Desert Music

Wandering artist/filmmaker and Stan Brak-hage disciple Eric Waldemar used to live and work here, showing films at the Denver International Film Festival and local galleries until he departed to study at New York University ten years ago. In between, he says, disaster ensued: His personal life fell apart and nothing made sense anymore, so he bought a 1972 Winnebago and set off for the desert, where he sojourned like Moses somewhere near the Mexican border for a year, teaching himself to use digital video tools and reworking his own self-image.

“It was just me and the coyotes most of the time,” Waldemar says. “I acknowledged that I needed to start myself up again from scratch.” Part of the process was filming what was to become The Thinking Truck, a forty-minute film that didn’t turn out as he expected. “I thought it would take more of a narrative, confessional direction, but gradually I’ve realized that I’m really working with a kind of visual music. It’s by far the most complex thing I’ve ever made.” The result engages his redevelopment without telling its story, using visual meditations and rhythms, animated sequences and even a length of reel shot from inside a dead cow.

The Boulder Public Library Film Series will screen the world premiere of The Thinking Truck and other experimental films by Waldemar, with the director in person, tonight at 7 p.m. in the BPL auditorium, 1000 Canyon Boulevard in Boulder; admission is free. For details, go to www.boulder.lib.co.us/films or call 303-441-3197. Or for a sneak peek, visit www.thinkingtruck.com.
Fri., July 11, 2008