History, Culture, & Society Through Film
Documentary filmmaking isn’t just about capturing reality—it’s about transforming how we see it. Through bold experiments in format and narrative, Robert A. Emmons Jr., Associate Teaching Professor of Filmmaking and inaugural director of the Emerging Media/Digital Studies MA and MPS programs, has spent his career challenging conventional storytelling. From exploring America’s history of violence in his recent tetralogy—Palimpsest (2024), Weird as it is (2024), Grimmness (2024), and Game of Nim (2023)—to dissecting film censorship in Sickies Making Films (2019), Emmons uses the medium to uncover deeper truths about society.
Collaboration and innovation are at the heart of Emmons’s work. Partnering with Joe Tropea, he co-directed Fugazi’s Barber (2021), an energetic dive into punk culture, family, and community in Washington, D.C. His earlier films, such as Goodwill: The Flight of Emilio Carranza (2007), earned accolades like the Lindbergh-Carranza International Goodwill Award and captivated audiences as part of a Smithsonian Institute exhibition. Whether chronicling cultural moments or examining historical controversies like the comic book panic of the 1940s in Diagram for Delinquents (2014), Emmons blends rigorous research with compelling storytelling.
With video essays screened at international symposia and a new project, Chambers of MUON (2025), underway, Emmons continues to redefine what documentary film can achieve. As an educator, filmmaker, and innovator in digital media, he pushes audiences and students alike to engage with pressing issues, challenging them to see the world—and its narratives—in new ways.
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