MU documentary journalism and film studies professor Robert Greene is heading to Sundance with his latest film “Kate Plays Christine.” Greene’s film is one of 16 U.S. documentaries selected for the prestigious 2016 film festival.
The veteran filmmaker completed the film while teaching during the fall semester. Greene said students in his editing course at the Murray Center for Documentary Journalism had an inside look into the editing process behind his Sundance film.
“That was a great thing for all of us to do,” Greene said. “For me to have that support from young, energetic people who are smart and for the students to see what it was like to actually go through that. The fact that it paid off with Sundance is great.”
Stacey Woelfel, the director of MU’s documentary journalism program, said Greene’s success proves the Murray Center hired the right person for Filmmaker-In-Chief.
“We wanted somebody in this position to be a working documentary filmmaker who’s widely recognized and widely admired by his peers in the community,” Woelfel said. “And Robert’s come in with less than a year of employment here and shown that.”
Greene said his position as Filmmaker-In-Chief allows him to teach students from a perspective of someone working in the field and pushed him to complete “Kate Plays Christine.”
“I put myself in a position where I was forced to learn how to teach very quickly, forced to take care of my classes and at the same time, forced to make this movie happen,” Greene said. “It’s been amazing to have it become something that actually worked.”
Greene was teaching a class when he received the call, inviting his film to Sundance.
“Everyone was just excited as he was that it had happened,” Woelfel said. “I think it’s a very close-knit team that we’ve built here.”
Although he said he was originally unsure what the teacher/student relationship would look like, Greene said the first class of the Murray Center is very much like a family.
“I love that when Sundance was announced my students talked about how proud they were of me, which meant a lot to me, and they also made fun of me immediately,” Greene said.
Greene’s dedication to his filmmaking does not go unnoticed by his students and co-workers.
“He’s super passionate about documentaries, about telling stories, about now being a journalism professor and that comes across to his students in a big way,” Woelfel said.
Next semester, Greene will continue teaching while promoting his film.
“We’re very excited to have it premiere and of course we want to bring it back and play it in Columbia as soon as we can,” Woelfel said.
The Sundance Film Festival will play in Park City, Utah, from Jan. 21 to Jan. 31, 2016.