My guest today, director Robert Ham, has lived a life of service -- to his country, to art, to his family -- and it moved me deeply to host him for the podcast. We talk about his military service in the Army as a combat cameraman; losing his wife to cancer and making a documentary about her beautiful life, of honoring a 9/11 family with his latest film, ZZASLOW K-427, which is screening in New York City on January 18th, 2026.
And if this sounds heavy, that's the duopoly of sometimes difficult service. I can't speak to any other profession like medicine that often walks the line so closely with the fragility of life, but in the military, a positive outlook even in the harshest conditions is the only way you'll make it through, and that spirit is reflected today on the podcast. Welcome to our world.
In this episode, Robert and I discuss:
- the instant rapport of veterans, immaterial of branch and age;
- how he joined the military as a combat cameraman and the advice he'd giving aspiring filmmakers thinking about joining the military (OCS is officer candidate school; new recruits can attend with a four-year degree);
- how he became the most decorated combat cameraperson in Army history;
- graduate school at USC and earning a Tillman Scholarship from the Pat Tillman Foundation;
- why he started his own production company, HAMMR Productions;
- the challenge of showing PTSD on screen and what he thinks of veteran-focused films;
- weighing his own mental health with making realistic films about painful parts of his life;
- his reflections on MADE WITH MELANIE (2022) and his advice for people embarking on a similar journey;
- releasing indie films on YouTube;
- working on different topics than military related films?
- how INTERPRETERS WANTED (2023) is a great primer for learning more about the U.S. relationship with Afghanistan;
- why he edits his own projects;
- the story behind ZZASLOW K-427 (2025), which is screening in NYC on January 18th;
- the festival strategy for his films;
- what's next for him.
Robert's Indie Film Highlights: WARFARE (2025) dir. by Ray Mendoza; MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE (2024) dir. by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes; HOLLYWOOD GRIT (2025) dir. by Ryan Curtis; SAND CASTLE (2017) dir. by Fernando Coimbra and Chris Roessner; Rebecca Murga; Maximilian Uriarte; Mike Dowling
Memorable Quotes:
"As going through the unique experience of being in the military and then coming out of the military and now being labeled a veteran, which becomes so much part of our personality...when I meet other veterans, it is that common bond."
"I did extra work. I was a Marine in FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (2006) as an extra."
"Same thing with everybody in the military. It's hard. You're asked to do morally complicated things that you have to then live with. And so that's the first thing that I would approach it with is that like, where do you stand?"
"It feels like the further you get away from the source of anything, the further from the truth you're gonna get, right?"
"I've always used the camera to almost separate myself from the trauma."
"All I could do was film. I don't know, I'm not a doctor, I'm not, I'm like trying to read these crazy things that she's researching and that we're looking together and taking notes when doctors tell us diagnoses and what we're trying to do and what options and medicines and stuff I've never heard of before."
"We had the conversation about how we share this with the world and she just basically said, I trust you."
"She was a great person. She was a wonderful woman. She deserved a film to be made about her."
"It does come back down to my own inability to know how to help a helpless situation."
"I have four kids. I'm married, I have a mortgage. So whoever calls up and says, we got a budget, I'm like, okay, let's do this."
"I'm very self-critical of my edits and I don't hold onto things very closely. As a director, you shoot something and you're like, oh, this is it. And then the editor has to be like, no, that wasn't it."
Links:
Follow Robert On Instagram
HAMMR Productions
Watch MADE WITH MELANIE (2022)
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