Charlie and the Rocket Man

Synopsis

What does a 93-year-old Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning producer have in common with a rocket pioneer who died before anyone knew his name? Charlie Grinker is still dreaming up new work — legally blind, living in assisted care, and nowhere near done. His daughter Lori Grinker’s film centers on the story Charlie keeps coming back to — that of Robert Goddard, rocket pioneer, Charlie’s long-time hero, and one of the most important figures of the 20th century. Most people have never heard of Robert Goddard.

What they share is the refusal to stop. Charlie and the Rocket Man is a celebration of passion, of aging with enthusiasm, of reaching toward the next idea at any age. As Goddard said, “...no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning.”

Credits/Bios

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR:  For decades Lori Grinker has worked in close proximity to other people’s lives — documenting war and people facing extraordinary circumstances — and of late, turning her lens on stories close to home.

A photographer, filmmaker, author, and educator, her books include Mike Tyson (powerHouse Books, 2022), Afterwar: Veterans from a World in Conflict (de.MO, 2005), and The Invisible Thread (Jewish Publication Society, 1989). Her photographs are held in museum and private collections worldwide.

Her recent work turns toward her own family: Six Days from Forty weaves photographs, text, and video around grief, queer identity, and AIDS; All the Little Things documents her mother’s final year of dementia and caregiving during COVID-19. Charlie and the Rocket Man is her first independent documentary short.

Grinker is an Assistant Professor of Journalism + Design at The New School, holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is represented by CLAMP Gallery, New York. Her editorial photography is represented by Contact Press Images. She is based in the Hudson Valley and New York City.