James F. Robinson

TINSEL - The Lost Movie About Hollywood (2016)
Film by ZapPictures/White Lion Pictograph (Comedy, Documentary and Period Piece) Director "TINSEL - The Lost Movie About Hollywood" is an outside-in, inside-out view of The Motion Picture Industry circa 1990, a film about fame in general and the love of movies in particular. Lost since 1990, the film is part road-trip (featuring interviews with people obsessed with movies or longing to get in the business across America) and part insider look at the industry, including the 1990 Academy Awards and behind the scenes at the 90's promotional machine that was "Entertainment Tonight". This insider-outside combination is interspersed and illuminated by scenes from classic Hollywood films that provide a kind of omnipotent narration to the movie. This feature documentary by James F. Robinson is currently being resurrected with additional scenes & commentary (a work in progress). The film features Martin Landau, Beau Bridges, Art Buchwald, Rob Cohen (FAST AND FURIOUS), Phil Alden Robinson (FIELD OF DREAMS), Dan Petrie Jr. (BEVERLY HILLS COP), Linda Obst (SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE), Peter McCarthy (SID AND NANCY), Kevin Jarre (RAMBO), Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (ED WOOD) and Oscar Saul (A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE). A melancholy and affectionate documentary about the global obsession with motion pictures,"TINSEL - The Lost Movie About Hollywood" is a film never shown publicly and lost for 25 years. The film is reconstructed from a single 3/4 inch videotape that was assumed lost due to a film laboratory bankruptcy and closure. The loss of all the film negative and sound elements left the single video tape as the only known copy of the film. The film was completed in 1990 but never shown commercially or at any festival due to excessive licensing costs for the film clips which rendered the film commercially unviable. The changes in "Fair Use" laws since 1990 allows this film to finally be seen. Additional footage and scenes are being produced for the 2016 version. Currently in PostProduction.

DEATH BY POWERPOINT (2014 - 2016)
Theater by ZapPictures playwright, director What happens when everyone is relentlessly ambitious and "Special?" What happens when they compete on one stage to be the most effective "Thought Leader?" The Presentation Culture of TED Talks and corporate meeting rooms everywhere gets skewered in DEATH BY POWERPOINT, which premiered at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival. DEATH BY POWERPOINT features four professional thought-leaders who attempt to destroy "Cherished Beliefs" that 21st century moderns may hold dear as they compete for Money, Glory and PowerPoint Immortality. JFRobinson wrote and directed the play DEATH BY POWERPOINT which won the Encore! Producer's Award at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival. The play is expected to be restaged in an expanded form in Los Angeles in 2016.

STILL BREATHING (1997)
Film by ZAPPICTURES/White Lion Pictograph (Comedy, Drama, Fantasy and Romance) Writer, Director, Producer Two lost souls: she a con-artist in L.A.; he a puppeteer in San Antonio have the same dream linking each with the other. He travels to L.A. to find this woman he has become obsessed with. She resists, afraid of his kooky ideas until she travels with him to San Antonio and meets his wise grandmother. Story of two disparate people linked by "fate" gets increasingly interesting as it rolls along. (IMDB) STILL BREATHING stars Brendan Fraser, Joanna Going, Lou Rawls, Ann Magnuson and Oscar® winner Celeste Holm. STILL BREATHING won the best actor award at the Seattle Film Festival for Mr. Fraser and Robinson was nominated for the Grand Prix des Amériques at the Montreal Film Festival. The film was distributed theatrically in the US by October Films and internationally via Paramount Pictures and The Walt Disney Company and many other regional distributors. The soundtrack was distributed by Will Records. STILL BREATHING was chosen by Blockbuster Films to launch their “Only at Blockbuster” exclusive video series and has been seen on HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, The Sundance Channel, The Movie Channel, Independent Film Channel, ABC Family Channel, American Movie Classics and Bravo.

The Estate Sale (1988)
Film Director

Miracle of Taxila (1983)
Film Director

ACTRESS Art House ⋄ Comedy A veteran Hollywood actress cuts the bonds of reality and disappears into the lives of fictional characters she creates on an extended road trip to nowhere.

DANCE MAN Art House ⋄ Comedy ⋄ Romance DANCE MAN is a broad comedy with dance elements, a kind of modern, indie exploration of the 1930’s dance film aesthetic, with a slight WIZARD OF OZ vibe.