Ms. Rotondi is an archival film, photo, network news, headlines & articles researcher with 25+ 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 for HBO’s documentary BAND OF BROTHERS: WE STAND ALONE TOGETHER (2001) to the documentaries OUR NIXON (2013), TEENAGE (2013), MAKING THE BOYS (2011), and Academy Award-nominated documentaries REGRET TO INFORM (1999) and INSIDE JOB (2010) among others. INSIDE JOB by Charles Ferguson was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2011.

“We couldn’t find hundreds of hours of archival footage by ourselves. Our Lead Archival Researcher Rosemary Rotondi, and a team of researchers obsessively scoured the world for images and footage of youth from 1900 through the end of World War II.”
Matt Wolf, director of TEENAGE,
in his director's diary on the making of the film

“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

On September 27, 2011, Rosemary presented and discussed her work and career with Crayton Robey at the New York Film Academy. She was chosen as the first honoree in the “Unsung Heroes of Documentary” series organized by The Doc Tank.

Rosemary served as lead researcher on Matt Wolf's documentary TEENAGE, which recently premiered in The Tribeca Film Festival 2013. A shorter video based on the film's ideas, THE ROLE OF YOUTH, was featured in The New York Times Op-Doc multimedia page on December 5, 2011.
nytimes.com/2011/12/05/opinion/the-role-of-youth
teenagefilm.com/archives/directors-diary/making-teenage/

Three documentaries on which Rosemary served as researcher premiered in April 2013 in The Tribeca Film Festival. Matt Wolf's TEENAGE; The Stevens Company's HERBLOCK: THE BLACK AND WHITE and LET THE FIRE BURN by Jason Osder.
tribecafilm.com/filmguide

Rosemary also performed archival news and interview research for Penny Lane's documentary, OUR NIXON, produced with rediscovered Super 8 home movie footage filmed by the president’s closest aides. The film has been acquired by CNN FILMS and CINEDIGM and will be broadcast in August, 2013.
cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.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.