Robert Sarnoff
Films
Award-Winning Filmmaker: Television, International Film Festivals. Sarnoff's movies dig deep into buried recesses, exposing strengths, idiosyncrasies, oddities, courage, dreams of the underdog... All the lonely people living on the fringe, up close and personal. Spirited, Uplifting.
-
The Block [ 57 minutes ]
Pull into the driveway, knock on the door and chat with the likes of Marge and Homer Simpson, or Archie and Edith Bunker, each neighbor a piece of the block's grand mosaic.
This collection of gabfests, observations, morphs into a love letter to a surrogate family, warts and all. Despite differences of all stripes, the block solidifies as the monstrous ravages of nature's wrath in the form of Hurricane Sandy threaten its very existence.
-
Romeows [ 48 minutes ]
Spirit of Queens Filmmaker Award.
‘Older’ people are using Viagra, hooking up on Match.com, running marathons, flying planes and safely ditching them in the Hudson. Pull up a chair at this movable feast, break bread with this Brooklyn Band of Buddies who know each other for more than half a century as they break each other’s chops. Their generational perspective connects with "No Country for Old Men" and "Gran Torino" while repelling notions of "Grumpy Old Men" and "Bucket List".
“They never lost touch with their deeply humble, humane and humorous Brooklyn roots.”– Denis Hamill, New York Daily News
Press Links
- NY Times: Rockaways On Film: Salty Tales And Salt Air
- NY Times: Men Eating Out, and Filming It
- The Wall Street Journal: Chow With THE ROMEOWs
- NY Daily News: Full plate of memories for 50-year pals
- HUFF POST NY: The ROMEOWS Is Part Seinfeld, Part My Dinner With Andre
- The New York Times: Feeding on Memories
- VIMOOZ: ROMEOWS (Retired Older Men Eating Out Wednesdays)
-
No Rooms Lobby [ 19 minutes ]
Best Docudrama Award, Barebones International Film Festival.
Set in an S.R.O., we follow Charlie, living on the fringe, all the lonely people, as he struggles to maintain his dignity. “What does he do all day, that bum?” Security’s got to know. The quadrants of the hidden cameras capture his every move. Bicycling through rains, mowing lawns, fixing sinks, boilers, mopping floors, he manages to pay his rent with coins. “Out at 7:00 A.M. back at 7:00 P.M. Where does he get his money, that bum. He got no papers. We have to follow him one day.” “I got to get on the other side of the day’s work”, exhausted, Charlie sighs. He strums an original song that finishes with, “The more I see my fellow man, the more I love my dog.”
-
The Irish Ropes [ 30 minutes ]
Aired MSG. Once a cement box on the corner of Burchell Avenue and Nowhere in Far Rockaway, N.Y., now converted to a boxing gym, “The Irish Ropes” houses the dreams and aspirations of ten Golden Gloves aspirants. Travel the five boroughs with these inner-city ‘kids’ as they battle their way up and out of their circumstances for a chance to climb the four steps into the ring at Madison Square Garden. A middleweight titleholder, handsome, charismatic, Ireland’s John Duddy, emerges, capturing the hearts of New Yorkers.
-
Green [ 10 minutes ]
A close-up and personal look at the army of street people collecting bag-loads of cans and bottles. Gain access to their underground world as these ‘pickers’ bicycle and cart multi-colored mountains through congestive gridlocks and biting insults. Seeking redemption, a nickel at a time, all while saving the planet. A graphic image of the Pacific Gyre filled with plastics, sludge and debris, approximating the size of The Continental United States, punctuates the point. “I could bake you a five tier wedding cake, now I’m out of work….I’m not beggin’, I’m not borrowin’, I’m not stealing. I’m doing this to survive”, Richard emotes. “Survival of the fittest”, his partner adds. Think Studs Terkel Meets Dorothea Lange in “The Longest Day”
-
Dispatch [ 40 minutes ]
Buckle-up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. DISPATCH takes us on a front seat journey to an emergency room, a 3:00 A.M. livery cab ride through Rockaway’s hardscrabble streets, and a bank robbery. Marlboro dangling from his lip, cup of Lipton in one hand, cell phone and land-line pressed against his ear, Jim, the dispatcher smiles, “You sit here, you get a rush”.
