Strange Portraits
Chicago Filmmakers

Ostensibly embarking on a portrait of a "modern-day Abraham Lincoln", Stewart Applegath's Escaping History (1992, 41 min) relates to story of Mel Glasser of Chicago. Glasser, a recovering schizophrenic, has consciously adopted a Lincoln persona and has made considerable development of both a working and a personal and has made considerable progress in the last twenty years.


11/5/1998 - 11/5/1998

8:00pm


Ostensibly embarking on a portrait of a "modern-day Abraham Lincoln", Stewart Applegath's Escaping History (1992, 41 min) relates to a story of Mel Glasser of Chicago. Glasser, a recovering schizophrenic, has consciously adopted a Lincoln persona and has made considerable progress in the last twenty years. As the video unfolds, it traces the development of both a working and a personal relationship between Applegath and his subject all the while refusing to romanticize Glasser's condition or situation: he speaks clearly to us , with intelligence and humour and takes Applegath on a special journey. Applegath recently won the prize for best Canadian Video at the Montreal Festival for New Cinema and Video for Escaping History. Quirky: Facts & Friction (1992, 35 min) deals with portraiture as well although John Sanborn's take on autobiography is indeed highly "quirky" and includes philosophical musings along with humor and splendid video trickery.

Director
Stewart Applegath John Sanborn

Production
Chicago Filmmakers

Tags: Film, American, 1994