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Explores the wildly fantastic world of legendary underground clay animator Bruce Bickford. Traces the origins of his remarkably unique sensibility, journeying back to Bickford's childhood in a competitive household during the paranoia of the Cold War. Finally, the film examines Bickford's relationship with his father, George, who is grappling with the onset of Alzheimer's Disease.
Ear-splitting improvisational noise sculpture and Christianity aren't normally mentioned in the same breath. But they are the twin passions of North Carolina musician Scotty Irving, and the essential elements of his one-man act, Clang Quartet. Using homemade instruments achieving unfathomable volumes (and inspired by Biblical verse), Irving challenges his audience to rethink traditional ideas of music and spirituality. When Irving's motivations for walking so far out on musical and theological limbs are revealed, the "Armor of God" becomes a metaphor for the courage to create. Armor of God screened at more than eighty festivals and cinema venues internationally, winning nine awards (including a Juror's Citation from the Black Maria Film and Video Festival). The film also screened on regional PBS.
Luck of a Foghorn is a documentary featurette about the late Seattle underground animator Bruce Bickford (1947 - 2019), former collaborator of musician Frank Zappa and creator of Prometheus’ Garden, one of the most original stop-motion films in animation history. Interweaving Bickford’s pulsing, violent, magical, and mesmerizing clay animation with atmospheric 16mm and Super 8mm cinematography, home movies, and sparse interviews, Luck of a Foghorn takes viewers behind the scenes and deep into the garden of Prometheus.
In 2007, unable to compete with cheaper offshore production, Hooker Furniture Co. closed its plant in Martinsville, Virginia, after 83 years in operation. With These Hands follows the last load of wood down the assembly line as it is cut, honed, and assembled into fine furniture. Along the way, employees at the factory share their perspectives on work, community, and survival in a country devastated by de-industrialization and outsourcing.
