ROBERT KRAMER’S *ICE* (1969). SOURCE: GARTENBERG MEDIA ENTERPRISES.

Filmmaking is a practice. Filmmaking could be anything — street-sweeping, window-washing, making pots, being a critic. That's your vehicle to move through your life with. There's no part of it that's not part of it: neither your negotiations with the festivals, how you feel about what hotel they put you in, nor who they send by train and who they send by plane. All of that's a part of that experience. —Robert Kramer, quoted for the Austrian Film Museum’s 2024 retrospective

From October 18th to November 28th, the Austrian Film Museum mounted a retrospective of the films of Robert Kramer. GME distributes eight films by Kramer, four of which — THE EDGE, ICE, GUNS, IN THE COUNTRY, and VIDEOLETTERS — were featured in the retrospective.

ROBERT KRAMER’S *GUNS* (1967). SOURCE: GARTENBERG MEDIA ENTERPRISES.

A filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor, Kramer directed 19 films between 1965 and 1999. During this time, he cemented his place as one of modern cinema’s most vital political cineastes, and was dubbed by Jonas Mekas “a filmmaker of the first magnitude.” A former community activist, a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and a founding member of The Newsreel collective, he documented the counterculture and protest movements during the 1960s at home, and on the front lines in North Vietnam. It was from the generation of ’60s activism that Kramer’s politically-trenchant approach to filmmaking emerged.

THE EDGE (1967) and ICE (1969) — which “form a definitive diptych on the temptations of terrorism and insurrection” — are available as DSL files and together in a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack accompanied by a 42-page bilingual booklet. GUNS (1967) — an exploration of the militant psyche and the first film Kramer made in France — is available as a DSL and DVD, with his short films NAISSANCE (1981) and LA PEUR (1983) included as bonus features. GME also distributes Kramer’s directorial debut IN THE COUNTRY (1966) as a DSL and Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, with VIDEOLETTERS (1992) included as a bonus feature on both the Blu-Ray and DVD, and Kramer’s TROUBLEMAKERS (1965) included as a bonus feature on the DVD only.

For more information about acquiring these titles for institutional use, please visit our ordering info page.