U. Roberto Romano (1956-2013), also known as Robin Romano, was an American documentary filmmaker,

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

and

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. He is known for directing '' Stolen Childhoods'' (2005), ''

The Dark Side of Chocolate ''The Dark Side of Chocolate'' is a 2010 documentary film about the exploitation and slavetrading of African children to harvest chocolate still occurring nearly ten years after the cocoa industry pledged to end it. Background Cocoa plantation ...

'' (2010) and '' The Harvest/La Cosecha'' (2010) and for campaigning against exploitative labor practices. In addition to filmmaking, Romano's photography documented child and migrant labor worldwide. The Romano archives are housed at the

Thomas J. Dodd Research Center The Dodd Center for Human Rights (formerly the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center) is a University of Connecticut center which supports programming, educational initiatives, and events dedicated to the theme of human rights. The Dodd Center also houses ...

at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

Life

Romano was born in New York City in 1956. His father was the portrait painter and

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

muralist Umberto Romano (died September 27, 1982); his mother was Clorinda Corcia. Romano Sr. was born in Bracigliano, near Salerno, Italy, and migrated to the United States at the age of 9 with his parents. Romano Jr. attended the

Lycée Français de New York The Lycée Français de New York (LFNY), commonly called the Lycée (in English, "The French High School of New York"), is an independent bilingual French school serving an international community of students from Nursery-3 to twelfth grade based ...

Allen-Stevenson School Allen-Stevenson is a private boys school for kindergarten through 8th grade in New York City, New York. It opened in 1883 and moved to its present location at 132 East 78th Street in 1924. History The Allen School was founded in 1883 by Fran ...

and Horace Mann High School. He graduated from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

as an Interdisciplinary Scholar in 1980. Romano began his filmmaking career as a producer and cameraman for Les Productions de Sagittaire in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. He died at his home of complications related to

Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a vector-borne disease caused by the ''Borrelia'' bacterium, which is spread by ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. The most common sign of infection is an expanding red rash, known as erythema migran ...

Career

Filmmaking

Romano's filmmaking documented child labor in rug manufacturing in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, migrant farm labor in the United States and Mexico, and the cocoa industry in the Ivory Coast. He contributed to CNN,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

, NPR,

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and European broadcasts on

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and child labor. ''Stolen Childhoods'' was the first theatrically released feature documentary on global child labor. ''The Harvest'' was executive produced by the actor

Eva Longoria Eva Jacqueline Longoria Bastón ( Longoria; March 15, 1975) is an American actress, producer, and director. After a number of guest roles on several television series, she was recognized for her portrayal of Isabella Braña on the CBS daytime ...

and was premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in November 2010. Romano's documentaries won several awards. ''The Harvest'' received the Audience Award at the Festival Internazationale di Cinema in

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(2012), the Special Achievement Award at the ALMA Awards (2011), the Outstanding Filmmaker Award at the

San Antonio Film Festival The SAFILM – San Antonio Film Festival was founded in 1994 by Adam Rocha as a video festival, which sported a logo of a naughty-looking angel. It was later renamed the San Antonio Underground Film Festival and then finally the SAFILM – San An ...

(2011) and the Conflict and Resolution Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival (2009). ''The Dark Side of Chocolate'' won the Grand Prize at the Festival Internazationale di Cinema (2011) and was a Cinema for Peace finalist at the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

(2012).

Photography

Romano's still photography exhibit, "Stolen Childhoods: The Global Plague of Child Labor", was on view at the

William Benton Museum of Art The William Benton Museum of Art is a public fine arts museum located on the University of Connecticut's main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, US. The Benton houses a permanent collection of over 6,500 artistic works and hosts special exhibitions, c ...

in 2006 and his "

Faces of Freedom The "Faces of Freedom" photo exhibition is a collection of photographs captured by photo-journalist, filmmaker and human rights educator U. Roberto (Robin) Romano, during his travels to India, Nepal and Pakistan. Romano explores the exploitation o ...

" collection was featured on the CNN Freedom Project in 2011. His work has been used by the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

, the Global March Against Child Labor,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, the International Labor Organization,

The Hunger Project The Hunger Project (THP), founded in 1977 with the stated goal of ending world hunger in 25 years, is an organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. It has ongoing programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where it implemen ...

International Labor Rights Forum The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., U.S., that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world." ILRF, formerly the "International La ...

, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and Antislavery International. In 2015, Romano's total body of work, including his research files, video master tapes and digital files, hundreds of interviews, thousands of digital photos and prints and research files, was donated to the

Archives and Special Collections. The gift was made by Len Morris, Romano's friend and collaborator for over 30 years.

Activism

Due to his efforts to raise the profile of child labor in global consciousness, Romano was invited to speak at many conventions, conferences and universities. He gave the Frank Porter Graham Lecture at the Johnson Center for Academic Excellence,

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which rou ...

, and the Gene and Georgia Mittelman Distinguished Lecture in the Arts at the University of Connecticut. In 2007, he addressed the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs annual conference in Coeur d'Alene. In 2010, he visited

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

to screen scenes from his film ''The Harvest'', which documented migrant child labor on American farms. Romano lobbied Congress for the passage of the

Children's Act for Responsible Employment ''Children's Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act)'' is a United States bill that would address the labor conditions of child field workers by imposing the same age, work hour, and pesticide exposure limits as other occupations and increasing t ...

(CARE Act, HR 3564), first proposed in 2009 by

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics *Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people *House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities *Legislator, someon ...

Lucille Roybal-Allard, aimed at strengthening protections for children working in the

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

industry.

Filmography

* '' Globalization and Human Rights (PBS film)'' (1998) * '' Stolen Childhoods'' (2005) * ''

'' (2010) * '' The Harvest/La Cosecha'' (2010) * '' Death of a Slave Boy''

References

External links

*
Finding aid: U. Roberto (Robin) Romano Papers, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut

Photo collection: U. Roberto (Robin) Romano Papers, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romano, Robin American documentary filmmakers American human rights activists American photographers Film directors from New York City 1958 births 2013 deaths