Looking with Robert Gardner

"During his lifetime, Robert Gardner (1925{u2013}2014) was often pigeonholed as an ethnographic filmmaker, then criticized for failing to conform to the genre{u2019}s conventions{u2014}conventions he radically challenged. With the release of his groundbreaking film Dead Birds in 1963, Gardner established himself as one of the world{u2019}s most extraordinary independent filmmakers, working in a unique border area between ethnography, the essay film, and poetic/experimental cinema. Richly illustrated, Looking with Robert Gardner assesses the range and magnitude of Gardner{u2019}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{u2019}s most ambitious films, such as Dead Birds (1963, New Guinea), Rivers of Sand (1975, Ethiopia), and Forest of Bliss (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 Still Journey On (2011); to his roots in experimental film and his employment of experimental pr