Robert Koenig (born July 9, 1975 in

Honesdale Honesdale is a borough in and the county seat of Wayne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough's population was 4,458 at the time of the 2020 census. Honesdale is located northeast of Scranton in a rural area that provides many recrea ...

, Pennsylvania, USA) is an American film director, producer, writer and editor. Koenig directed the documentary film " Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army", which won the 2008 Artivist Award for Child Advocacy and produced "Coexist", which was nominated for Best Documentary Film by the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA)
in 2011.

Early life

Robert Koenig grew up in Hawley, Pennsylvania and graduated from the

Wallenpaupack Area School District Wallenpaupack Area School District is a third-class school district in Pike and Wayne Counties in Pennsylvania. The district's population was 24,729 at the time of the 2010 United States Census. The district encompasses approximately . Acco ...

in 1993. Koenig attended the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

and

Pittsburgh Filmmakers Pittsburgh Filmmakers was one of the oldest and largest media arts centers in the United States, operating from 1971 to 2019. The non-profit institution in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania began as a filmmaking equipment access cooperative founded by cur ...

to study filmmaking; he graduated in 1998.

Early career

In 1999, Robert Koenig directed his first documentary, "The Wrestler's Second: The Story of Mongolia's Struggle with Yadargaa", in

Ulan Bator Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north cen ...

, Mongolia. The documentary follows a Mongolian man who is diagnosed with mysterious disease called Yadargaa. The film documents his attempts to find a cure while traveling through the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast an ...

. After Koenig returned from living

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

for most of 1999, he started working at

WCJB-TV WCJB-TV (channel 20) is a television station in Gainesville, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Northwest 43rd Street in Gainesville, and its transmitter is loc ...

in Gainesville, FL. During his time at

, he produced and edited the documentary style show "Police Beat" from 2000–2003. In 2003, Koenig moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia where he worked in public broadcasting, WPBA, and as a special projects producer for

WGCL-TV WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Television and is co-owned with independent station WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Cl ...

(CBS46) and

WXIA-TV WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). Both stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north en ...

(11 Alive). He was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for his work on the "

Georgia Aquarium Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It exhibits hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in more than of water. It was the largest aquarium in the wor ...

's Fun Fish Facts" series in 2007.

Documentary Films

In 2007, Robert Koenig teamed up with medical anthropologist,

Brandon Kohrt Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

to document the stories of several child soldiers who were associated with the

Unified Communist Party of Nepal The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN Maoist Centre, or CPN (MC), is the third largest political party in Nepal. It was founded in 1994 after breaking away from the Communist P ...

. " Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army" tells the personal story of Nepali boys and girls as they attempt to rebuild their lives after fighting a Maoist revolution. Through the voices of former child soldiers, the film examines why these children joined the Maoists and explores the prevention of future recruitment. In 2009, Koenig produced "Coexist" a documentary film that was shot in

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

and tells the stories of trauma survivors searching for ways to coexist with their loved ones' murderers. Koenig also served as Field Producer during production of "Coexist" in

and continued to serve as the story consultant while the documentary was in post-production. "Coexist" premiered in Boston in November 2010 and in March 2011, "Coexist" was nominated for Best Documentary Film by the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA). For the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, "Coexist" aired on PBS’s World Channel on April 16, 2014 and was reviewed by

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Philanthropy

In 2014, Robert Koenig along with Brandon Kohrt and Libby King MacFarlane founded HeartMind International, a public charity (501(c)(3)) with the mission to provide culturally-appropriate and sustainable mental health care to vulnerable populations. After the

April 2015 Nepal earthquake The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,964 people and injured 21,952 more. It occurred at on Saturday, 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8 Mw or 8.1 Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (''Extreme ...

, HeartMind International implemented its earthquake response plan by offering psychological first aid training for first responders, community health workers, and NGO workers through Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO-Nepal).

Filmography

Director/Writer/Producer

* '' Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army'' (2008) * ''The Wrestler's Second: The Story of Mongolia's Struggle with Yadargaa'' (2008) * '' Returned'' (2009)

Producer

*''Coexist'' (2009) *''People Will Talk TV'' (2013) *''Coexist'' (2014)

Bibliography

Robert Koenig has published articles and photos including: *''Child Soldiers'', Edited by Leora Kahn • (2008) *''Child Soldiers after War'', by Robert Koenig and Brandon Kohrt (published in Anthropology News, May 2009) *Koenig, R and Kohrt, B (2012). Black Water (safe water education; Nepal). In E Mendenhall and A Koon (Eds), "Environmental Health Narratives: A Reader for Youth" UNM Press 2012 • (2012) *''Heal Thy Neighbor'', by Bruce Bower, still images and captions by Robert Koenig (published in Science News, November 29, 2013) *Koenig, R, Kohrt, B and Kohrt, H (2015). Following the Money in Mongolia. In Gillian H. Ice; Darna L. Dufour And Nancy J. Stevens (Eds), "Disasters in Field Research "Atla Mira Press, division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2015 • (2015)

References

External links

*
HeartMind International Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army Coexist Adventure Production Pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koenig, Robert American male screenwriters American documentary filmmakers 1975 births Living people