Looking with Robert Gardner

<p><b>Assesses the range and magnitude of Robert Gardner's achievements as a filmmaker, photographer, writer, educator, and champion of independent cinema.</b></p><p>During his lifetime, Robert Gardner (1925–2014) was often pigeonholed as an ethnographic filmmaker, then criticized for failing to conform to the genre's conventions-conventions he radically challenged. With the release of his groundbreaking film <i>Dead Birds</i> in 1963, Gardner established himself as one of the world's most extraordinary independent filmmakers, working in a unique border area between ethnography, the essay film, and poetic/experimental cinema. Richly illustrated, <i>Looking with Robert Gardner</i> assesses the range and magnitude of Gardner's achievements not only as a filmmaker but also as a still photographer, writer, educator, and champion of independent cinema. The contributors give critical attention to Gardner's most ambitious films, such as <i>Dead Birds</i> (1963, New Guinea), <i>Rivers of Sand</i> (1975, Ethiopia), and <i>Forest of Bliss</i> (1986, India), as well as lesser-known films that equally exemplify his mode of seeking anthropological understanding through artistic means. They also attend to his films about artists, including his self-depiction in <i>Still Journey OnM</i> (2011); to his roots in experimental film and his employment of experimental procedures; and to his support of independent filmmakers through the Harvard Film Study Center and the television series <i>Screening Room</i>, which provided an opportunity for numerous important film and video artists to present and discuss their work.</p>