We first meet Robert King in 1993, he’s a precocious 23-year-old, for whom the biggest problem in war-torn Sarajevo is his inability to sell his news photos. From this auspicious start, King develops into one of the world’s premiere war photogs; his graphic work (and it is graphic) in warzones like Albania, Rwanda, and Kosovo graces international newspapers and magazines. But while his lens brings clarity to chaos, the conflict within King still writhes. Assembled from nerve-rattling documentary footage spanning back 15 years, director Richard Parry (who shot much of the Sarajevo footage) reveals a moving, haunting, and blackly comic window into the dark heart of human conflict, both internal and external. Or “post traumatic stress syndrome on acid,” as King calls it. “The wars didn’t fuck me up – I was fucked up before I even went,” he says. “That’s why I was so good at it.”
Monday, March 16, 12pm, Alamo Ritz; Wednesday, March 18, 4:30pm, ACC
This article appears in March 13 • 2009.