From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Robert Kenner is an American film and television screenwriter, television director, film director, film producer, and television producer. His career began in 1971 as an assistant cinematographer, and produced his first motion picture, 3:15 - The Moment of Truth, in 1984 (although it was not released until 1986). His second feature film did not come until 1991's Lonely Hearts. His first breakout project was the televised documentary The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal, which he produced for the National Geographic Society and which aired in 1993 on PBS. The following year, he directed and produced Russia's Last Tsar for National Geographic and PBS. He also directed and produced America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Good-bye in 1996. The International Documentary Association presented the picture with the Strand Award for Best Documentary. Kenner began a long association with the award-winning PBS documentary television program American Experience in 1998. That year he directed and produced the widely reviewed Influenza, 1918 (about the 1918 flu pandemic)and followed it up with John Brown's Holy War (about abolitionist John Brown) in 2001. His first documentary which he wrote, directed and produced was War Letters, which aired on American Experience in 2001. The documentary is based on the 2001 New York Times best-selling book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars by historian Andrew Carroll. He produced the episode, "The Road to Memphis," for the 2003 PBS documentary series, The Blues, and in 2005 produced and directed the Vietnam War documentary, Two Days in October. The documentary was the season premiere of American Experience. The film, which is based on David Maraniss' book They Marched into Sunlight, looks at the parallels between a Viet Cong ambush of a U.S. Army patrol (and the subsequent cover-up of the loss by the American military) and a violent clash between police and student protesters at the University of Wisconsin–Madison—events which occurred 24 hours apart in October 1967. The episode was nominated for and won the award for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking at the 2006 Emmy Awards. In 2008, Kenner produced and directed the documentary film, Food, Inc., which examines large-scale agricultural food production in the United States, concluding that the meat and vegetables produced by this type of economic enterprise leads to inexpensive but environmentally harmful and unhealthy food. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Kenner, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- California, USA
- Director, producer and writer
- 8 on MovieCove · 20 credits in all
What are Robert Kenner's films like?
Across their 7 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Power.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 6
Light 0 · Serious 0 · Dark 6
Grounded 6 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 4 · Intense 2
Steady 4 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 6 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 4 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 2
Easy watch 2 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 2
Resolved 5 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet3
- Ambiguous3
- Other1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Robert Kenner's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 5 of their 8 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Robert Kenner's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
20 credits, 8 with a MovieCove page.
Food, Inc. 2(2023)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films
The Confession Killer(2019)
Midcredits score: 69th percentile of all shows
Command and Control(2016)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
Merchants of Doubt(2014)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
When Strangers Click: Five Stories from the Internet (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
Food, Inc.(2008)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all filmsTwo Days in October (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)
The Blues (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
The Road to Memphis (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
John Brown's Holy War (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)
Influenza 1918 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Good-bye (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Jerusalem: City of Heaven (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)
National Geographic: The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)
Lonely Hearts (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1991)
American Experience(1988)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all shows
Point of View (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1988)
Blue City(1986)
Midcredits score: 6th percentile of all films
3:15 the Moment of Truth(1986)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
A Dancer's Life (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1972)
Career shape
A full career of 20 titles from 1972 to 2024.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
a Primetime Emmy and 1 other major award from 6 major nominations, 2006–2017.
- Writers Guild Award, won · Best Documentary Screenplay
- Producers Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures
- Oscar, nominated · Best Documentary, Features
+2 other major bodies · 2 nominations
- Directors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
- Independent Spirit Award, nominated · Best Documentary
- Primetime Emmy, won · Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Robert Kenner's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 80th percentile, the median of all 6; across their 6 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 78th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up4
- 50th to 74th2
- 25th to 49th1
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
3 of their 8 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved2
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Mixed3
Reviewers score the atmosphere 61/100 and the pacing 62/100 in their films, across 6 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Robert Kenner work with?
People who share at least 2 of Robert Kenner's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Jay Redmond shares the most, 5.
Writers
- Kim RobertsShared titles: The Confession Killer (2019), Command and Control (2016), Merchants of Doubt (2014), Food, Inc. (2008)See all 4 shared titles with Kim Roberts
Actors
- Eric SchlosserShared titles: Food, Inc. 2 (2023), Command and Control (2016), Food, Inc. (2008)See all 3 shared titles with Eric Schlosser
- Michael PollanShared titles: Food, Inc. 2 (2023), Food, Inc. (2008)See all 2 shared titles with Michael Pollan
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Jay RedmondShared titles: Food, Inc. 2 (2023), The Confession Killer (2019), Command and Control (2016), Merchants of Doubt (2014), Food, Inc. (2008)See all 5 shared titles with Jay Redmond
- Mark AdlerShared titles: Food, Inc. 2 (2023), Command and Control (2016), Merchants of Doubt (2014), Food, Inc. (2008)See all 4 shared titles with Mark Adler
- Leonard FeinsteinShared titles: Food, Inc. 2 (2023), The Confession Killer (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Leonard Feinstein
Producers
- Melissa RobledoShared titles: Food, Inc. 2 (2023), The Confession Killer (2019), Command and Control (2016), Merchants of Doubt (2014), Food, Inc. (2008)See all 5 shared titles with Melissa Robledo
- Taki OldhamShared titles: The Confession Killer (2019), Command and Control (2016), Merchants of Doubt (2014)See all 3 shared titles with Taki Oldham
- Liz SheaShared titles: Food, Inc. 2 (2023), The Confession Killer (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Liz Shea
- Brian PearleShared titles: Command and Control (2016), Merchants of Doubt (2014)See all 2 shared titles with Brian Pearle