Actor, director, screenwriter, producer and musician Tim Robbins, who won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his performance in Mystic River (2003) and who was nominated for a best director Oscar for Dead Man Walking (1995) will be honored at this year’s 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival with the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema.
Thanks to his family background, Tim Robbins had contact with the world of art from an early age. He began his acting career at theaters in New York, and after completing his education he worked as an actor and director with the experimental theatre ensemble The Actor’s Gang, which under his guidance earned widespread audience acclaim and more than a hundred critics’ awards.
After appearing in several smaller film and television roles, Robbins gained more widespread attention thanks to his part in director Ron Shelton’s sports film Bull Durham (1988). Proof that Robbins was an actor of great promise came with his performance in the drama Jacob ’s Ladder (1990). A decisive moment in his acting career was his collaboration with the outstanding director Robert Altman – Robbins’ appearance in the main role in Altman’s The Player (1992) earned him a Golden Globe and the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.
That same year, Robbins showed that he was a multifaceted auteur by filming his directorial debut Bob Roberts (1992) according to his own screenplay. Besides appearing in the title role, he also wrote (in collaboration with his brother David) the music for the film and even sang many of the songs himself.
Soon thereafter, Robbins again joined with Robert Altman to shoot Short Cuts (1993). The ensemble cast won a Special Golden Globe and also took home the Volpi Cup from the Venice Film Festival.
There followed appearances in the Coen brothers’ The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), another outing with Robert Altman (the comedy from the world of fashion Prêt-à-Porter, 1994), and his work with Frank Darabont on The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which was nominated for seven Oscars.
Also around this time, Robbins successfully continued with his work as director and screenwriter. Dead Man Walking (1996) earned him an Oscar nomination for best director, while Susan Sarandon won an Oscar for best actress. His next auteur outing, Cradle Will Rock (1999), which premiered at Cannes, explored the relationship between the individual artist and society during a tumultuous time in the U.S. though this time in another era. As with Dead Man Walking, Robbins produced, and the music was written by his brother David.
After Stephen Frears’s romantic comedy High Fidelity (2000) and Michel Gondry’s bizarre Human Nature (2001) – the latter of which was based on a script by Charlie Kaufman – Robbins appeared in one of his most successful roles in Clint Eastwood’s crime drama Mystic River (2004), for which both Robbins and lead actor Sean Penn won an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Recently Robbins has been seen in Marjorie Prime (2017) and HBOs The Brink (2016) and Here And Now (2018).
At the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Tim Robbins will present his two auteur films Bob Roberts and Cradle Will Rock. In addition, he will appear on stage for a special concert performance by Tim Robbins and The Rogues Gallery Band.
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