Escaping History

Escaping History

1992 · 41 min · Documentary, History

Ostensibly embarking upon a portrait of a "modern-day Abraham Lincoln", Escaping History traces the development of a relationship between the videomaker and his subject. As the story unfolds, it veers from the objective to the highly personal. The tape relates the story of Mel Glasser, a recovering schizophrenic who, having adopted the persona of Abraham Lincoln, has made considerable progress in the last twenty years. The tape refuses to romanticize Mel's condition; he speaks frankly with intelligence and humour, and takes Applegath on a special journey.

Directed by Stewart Applegath

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Mel Glasser Self

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2h 10m together

Escaping History

The Bride Of Frank

Both from Stewart Applegath.

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The Bride Of Frank

The Bride Of Frank · 1996

The Bride Of Frank

Disturbed and Hideously ugly 'Warehouse Worker' Frank dates then murders women who are not nice to him, he then mutilates and disposes of their corpses, helped out by his friends.

Keep Moving

Keep Moving · 1994

MovieDocumentary

In Keep Moving, three men work to make ends meet and to understand how they have arrived where they are. Two are single fathers coping with parental responsibilities. Frank is a founding member of Act Up, who dedicated himself to the organization over the years, and who has paid a price in the course of his commitment. Bob juggles businesses, trying to make a new start, while Mike wrestles with a past that encompasses family tragedy, alcoholism and drug addiction. Keep Moving considers how these men understand their histories while pressing forward, and how they received and pass on fundamental values.

Lazarus

Lazarus · 1991

MovieDocumentary

In the heat and desolation of Santa Fe, California, three people are connected and disconnected by proximity, nature and circumstances. Dwight is a New Age DJ. Ramon is an experimental composer and filmmaker. Ash displays numerous tattoos. Each elaborates on central and sometimes disturbing chapters of their lives. The tape culminates with Ramon's harrowing account of a friend's downward spiral.

Five

Five deals with questions of identity and self-perception, highlighting the inherent difficulties (impossibility?) of expressing or communicating such. Four individuals appear alternatively : although they seem to be describing someone, it is not always clear to whom each is referring.

breakSurface

breakSurface · 2001

MovieDocumentary

When sculptor John Greer and filmmaker Stewart Applegath began shooting, they had no destination, only a desire to journey together in a row boat with camera in hand. Over six years, they rowed a fair distance. breakSurface documents these travels, and the extent to which Greer’s world is leavened with debilitating anxiety. Greer’s powerful sculpture is visually simple, conceptually complex, but silent; he identifies with Jonathan Swift’s "man of objects" who lays out things, not words, to be understood. Applegath, however, doesn’t make this film to replace words, but by embracing them.

Open Season

Open Season · 1991

MovieDocumentary

Open Season considers some of the founding heroes and myths of the American frontier, set within a contemporary landscape. The people we encounter persist in giving sense to their environment which often seems hostile to their concerns. At the boyhood home of Davy Crockett, we encounter his modern day advocate; across the street is a small businessman who sells "Davy Dogs" and tries to keep a failing business afloat. From here, we move across America meeting others who live on the edge of the American dream.

One Goes On

One Goes On · 1990

MovieDocumentary

One Goes On follows individuals and the events which influence our perceptions of them. A young lawyer indifferently discusses a relationship; a woman discusses a dolphin harvest at a chic party; a rural entrepreneur relates his most recent project as he visits the scene of a local disaster. Certain sequences and stories unfold in real time while others are altered to allow closer scrutiny. As the tape progresses, these connected narratives evoke a strong sense of loss.

Whites of Their Eyes

Whites of Their Eyes · 1991

Whites of Their Eyes

MovieDocumentary

Deep South 1990: what changes and what does not. Whites of Their Eyes focuses on four people : Richard, a student at Tulane; Mack, a resident of Selma's projects, and Charlie and Verna May who trap and skin alligators. In the free form dialogue which emerges, each addresses complex issues with candor and humour, forming a mesh that belies standard notions of race, class and consumption.

Notes on the Sacred

Notes on the Sacred · 1990

Notes on the Sacred

MovieDocumentary

Every summer, thousands of people go to Sainte-Anne de Beaupré to celebrate the feast of the patron saint of the sick and disabled. Notes on the Sacred paints a picture of the event, presenting the tourists, pilgrims, clergy and information media.

Eyes On the Road

Eyes On the Road · 1988

Eyes On the Road

A disembodied video eye floats over the road, from side to side, exterior to interior, watching, waiting, moving inevitably ahead.

Everyman's Home

Everyman's Home · 1991

Everyman's Home

MovieDocumentary

This tape focuses on the nature of urban development in Chicago, the centre of American architecture. We encounter three people who relate some of the hard realities of life in the city, through a haze of historical and cultural phenomena.

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