Filmmaker Michael Roemer has passed away at 97, as confirmed by his family. Born in Berlin in 1928, he escaped Germany via Kindertransport just before WWII. Roemer reflected on his experience as a child during the rescue. He later moved to the U.S., graduated from Harvard, and began his filmmaking career. His work, notably 'Nothing but a Man' and 'The Plot Against Harry', initially received limited recognition but found appreciation posthumously, illustrating the delayed impact of his profound and thought-provoking storytelling.
"I think I was the only child who didn't cry. I was probably quite numb," Roemer explained to Vulture's Bilge Ebiri in an interview earlier this year.
Throughout his life, his filmmaking career felt as if it needed ample time to be appreciated. Time and time again, he would create a thoughtful and provoking film only for it to be released and admired years later.
Nothing but a Man, a 1964 film about a Black newlywed couple in Alabama, was praised and awarded the San Giorgio Prize at the Venice Film Festival at the time of its release, but only in the 1990s did it gain cultural recognition.
For his comedy film, The Plot Against Harry, it was first screened in 1971 but not given a theatrical release until 1989, and was eventually nominated for six Independent Film Awards.
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