Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting / Producer/Director (with Harmon dot aut)
A Reckoning in Boston / Producer, Director, Editor, Writer
Big Sky Documentary Festival, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Independent Lens PBS
The Ride Ahead / Editor
Hot Docs, Sheffield DocFest, Sydney Film Festival, DC/DOC, Independent Film Festival of Boston
My Disability Roadmap / Editor
Hot Docs, Best Documentary, LA Shorts, News & Documentary Emmy™ Award
“Rutenbeck is one of New England’s most accomplished documentary filmmakers, and A Reckoning in Boston is a sobering example of his talent.”
- Video Librarian
Nixon’s Reversal / Executive Producer, Director (with Jenny Alexander), Editor
News & Documentary Emmy nomination, Outstanding Graphic Design, Premiere: American Documentary & Animation Film Festival
Class of ‘27 / Executive Producer, Director, Editor
du Pont Columbia Journalism Award
DEEJ / Editor (with Robert Rooy)
George Foster Peabody Award
Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? / Producer, Director, Editor, Writer
du Pont Columbia Journalism Award
“…a moving documentary which aims to expand the current narratives surrounding rural poverty in America.”
- The Atlantic
Scenes from a Parish / Producer, Director, Editor
Independent Lens PBS
Roberto Clemente / Editor
NCLR ALMA Award for Outstanding Made-for-Television Documentary
“Steer the faithful, and everyone else, to Scenes from a Parish, a surpassingly lucid documentary…It raises more questions about the church’s place in a changing world—and touches more emotions doing so—than any big-budget studio folderol...”
- Ty Burr, Boston Globe
American’s War on Poverty / Editor
du Pont Columbia Journalism Award
Home Before Dark / Editor
Grand Jury Prize for Best American Independent Film, Hamptons International Film Festival
Losing Ground / Producer, Director, Editor
Cinema du Reel, Flaherty Film Seminar
Company Town / Producer, Director, Editor
Sinking Creek Film Celebration, Flaherty Film Seminar
“Company Town avoids the obvious political clichés but causes one to wonder, ‘why do they stay?’ and at the same time to understand that this place, these activities, with all their limitations are still unique and wonderful. It is an aesthetic mystery film.”
- Richard Leacock