-kind grant of
off-line and post-production editing time from the Wexner Center for the
Arts; raised monies from Art Matters, Inc. and the Astraea Foundation.
Other responsibilities included composing initial project summary, correspondence
with various interviewees and office managerial tasks.
10th year Anniversary Edition released in 2008.
NOAH'S RAVEN 1992 to 1993
Production associate/archival film and visual researcher for video artist
Mary Lucier, for her eight-channel video art installation, which premiered
at the Toledo Museum of Art in spring 1993. This installation is now traveling
to five other sites within the US, such as the Carpenter Center for the
Visual Arts in Cambridge, MA.
REGRET TO INFORM 1988 to 1991
Assistant producer/researcher on Barbara Sonneborn's documentary, released
in 1999. Assembled first successful NEA/Media Arts Program grant, which
provided seed monies for production. Conducted preliminary interviews
with widows of Vietnam veterans and Vietnam veterans’ organizations;
did publicity outreach for project, which resulted in a 1992 article published
in Ms. magazine and in radio coverage; researched and targeted sources
for funding in New York and California.
Documentary was nominated for
an Academy Award in February 1999.
ELECTRONIC ARTS INTERMIX, NYC January 1988
to July 1988
Coordinator of first video art preservation project on the East Coast
for the largest video art tape distributor in North America. Oversaw the
remastering of 30 rare video art tapes from the 1960s and 1970s. Delivered
lecture on project at National Media Arts Convention in Atlanta, GA, May
1988.
Education
New York University, Masters of Arts in Cinema Studies 1986
Suffolk University, Bachelor of Science in Journalism/Film Studies 1980
Citation for Honors in English 1980
Fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC 1985
One of 15 recipients of Fellowship for Arts Managers. Initiated and carried
out research projects for the Visual Arts department. Attended panel meetings
pertaining to each department at the NEA, as well as National Council
on the Arts meetings.
Professional Memberships
The Museum of Television and Radio, Film Forum, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Society
for Cinema Studies, FOCAL (The Federation of Commercial AudioVisual Libraries
Limited), Southern Poverty Law Center, International Documentary Association.
Have served as secretary of arts mandated co-operative building since
1993. Co-founder of the film appreciation group, Nous Allons Au Cinema.
Special note: June 2007, I attended the annual FOCAL week-long conferences and in-house visits in London, England of major film archives, i.e. BFI, BBC, ITN, British Movietone, Imperial War Museum and others. |