Driven by a passion for cinema, world literature, and language from a young age, Rory A. Palmieri learned French in high school and eventually taught himself German and Latin. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature from Harvard University in 1976, graduating magna cum laude, after which he served as an English instructor on a university level, teaching classes in composition, film, and literature at Brown University from 1978 to 1983. During that time, he obtained a master’s degree and a PhD from Brown University, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on filmmaker Sam Peckinpah. Throughout these years he was a dedicated member of the Modern Language Association. He subsequently excelled as a translator and a reporter from 1985 to 1999 for the U.S. Department of Defense, where he collected, received, and scanned through foreign language materials coming in from various parts of the world and reported on pieces of information that interested various government agencies and the White House. He began adding languages to his repertoire, most of them self-taught, and worked in nine languages during his fourteen years with the federal government.
Dr. Palmieri later worked for close to a year as a translator on a secret government project as an employee of a private translating firm. In addition, for a few months he worked at the Cutting Corporation on Books for the Blind and Print Disabled, a Library of Congress project. Since 2003 he has been a self-employed translator, and he continues to teach himself new languages, now numbering seventeen. Reflecting on his career, he considers the most notable achievement so far to have been learning to read so many languages and using them in his government career to strengthen and safeguard his country.
In addition, Dr. Palmieri has established himself as an amateur filmmaker, having made one feature and two shorts in both 16mm and video, one of which—a horror film entitled “Redneck”—was broadcast on a local TV station in Washington, D.C. in his senior year of high school. In the 1990s, while working for the Department of Defense, he recruited people to make a feature-length documentary about a local bar and its free-form poetry nights; the final product was titled “The Poets from Planet X” and released in 1995. He has also written a few published articles and has been an extra in several Hollywood movie and tv productions.
Looking ahead, as Dr. Palmieri continues to pursue his three passions, he is combining them in a project that he hopes to be his next notable achievement: the first book in English on perhaps the greatest neglected film director in cinema history, to be entitled “Power and Revolution: Surveying and Tracking the Films of Miklós Jancsó.” It is based on extensive research in at least half a dozen foreign languages.
Dr. Palmieri is a noted expert on languages, literature, and film from around the globe
BOWIE, MD, August 15, 2024 — Rory A. Palmieri has been included in Marquis Who’s Who. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Renowned for his honesty, integrity and passion for his interests, Dr. Palmieri is a noted expert on languages, literature, and film from around the globe who has been driven by his desire to help others. He has harbored a lifelong interest in grammar, film and literature that stemmed from his childhood, as the exposure to two Kirk Douglas-starring films at a young age, “Lonely Are the Brave” and “Spartacus,” created his passion for cinema. Soon thereafter, he discovered a similar passion for classic American literature, which ultimately cemented his decision to dedicate his life to working in the field. After learning French in high school, where he was a member of the National Honor Society from 1970 to1972, Dr. Palmieri would subsequently learn 15 additional foreign languages, including German, Bulgarian, and even Old English, and has accrued five certifications since 1987 in these languages: Modern Greek, Serbo-Croatian, French, German, and Bulgarian.
Graduating from his high school as a Valedictorian in 1972, Dr. Palmieri’s passions would lead him to the hallowed halls of Harvard University, from which he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature, magna cum laude, in 1976. He would continue his academic efforts at the prestigious Brown University with a master’s degree in English language and literature in 1981. He concluded his formal studies at Brown University in 1984, obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy in English language and literature.
Dr. Palmieri began his career as an English teacher in 1978, lecturing on composition, film, and literature in classrooms at Brown University until 1983. He was affiliated with the Modern Language Association during this time. Soon thereafter, he worked as Production Manager for the ACME court reporting firm in Washington, D.C., for six months. His professional pursuits reached new heights when he became a translator and reporter for the U.S. Department of Defense, positions in which he excelled between 1985 and 1999. In these roles, Dr. Palmieri was responsible for reading information from abroad in nine different languages and creating reports based on pieces of this information which he believed were of interest to various government agencies and the White House.
Following his government service, he worked as a translator for a private contractor for almost a year. Then he worked for three months at another private firm on audio books for the blind, a Library of Congress project. Since 2002, he has worked as a self-employed translator of literary and scholarly books.
Beyond his primary responsibilities, Dr. Palmieri is perhaps most proud of his endeavors as an amateur filmmaker, having initially cut his teeth in the craft in the early 1970s by writing, directing, and starring in “Redneck,” a short 16mm horror film that caught the attention of a local television station, which broadcast it in 1972. While working for the federal government in the 1990s, he performed as an extra in several Hollywood productions. During the same period, he found a number of like-minded individuals who were interested in filmmaking , and in 1995 he directed, shot, and edited a feature-length video documentary entitled “The Poets from Planet X,” based on a local free-form poetry bar. Dr. Palmieri’s most recent film was a short-form video comedy that he directed in 1996, entitled “Dick’s Last Shoot.”
Dr. Palmieri has attributed his accomplishments to his passion for film, literature, and language. He fondly recalls developing a system to learn a new language more quickly and more pleasurably by invoking his love of literature. He reads a grammar book the first day and then starts working through a novel by one of the great writers in that language, becoming fairly fluent by the time he finishes it. In the next couple years, he plans on completing and publishing his book, “Power and Revolution: Surveying and Tracking the Films of Miklós Jancsó,” in an effort to shine a light on one of the greatest film artists in the history of cinema.
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