Shadow Theater

The Sandman's Garden

February 2005 •English

This documentary examines the life and art of Lonnie Holley, a self-taught African-American artist based in Birmingham, Alabama. It follows Holley as he builds a sculptural environment out of discarded materials and found objects in the Birmingham Museum of Art’s sculpture garden. His art is by turns profound, playful, and deeply moving. As the garden grows piece by piece, Holley is revealed as a man who has overcome a tortured past. Growing up poor and black in the 20th century American South, Holley worked to overcome prejudice and deprivation by using art to explore his life and ideas. The camera captures the artist’s process and reflections as he gathers materials, creates pieces, interacts with others, and relives the joys and sorrows that forged his unique and genuine artwork.

This World Is Not My Own

March 2023 •English

Chewing gum sculptures, a wealthy gallerist, a notorious murder case, and the segregated south - it's all part of Nellie Mae Rowe's boundless universe. This World Is Not My Own reimagines this self-taught artist's world and her life spanning the 20th century.

It's The Same Story

September 2011 •Hindi

Two storytellers put forth their versions of the story of Shravan Kumar. The art for the film uses painted images from a wooden portable shrine called a Kaavad. The film is a collaborative work between traditional Kaavad storytellers and Kaavad artists from Rajasthan, together with the filmmaker. Combining lush animation with live-action, the film is an interpretation of two stories which are forever fused in the act of telling and retelling.

All Rendered Truth: Folk Art in the American South

January 2009 •English

A film documenting the soulful art, environments, and voices of self-taught artists on the back roads of the American South.

I Dreamed I Searched for You in Heaven

May 2012 •English

A documentary based upon the lives of outsider folk artists Ronald and Jessie Cooper. They became artists in their mid-fifties while living on disability after having lost their Kentucky country store, enduring multiple heart attacks, and being seriously injured in an automobile accident. The story is told through the voices of their four children as well as pioneers of the Kentucky Folk Art Center in Morehead, KY who gave the Coopers their start. The film is an account of their life tragedies and triumphs based upon the messages told throughout their artwork.

James Castle: Portrait of an Artist

April 2008 •English

Deaf artist James Castle drew on his upbringing in rural Idaho as well as his profoundly silent inner world to create haunting paintings, sculptures and collages. He often used found objects and homemade tools to bring his vision to life. This documentary relies on interviews with Castle's family, art historians and prominent members of the hearing-impaired community to explain his inspirations, techniques and lasting legacy.

Tlakimilolli: voces del telar

July 2017 •Spanish

In Zongolica's Mountain Range, in the mexican state of Veracruz, naturally dyed wool yarn and excellent quality textiles are produced. Women are the ones in charge of working and teaching the art of weaving textiles with the waist loom technique. Everyday with perseverance and wisdom they masterfully wave their lives and future.

The Blind Storytellers

October 2014 •Chinese

Li Shouwang is the leader of a blind storytellers team, learned storytelling at the age of 19. His childernare living hard in other cities. Li's money amost goes to his children's pocket every year. But with urbanisation, the storytellers have lost almost all their audience. As the conflict between the storytelling team and the village team intensified, his son, who was far away from home, became the only spiritual sustains... When he was excited that his son would be taking his family home for Chinese New Year, what's await is a sigh.

Joe Sleep

January 1977 •English

Filmed 2 years before his death, this documentary portrays New Brunswick folk artist Joseph Sleep (1913-1978) in his later life. He was born at sea and worked with and around boats, fish, carnivals, and animals most of his life. While convalescing during an extended period in the Halifax infirmary in 1973, he was encouraged to paint. What began is therapy and a pastime developed into a way of representing a lifetime of images and experience

Finster

August 2022 •English

Howard Finster, the grandfather of the Southern Folk Art movement was a pioneer that showed the world that Art can thrive outside of museums and galleries in ordinary places and in everyday objects. He took what others might deem trash or obsolete and turned it into something contemplative. He opened Paradise Garden for the world to enjoy, a true testament that Art comes to life, when people are able to interact with it. Howard Finster showed the world that objects surrounding us can take on a new life, in a sometimes-magical way, and communicate messages that can lead to transformation.

Carving Thy Faith

October 2018 •Tagalog

A five-year visual ethnography of traditional yet practical orchestration of Semana Santa in a small town where religious woodcarving is the livelihood. An experiential film on neocolonial Philippines’ interpretation of Saints and Gods through many forms of rituals and iconographies, exposing wood as raw material that undergoes production processes before becoming a spiritual object of devotion. - A sculpture believed to have been imported in town during Spanish colonial conquest, locally known as Mahal na Señor Sepulcro, is celebrating its 500 years. Meanwhile, composed of non-actors, Senakulo re-enacts the sufferings and death of Jesus. As the local community yearly unites to commemorate the Passion of Christ, a laborious journey unfolds following local craftsmen in transforming blocks of wood into a larger than life Jesus crucified on a 12-ft cross.

Margaret Kilgallen: Heroines

Invalid date •English

"I especially hope to inspire young women, because I often feel like so much emphasis is put on how beautiful you are, and how thin you are, and not a lot of emphasis is put on what you can do and how smart you are. I'd like to change the emphasis of what's important when looking at a woman." Filmed in San Francisco in 2000, Margaret Kilgallen (1967-2001) discusses the female figures she incorporated into many of her paintings and graffiti tags. Loosely based on women she discovered while listening to folk records, watching buck dance videos, or reading about the history of swimming, Kilgallen painted her heroines to inspire others and to change how society looks at women. Three of Kilgallen's heroines—Matokie Slaughter, Algia Mae Hinton, and Fanny Durack—are shown and heard through archival recordings. Kilgallen is shown tagging train cars with her husband, artist Barry McGee, in a Bay Area rail yard and painting in her studio at UC Berkeley (source: Art21).

Grandma's Way Out Party

July 1993 •English

Heading out west to her Grandma's birthday celebration, Lynda Barry and Kevin Kling record their adventures along the way.

I Can Feel Another Planet in My Soul

January 2010 •English

The remarkable story of Howard Finster

The Forest Drum

May 2023 •English

The Forest Drum follows a monster looking to make friends with the other animals that live in the forest with him. While the animals are scared of him, the monster finds a drum that he plans to use to bridge the gap between him and the others.

Beautiful Song

January 1955 •Korean

The concert film, which includes performances by amateur performers, as well as famous artists from North Korea, includes folk songs and dances.

Worst to First

February 2022 •English

WORST TO FIRST is a feature-length documentary that portrays the against-all-odds inspirational story of the launch of the iconic and most successful radio station in history, New York City's Z100.

How Did We Get Here?

February 2022 •English

An intimate reflection on life in the digital age and Seán McLoughlin's journey through the highest highs - chanting crowds, sold out shows, and marriage proposals - and lowest lows - grappling with loneliness in the harsh Irish winter - and the life and wonder in between.

In the valley

February 2022 •French

Thierry lives in the Aosta Valley, in Italy. On board his piaggo ape, he travels the paths of the valley to take care of his cows. He also loves Anaïs, but for some time, she doesn’t answer him anymore… From traditional serenades to Italian pop, Thierry sings about love.

Národní umělec Zdeněk Štěpánek

December 1960 •Czech