Never meet your heroes, they say. Czech filmmaker Jana Hojdová finds out the hard way in this behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life and work of hilariously gruff cinematographer Robert Richardson. Feared and revered in equal measure, Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino pay homage to his mercurial genius.

Robert Richardson: The White Devil
Robert Richardson: The White Devil
Australian Premiere.
Director
Runtime
105 Minutes
Country
Czech Republic, United States
Classification
Unclassified 15+
You know you’re in for a fire-cracking documentary about cinematographer Robert Richardson when infamously intense director Oliver Stone (JFK, Platoon, Natural Born Killers) reckons he’s hard to work with. Fellow cinematographer Jana Hojdová’s debut documentary feature profile of the man who shot all three of the above films plus Scorsese masterpieces Casino and The Aviator, then got in bed with Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill. Debuting at A-list Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, this film is brilliant and bonkers in equal measure, with a hint of AFF 2025 gem Megadoc from director Mike Figgis. It all started with an email Hojdová never expected Richardson to answer. But soon she was catapulted into his uniquely gifted but invariably cranky life - realising that his adulation for cinema comes at the exclusion of all else. With candid insights from the likes of Stone, Scorsese, Tarantino, Kate Hudson, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey Jr plus Richardson’s far-scattered family, this portrait of an incendiary artist pulls no punches. As Hudson puts it: “I’m sure you have to do a lot of psychedelics to see light the way he does.”
“Coloured by a palpable sense of filmmaker and subject building a friendship and a professional understanding in real time, this documentary’s intimacy feels hard-won, and entirely genuine.”
Variety
“This reverent, clear-eyed documentary is a cinephile treat.”
The Guardian
Karlovy Vary
Film Credits
Director
Jana Hojdová
Year
2026
Country
Czech Republic & United States
Language
Czech & English
Subtitles
English
Type
Feature Documentary
Program Strand
Films on Filmmaking
Producer
Matěj Chlupáček, Jana Hojdová, Nela Schlaichertová, Maja Hamplová & Francesca Kolowrat
Writer
Jana Hojdová, Giordano Bonora Groome & Elisa Bonora
Cinematographer
Jana Hojdová, Martin Votruba & Petr Hojda
Film Source
B Rated International
Genre
Cinephile & Documentary
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