[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What are your thoughts on this statement If you’ve seen a thousand films, you’ve lived a thousand lives?
Robert Rippberger, Filmmaker: I love filmmaking and a lot of the reason why I love filmmaking is because I feel like it transports you into these different ways of navigating life and being in different circumstances. I feel like film is this sense in which if you’ve seen a thousand films, you’ve lived a thousand lives.
Film Courage: Does it have to be something that has a quote unquote message or can it just be a fun comedy?
Robert: A lot of the films I seek out to entertain and also provide a message but there is certainly a side of entertainment in itself that uplifts people. Frank Capra very early on made Can’t Take It With You and just a number of films he was nominated for best Oscar, time and time again they were all message based. Like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and then Preston Sturges came out after that and was like this is too much. There’s something inherently good about just entertainment that it really lifts people up. There’s a huge spectrum and I think all of it’s valuable for me. The really important thing is that entertainment and storytelling has a huge transformative power and so I seek to educate and also better understand for myself about what that power is and how it can produce change…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Robert Rippberger is a filmmaker with a broad array of creative and executive experience. He most recently directed and produced the film “Those Who Walk Away” starring BooBoo Stewart (Descendants, X-Men) and prior to that directed and produced the Harlem drama, “Strive,” with Danny Glover. Both were released theatrically and received dozens of accolades worldwide. Directing and producing documentaries, Robert released in 2019 ‘Public Enemy Number One’ from Executive Producer Ice-T about the U.S. war on drugs. Prior, Robert directed/produced the documentary “7 Days in Syria,” a look at the human side of the war in Aleppo, Syria. The film was championed by Angelina Jolie, screened at Britain’s House of Lords, to senior members of the U.N., and was released on Hulu and Amazon. As an executive producer, along with Jason Blum, Robert did the feature doc, “Alive & Kicking.” The film was sold to Magnolia Films after its debut at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival where it received a Grand Jury nomination. The film is available on Netflix. Robert received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from UC, Berkeley in 2012 where he was awarded the Eisner Prize for his film “In the Middle.” It is considered the highest achievement in the creative arts given on the UC, Berkeley campus. Robert is a member of the Producers Guild of America and is on the PGA’s Social Impact Entertainment Task Force. In addition to SIE Films, Robert is also the founder and co-executive director of SIE Society, a leading global alliance of Social Impact Entertainment filmmakers.
His latest film is Those Who Walk Away (Now in theaters and on VOD) starring BooBoo Stewart, Nils Allen Stewart and Scarlett Sperduto.
CONNECT WITH ROBERT RIPPBERGER
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