Robert Orlando

Robert Orlando (born November 22, 1964) is an American filmmaker, author, and media entrepreneur. His films range from animated shorts to full-length documentaries about subjects as varied as Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, General George Patton and St. Paul the Apostle. Critics have described him as an auteur and genre-buster because of his innovative approach to storytelling. He is best known for his film The Divine Plan: Reagan, John Paul II and the Dramatic End of the Cold War, which was screened at the White House and the Vatican.

Early life and education

Orlando was born in New York City to an Italian Catholic family. He was given his first movie camera at the age of 8, and a lifelong love affair with film began. “Movie-making came naturally to me,” he said. He attained his B.A in 1988, after attending the School of Visual Arts he studied scriptwriting, directing, editing, and film criticism. Inspired by his studies with renowned film critic Amy Taubin, he later went on to teach at courses on filmmaking and scriptwriting at his alma mater. Orlando's 1988 film debut, See Her Run, was chosen for the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival.

He has also been a longtime student of religious studies, first at St. John's University and Columbia University, and later at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he earned a Master of Theological Studies and is currently completing a second master’s degree in religion and society.

Career

His first professional experience was as a studio manager for Vision Interfaith Satellite Network. In 1995 he formed his own boutique multimedia company, Nexus Media, known for its innovative approach to messaging and visual styles that help major Fortune 100 companies define and convey their message. Clients have included American Express, IBM, and Johnson and Johnson.

In 2005, Princeton University commissioned Orlando to create a series of inspiring videos about its schools for its “Aspire” capital campaign. Using inventive new documentary forms, he produced four short films that told compelling stories about the university and its students. The campaign raised $1.88 billion dollars, making it the largest and most successful fundraising effort in Princeton’s history.

Meanwhile, Orlando continued to produce ground-breaking films. His first full-length breakthrough film in 2000 was the psychological drama Moment In Time. In 2013, he produced a film on St. Paul and the crisis in early church, Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe. The film and the accompanying book marked a shift for Orlando’s work, prompting him to found two non-profits in Princeton, NJ: the Pauline Institute, which supports ecumenical research through the lens of religious studies, and the Nexus Institute, which develops new talent along with producing TV, motion pictures, books and screenplays, along with award-winning documentaries and shorts. In 2023, he released The Shroud, a genre-busting true crime-style investigation of the controversial burial cloth of Jesus Christ through a dual lens of science and faith. Orlando describes the project as “a spiritual exploration of Marx as an alternative to Christianity.”

Recent films Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe (2013) Silence Patton (2018) The Divine Plan (2019) Citizen Trump/Trump's Rosebud (2022) Luminous Dusk (2019) To Hell With Karl Marx (in production) (2025) Surviving the Kultursmog (in production) (2026) Washington's Cross (pre-production) (2026) The China Trap: Is War Inevitable? (in development) (2028)

Books Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe, Cascade Books, 2014, ISBN 978-1-62564-972-0 The Divine Plan: Reagan, John Paul II and the Dramatic End of the Cold War, With Paul Kengor, ISI Books, 2019, ISBN 978-1-61017-154-0 The Tragedy of Patton: A Soldier's Date With Destiny Humanix Books, 2020, ISBN 978-1-630-06176-0 Citizen Trump: A One Man Show Post Hill Press distributed by Simon Schuster, 2021, ISBN 978-1-64293-916-3 The Shroud: Face to Face, Sophia InstitutePress, 2023, UPC 9798889110286 Karl Marx: The Divine Tragedy, TAN Books, 2026, ISBN 9781505135145 Washington's Cross, 2026