FILM | TUESDAY, MAY 13 | 7:00 PM | FREE (DONATIONS WELCOME)
DON BARRY: A Quixotic Exploration
A film screening of the film, DON BARRY: A Quixotic Exploration is coming to FUSION | The Cell on Tuesday, May 13 at 7 PM!
Don Barry: A Quixotic Exploration re-enlivens the meta-narrative of Cervantes’ Don Quixote by placing a real-life experimental filmmaker, Barry Gerson, into the Don’s role and filming his life work’s exploration of madness in a mad world among the crowds of Mexico’s magical city of Guanajuato. The life and work of an experimental filmmaker in his 80s is layered atop the first great novel to draw out explorations of intuitive processes, cathartic landscapes, and the specters of death and creative succession. A young assistant (Sanchia, stand-in for Cervantes' Sancho Panza) helps revive Don Barry’s creative drive and push him to expand his cinematic explorations of light into new realms beyond narrative. The film is about the struggles that all artists face in today’s changing world.
This event is free and open to all! The screening will also feature opening remarks by writer, director, and producer, Paul Smart and a post-screening Q&A!
“Don Barry took me by surprise. It's both strange and wonderful.“
—Raymond Foye (Hanuman Books, Brooklyn Rail)
“I appreciate Don Barry and think it is original and engaging.”
—Larry Kardish, MOMA film curator, FilmColumbia
“We would like to take this moment to recognize your film for your vision and the film's unique contribution to cinema. —Experimental Forum
“Your film has the strength of a debut work, an explosion of many concepts, experimentation, documentary, fiction, video art, etc. You say you are 67 years old, but it could have been made by a young person; it's great to see that it's never too late to start.”
—Ruggiero Cilli, SamhainBaucogna Int’l Film Festival
THE STORY BEHIND DON BARRY
When I [Paul Smart] started to imagine the creation of my first feature film in my new hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico, I immediately thought of the work Guanajuato has embraced for half a century: Don Quixote. As I outlined an approach to Cervantes' iconic work, I was approached by the most quixotic of my friends, the experimental filmmaker Barry Gerson, then in his 80s and starting a new life. When Gerson asked if I could help him publish his hand- written notes on using color LED therapy lights to cure himself of "the maladies of aging," I realized he was Don Barry, and my film took shape. We designed the work to match the experimental and visionary elements in Gerson's films, and shot in real crowds, looking to offset our characters’ awkward realness with the realness of our magical city. We used dancers, local musicians, Senor Muerte. Don Barry ended up merging real life and the literary in actual settings. The film grew into a meditation on the redemptive nature of art and creativity.
FILM DETAILS
Running Time: 95 minutes
Written, Directed & Produced by: Paul Smart
Edited by: Isabel Campana Rojana
Cinematographer: Haydn West
Music by: Karen y Los Remedios and John Martyn
Sound Design by: Pamela Casasa
Post-Production by: Terminal, CDMX
Shot in Guanajuato, Mexico 16:9 aspect ratio
Featuring the experimental films of Barry Gerson and animations by Genda Monter
CAST
Barry Gerson is Don Barry
Gerson has been making experimental films and art since the 1960s, with his works collected by major museums across the globe and a long teaching career. He is a true modern iconoclast.
Genda Monter is Sanchia Panza
Monter plays herself playing Cervantes’ famous sidekick. She is a young artist with a degree in physics. She created all of the film’s animations. This is her first film appearance.
Paul Smart is Don Barry’s Creator
Smart worked as an administrator and producer in the early days of the U.S. independent film movement, went on to found, edit and contribute to community publications and radio in Upstate New York, and moved to Mexico upon his retirement.
Quality bar service provided by Safe House Distilling Co. and Teller Genuine Vodka.
