Robert Richardson: The White Devil

Robert Richardson: The White Devil

Australian Premiere.

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.

Director

Jana Hojdová

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

Q&A Screening

When: Sunday, 18 October

An extended Q&A moderated by SA's own acclaimed director Scott Hicks (Bob shot Hick's Snow Falling on Cedars, also nominated for an Academy Award).

Purchase Tickets

More to see...

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Burn bright enough and you’ll be remembered forever, no matter how tragically short your life is cut. Such was the fate of game-changing artist Jean-Michel Basquiat – friend of Madonna, Grace Jones, Debbie Harry, Keith Haring and Andy Warhol – who blazed an indelible trail before joining the infamous 27 Club. But when legend envelops your legacy, with Basquiat’s brilliantly bold works going for as much as US$110 million, the truth can get lost. Viridiana Lieberman and Quinn Whitney Wilson’s iridescent documentary sets the record straight.

Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)

Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)

Anna and Yo are unlikely friends with an unbreakable bond. When the pair first met, Yo was 73 and Anna 24. Through archival footage, interviews, puppets and insects, filmmaker and entomologist Anna Fitch with husband Banker White, create a joyous and artful celebration of friendship.

The Way You See Me

The Way You See Me

Filmed across a decade, this evolving self-portrait captures gender transition from the inside out, tracing a radical transformation from hyperfemininity towards defiant masculinity while confronting the forces of class, privilege and patriarchy within Mexico’s conservative upper-middle-class society.

The Way We Move

The Way We Move

A deaf person can feel music’s beat through their feet. Powerhouse Amber Galloway reckons the community deserves more. Join her bootcamp for ASL translators, teaching them to reveal the heart of a song beating between the lyrics, and the wordless highs and lows from classical music to EDM in this SXSW highlight.