Event

MONSTER ROAD with Q&A

MONSTER ROAD
Dir. Brett Ingram, 2004
USA. 80 min

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14TH 9:00 PM *BRETT INGRAM Q&A*

Monster Road is a documentary feature exploring the wildly fantastic worlds of legendary animator Bruce Bickford. Bickfords collaborations with rock musician Frank Zappa in the 1970s established him as an international cult artist. Decades later, the reclusive animator works alone in a basement studio near Seattle, producing films for no apparent audience. Enchanted forests, maniacal torture chambers, hamburgers that morph into mythical monsters, and epic battles between giants, fairies, and anachronistic historical figures populate just a small corner of Bickfords animated universe.

Bruce is the sole caretaker of his father George, a retired aerospace engineer of the Cold War era who faces the tragic onset of Alzheimers disease. Struggling to pierce the fog of his painful memories, George considers the suffering of a life spent disengaged from his family and centered on the imperfections in those around him. His wondrous musings on the mysteries of the universe reflect a deep admiration for the implicit architect of such splendor while atheism prevents him from admitting the possibility of a God.

While the Bickfords lived a normal suburban life by all outward appearances, the brutality of Bruces obsessive childhood drawings and subsequent animations hints at a darker underbelly. Questions are raised for which there are no easy answers. Monster Road untangles myriad personal, artistic, and philosophical strands from the Bickfords lives to reveal an intricate web of motivations and influences fueling Bruces cinematic visions. brettingram.com