TORONTO — An Oscar-winning Toronto director who credits Robbie Robertson with helping to launch his career remembered the legendary singer-songwriter as a risk-taker and musical talent who “created a bridge across time.”
Daniel Roher says he felt a great loss upon learning the gravelly voiced rocker died Wednesday in Los Angeles. Robertson was 80.
Before he won an Oscar in March for “Navalny,” a portrait of Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny, Roher wrote and directed "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson And The Band.”
The documentary, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, traces the formation of one of the most enduring groups in popular music, including interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Martin Scorsese and Peter Gabriel.
Roher says he was an unknown filmmaker when Robertson gave him his big shot, mirroring the way rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins gave Robertson his big shot at age 16 and unleashed a musical talent whose blended influences would help reshape Americana.
Roher says those influences included strong ties to the Indigenous community of Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford, Ont., where Robertson's mother was raised and where Robertson learned to play guitar.
"The first chords he ever learned were his relatives on Six Nations and it clearly had a long-lasting impression on his life," Roher said Wednesday.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to the southern Ontario community to support a new Woodland Cultural Centre.
Roher said Robertson was a champion of Indigenous communities across North America.
“When no one was interested in talking about Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous rights, Indigenous sovereignty, Robbie Robertson was beating that drum. He was someone who was sort of on the forefront, who always took on projects that he found interesting, that had some sort of Indigenous slant or perspective," he said, noting that includes Scorsese's upcoming film, "Killers of the Flower Moon," for which Robertson worked on the soundtrack.
Roher described Robertson’s music and artistry as universal, with timeless appeal.
“It's like you've never heard anything like them before and they sounded completely brand new but yet familiar. He had that quality. His sound created a bridge across time."
He said he'll forever be grateful that Robertson entrusted him with making the documentary, inspired by Robertson's 2016 memoir, “Testimony.”
“He gave me a chance and opportunity and took a risk on me," Roher said.
“I owe him a great debt and I'm thinking about him tonight. And I'm going to be listening to 'Music From Big Pink' all evening."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.
Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press
