Ms. Rotondi is an archival film, photo, network news, headlines and articles researcher with 30+ years of experience. Ms. Rotondi believes at the heart of any successful documentary is solid research.

Rosemary works with local, nationwide and international archives. Her wide range of experience includes working as researcher on the documentaries:
 
AMERICAN MURDER: GABBY PETITO (2025) by Mike Gasparro and Julia Willougby Nason; ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO (2025) by Kevin MacDonald; LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL STALKED QUEER NEW YORK (2024) by Anthony Caronna; SAN JUAN HILL: Manhattan's Forgotten Neighborhood by Stanley Nelson; ATTICA, 2022 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Picture, by Stanley Nelson (2021); DREAMING WALLS: Inside the Chelsea Hotel by Amelie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier; BECOMING COUSTEAU by Liz Garbus (2021); RECORDER: The Marion Stokes Project (2019); OUR NIXON (2013); TEENAGE (2013); RISK (2017); BOSS: The Black Experience in Business (2019); DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD (2016); MAKING THE BOYS (2011); and Academy Award-nominated documentaries REGRET TO INFORM (1999); INSIDE JOB (2010); and CITIZENFOUR (2014) among others. INSIDE JOB by Charles Ferguson was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2011. CITIZENFOUR by Laura Poitras was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2015.

The Riverrun International Film Festival announced that this year's 2025 winner of their Master of Cinema Award will go to Rosemary Rotondi. The film festival takes place in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, NC, April 12-20, 2025.

Ms. Rotondi was nominated as 2022 Researcher of the Year by FOCAL International for Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry's ATTICA.

She also co-lectured the Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture on October 27, 2022, with filmmaker Stanley Nelson, who directed ATTICA.

focalint.org/news-and-events/events/the-jane-mercer-memorial-lecture-in-conversation-with-stanley-nelson

 

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

Available starting on February 17, 2025, NETFLIX:
AMERICAN MURDER: GABBY PETITO

Still available on MAX and HBO free on demand:
Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York

Still available on SHOWTIME free on demand:
ATTICA

Still available on HULU:
DREAMING WALLS: Inside the Chelsea Hotel

“The archival footage is the foundation of the film so before we even figured out what story we were going to tell, we started doing archival research and that process was led by an extraordinary researcher named Rosemary Rotondi and she worked with a team of researchers in Washington DC, Germany and England. And basically, we gave her a vast, expansive list of topics when we started working together and she returned an incredible amount of footage. From there, it gave us a sense of the scope of what we could cover - what periods we could cover, what storylines that were yielding results and then would refine that list and go further and get more material.”

Matt Wolf, director of TEENAGE,
Eye for Film, January 31, 2014 interview

“The archival riches, as well, cannot be overestimated
(crack New York-based archival researcher,
Rosemary Rotondi, really outdoes herself).”

BERLINALE ‘10 WRAP-UP’, a 2010 festival review

"Assiduous research ... also unearths some
amazing archival material."

The Village Voice, March 9, 2011 issue

"I also worked very closely with our chief archival researcher,
Rosemary Rotondi, who is first rate."

Crayton Robey, in an interview with
Nick Orlando's column, TalkinBroadway.com

[ See Resume ] [ View Highlights of Credits ]

Hiring an archival researcher is an
indispensable investment.

Experienced researchers add considerably to the quality of a documentary, film, commercial or video art tape. A skilled researcher is able to identify and evaluate imagery, better matching the visuals to your requirements. An adept, skilled researcher saves a client money and time.

An experienced researcher knows how to access sources more quickly. Just as important, researchers bring with them talents as visual assessors. Accurate research fleshes out a documentary, enriching it. One also avoids receiving prepackaged visual images, a system which accounts for the high incidence of documentaries sharing similar themes often utilizing the same archival footage.

Using an inexperienced intern or in-house assistant to do an experienced researcher's work can result in lower quality and less access to material due to lack of experience. This will have an impact on the entire production.The experienced archival researcher brings an individualized focus to your work in order to get you the best footage or photograph available, as quickly as possible, on deadline — and within your budget. Experienced researchers such as Ms. Rotondi also enjoy "preferred vendor" relationships with the archives with whom they work.

Be it for a historical or contemporary documentary, a skilled researcher is necessary and a worthy investment.