The Featherweight

With director Robert Kolodny in person 

Encore screening added for March 23 at 5:30 p.m. with director of photography Adam Kolodny and screenwriter Steve Loff in person.

Dir. Robert Kolodny. U.S. 2023, 99 mins. DCP. With James Madio, Ruby Wolf, Keir Gilchrist, Ron Livingston, Stephen Lang, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Shari Albert, Imma Aiello. The pride of Hartford, Connecticut, featherweight boxer Willie Pep (Madio) was the winningest fighter of all time, prevailing in 229 of 241 bouts. But by the mid-1960s, the fortysomething Pep’s star has dimmed. He’s running low on money and prospects, and his young wife, an aspiring actress (Wolf), has grown restless. Despite his advanced age and the protestations of his longtime trainer (Lang), Pep decides to return to the ring—and let a documentary crew chronicle his journey. Robert Kolodny’s debut feature assumes the perspective of that documentary, which, though it’s a fictional conceit within the otherwise factually based story of Pep, is doggedly realized as if it were an actual archival document. Imagine a lost feature by the Maysles Brothers or Ricky Leacock, filmed right when they might have consorted with a colorful and tragic character like Pep, and you’ve got The Featherweight, a film that’s jaw-droppingly uncanny, while also packing an emotional wallop thanks to a career-defining performance by character actor Madio.  New York City premiere  

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership

Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.

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About the filmmaker:

Robert Kolodny is a director, writer, and cinematographer based in New York City. His feature film directorial debut, The Featherweight (2023), will premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. As a cinematographer, Robert has worked on films by Josh and Benny Safdie, Alex Ross Perry, Robert Greene, Laura Poitras, Sean Price Williams, David Byrne, Taylor Mac, and Cecilia Vicuña. Robert contributed cinematography to Film All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022), which won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar. Robert served as director of photography on Procession (2021), for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lighting Direction. His 2013 short film Fly on Out screened in the Court Métrage at the Cannes Film Festival. His direction of the TV series Frankie Cooks earned him a New York Emmy Award in 2013.