Richard Ron Cramer (May 5, 1957 – June 29, 2021) was an American film producer, film director, screenwriter, artist and composer. Born in Bismarck, North Dakota, Cramer lived and work in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. During the 1980s he produced

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

paintings, video installations and played

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

in several

rock bands A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

, most notably Alarming Trends, the subject and title of his first film (1987). Cramer's musical compositions included an award-winning score for the

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

sci-fi classic Metropolis (1927 film). As a director, Cramer gained national attention with his film '' Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend'', a 1991

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

which was named "Best Drive-In Movie of the Year" by cult critic

Joe Bob Briggs John Irving Bloom (born January 27, 1953), known by the stage name Joe Bob Briggs, is an American syndicated film critic, writer, actor, and comic performer. He is known for having hosted ''Joe Bob's Drive-in Theater'' on The Movie Channel fr ...

. Cramer's first

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

was '' Highway Amazon'' (2001), which told the story of Christine Fetzer, a female body builder who travels the country wrestling men in hotel rooms. The film was named Best Documentary at the Humboldt Film Festival and won other similar awards. Cramer's

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

piece ''Pillow Girl'' combined traditional film techniques with

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

imagery and experimental music. It was screened at over 150

film festivals A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

worldwide and was named "Best Experimental Work" at several events, including the

Miami Short Film Festival The Miami Short Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Mi ...

, the Route 66 Film Festival, and the Big Muddy Film Festival at

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

. Cramer's other work includes the experimental films ''Cantata in C Major'', ''Mugs'', ''Sixty in 60'', ''September Sketch Book'', and ''Icons''. Cramer died in Denver on June 29, 2021; he was 64. He was survived by his mother, wife, and children. No service was held.

Filmography

*''The Chair'' (2020) *''Icons'' (2018) *''September Sketch Book'' (2014) *''Living Canvas'' (2012) *''Sixty in 60'' (2011) *''Mugs'' (2008) *''Cantata in C Major'' (2007) *''Pillow Girl'' (2004) *''30 Miles'' (2003) *'' Highway Amazon'' (2001) *''The Hitler Tapes'' (1994) *'' Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend'' (1991) *''Back Street Jane'' (1989) *''Alarming Trends'' (1987)

Awards

The Chair *Best Animation, Indie Short Fest (2021) *Best Animation, Kateye International Film Festival (2021) *Best Animation Film, River Atreyee International Film Festival (2021) *Best Animated Film, Silk Road Film Awards (2021) *Best Animated Film, Cineville Calcutta Global Cinefest (2021) *Best Experimental Animation, Great Asian World Cinema (2021) *Best Animation, Falcon International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animation, White Deer Film Festival (2020) *Platinum Award for Animation, Mindfield Albuquerque (2020) *Best Animated Film, Prague International Monthly Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Film, Rosebud International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Film, Druk International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animation, Varese International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Film, Panjim International Film Festival (2020) *Outstanding Animated Film, Holy Grail International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Film, Aasha International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Film, Buzz Vicious Film Festival (2020) *Winner for Animation, La Dolce Vita Cine Roma (2020) *Gold Award for Animated Film, Virgin Spring Cinefest (2020) *Best New Media, Chico Independent Film Festival (2020) *Best International Animated Short, Port Blair International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Short, Global Film Festival Awards (2020) *Best Animated Short, Top Indie Film Awards (2020) *Best Animation, Madrid Kame Film Festival (2020) *Best Animation, CEBU International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Film, Teknochat Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Film, Art Independent International Film Festival (2020) *Best Animated Short Film, International Film Festival of Andaman and Nicobar (2020) *Best Indie Animation, Best Indie Film Awards (2020) Icons *Best Short Film, Logcinema Art Films (2018) *Best Animated Short, Independent Shorts Awards (2018) *Best Animated Film, Feodosiya International Film Festival (2018) *Best Animated Short Film, South Film and Arts Academy Festival (2018) *Best Animation, Motion Pictures International Film Festival (2018) *Best Animated Short, Fayetteville Film Fest (2018) *Best Animated Short, Global Film Festival Awards (2018) *Best Animated Film, Shahu International Short Film Festival (2019) *Best Animated Film, Mahul Woods International Film Festival (2019) *Best Animated Film, ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival (2019) September Sketch Book *Best Animated Film, Colony Short Film Festival (2016) *Best Animation, North Wales Film Festival (2016) *Best Animation, Colorado Film Awards (2016) *Best Short Animation, Wolves Film Awards Lithuania (2016) *Best Animation, ReelheART International Film Festival (2016) *Gold Award, International Movie Awards (2014) *Gold Award for Short Film, International Film & Photography Festival (2014) *Orson Welles Award for Animation, California Film Awards (2014) *Gold Award for Experimental Film, Oregon Film Awards (2015) *Award of Excellence, Noida International Film Festival (2015) Living Canvas *Best Experimental Film, Great Lakes International Film Festival (2013) Sixty in 60 *Gold Award for Documentary, California Film Awards (2012) *Best Mockumentary, Mountain Film Awards (2012) *Silver Reel Award for Documentary, Nevada Film Festival (2011) *First Place for Experimental Feature, The Indie Gathering (2011) *Gold Medal for Excellence, Park City Film Music Festival (2011) *Best Production Design for an Experimental Film, Los Angeles International Film Festival (2011) *Best Editing for an Experimental Film, Los Angeles International Film Festival (2011) *Merit Award for Experimental Film, Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood (2011) Mugs *Best Experimental Film, Da Vinci Film Festival (2012) *Northern Lights Emerging Talent Award, Alaska International Film Festival (2011) *Golden Reel Award, Nevada Film Festival (2010) *Experimental Film Honors, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects, Los Angeles Reel Film Festival (2010) *John Muir Award for Animation, Yosemite Film Festival (2010) *Experimental Gold Short Award, JamFest (2010) *Platinum Award, American Pixel Academy (2010) *Best Digital Film, San Francisco Frozen Film Festival (2009) *Gold Kahuna Award, Honolulu International Film Festival (2009) *Best Independent Experimental Work, Carolina Film and Video Festival (2008) *Final Cut Award, Lake Havasu International Film Festival (2008) Cantata in C Major *Best Art/Experimental Film, Blue Ridge Film and Music Festival (2012) *Best Historic Documentary, American International Film Festival (2011) *Audience Award for Music/Comedy, Film Festival of Hendricks County (2011) *Golden Reel Award, Nevada Film Festival (2010) *Best Experimental Film, Route 66 Film Festival (2009) *Silver Palm Award, Mexico International Film Festival (2009) *Aloha Accolade Award, Honolulu International Film Festival (2009) *James W. Johnson Award, Flatland Film Festival (2008) *Juror's Award, River's Edge Film Festival (2008) Pillow Girl *Best Experimental Film, Route 66 Film Festival (2011) *James W. Johnson Award, Flatland Film Festival (2007) *First Place for Animation, Iowa City International Film Festival (2007) *Audience Award Winner for Best Animation, Buffalo Niagara Film Festival (2007) *Best Experimental Work, Big Muddy Film Festival (2007) *Best Experimental Animation, Trail Dance Film Festival (2007) *Special Jury Award, Portland International Short Short Film Festival (2006) *Award Recipient for Experimental Film, Indie Gathering (2006) *Best Experimental Film, Golden Star Shorts Fest (2006) *Best Animated Short, Denver Underground Film Festival (2004) *Best Experimental Film,

(2004) *Best Experimental Film, Coney Island Film Festival (2004) 30 Miles *Best Short Documentary, Delta International Film and Video Festival (2013) *Concept Award, Filmstock UK (2004) Highway Amazon *Best Short Documentary, Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival (2012) *Silver Sierra Award, Yosemite International Film Festival (2011) *Aloha Accolade Award, Honolulu Film Awards (2011) *Best Documentary,

(2004) *Best Documentary—Experimental Genre, New York International Independent Film Festival (2002)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cramer, Ronnie 1957 births 2021 deaths American film directors American screenwriters American film producers People from Bismarck, North Dakota