Robert Clift Ph.D.

Robert Clift

Robert Clift, Ph.D. is a documentary filmmaker and media studies scholar with work appearing on national public television, in film festivals, on new media platforms and in academic publications. His most recent film, Making Montgomery Clift (2018), looks at the life and legacy of his uncle, classic Hollywood movie star and queer icon Montgomery Clift. Produced and directed with Hillary Demmon, the film has played at more than 40 national and international festivals, received a Silver Award for Best Documentary Feature from the University Film and Video Association (UFVA), and was released commercially by The Orchard/1091 Media in 2019. His writing on Sacha Baron Cohen’s theatrical feature Borat (2006) was published by Routledge as part of the anthology Cine-Ethics: Ethical Dimensions of Film Theory, Practice and Spectatorship (2013).

Selected Reviews

Schulman, Michael. “Making Montgomery Clift Is a Fascinating Study of the Ethics of Biography,” The New Yorker, Jan. 23, 2020
Bordwell, David. “Wisconsin Film Festival: Not docudramas, but docus as dramas,” Observations on film art, April 13, 2019
Burns, Chase. “Finally, Someone Gets Montgomery Clift’s Biography Right,” The Stranger, Oct. 11, 2018
Linden, Sheri. “Making Montgomery Clift: Film Review - LAFF 2018,” The Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 24, 2018
Ring, Trudy. “New Documentary Shows Another Side to Montgomery Clift,” The Advocate, Sept. 22, 2018
Stuever, Hank. “‘Blacking Up’: Whose hue in hip-hop?” The Washington Post, Jan. 30, 2010