Saturday, May 8, 2:00 PM, Charles Theatre 2

Director: Brett Ingram

Cast: Bruce Bickford, George Bickford

Country: U.S.
Year: 2004
Running Time: 80 minutes
Format: Beta SP

To Frank Zappa fans, legendary clay animator Bruce Bickford is “The Amazing Mr. Bickford”, a title he earned for his creations of wildly fantastic worlds of love, war, mutations and weirdness. This documentary sheds light on this remarkable underground cult-figure’s life and work. The 56-year-old Bickford is a self-taught filmmaker, working alone in a makeshift basement studio in his house near Seattle. His canvas is his camera, shooting dozens of inch-tall figures on a tiny set, one frame at a time. The end result is some of the most incredibly detailed clay animation ever made. His unique sensibility comes from a childhood spent in a competitive household during the paranoia of the Cold War. His father, George, was a Boeing engineer with a knack for maximizing space, a knack he practiced on the family home. Now retired, George faces the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease, while Bruce keeps busy taking care of him when he’s not shooting his animation. This documentary gives an intimate glimpse into the making of great works of art, and the mind responsible for them.

-- Skizz Cyzyk

Co-Producer / Co-Editor Jim Haverkamp is an award-winning filmmaker and editor who lives in Durham, North Carolina. His short films have shown in festivals across the country, and he was awarded a Filmmaking Fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council in 2000. Growing up in Iowa City, Iowa, Jim made super 8 films in his backyard, and he still finds that activity relaxing today. He is a former organizer of the Flicker Film Festival in Chapel Hill, and also plays harmonium and guitar in the Durham band the Holy Roman Empire.