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This film will take you on an extraordinary journey into the word of the Surrealists as the life and accomplishments of the surrealist collector, poet, and architect Edward James unfolds. For the last 20 years of his life, aided by 40 full time laborers and craftsmen, he built one of the biggest and yet least known architectural monuments of the 20th century, dedicated to Surrealism and hidden in the jungles of Mexico. Born into extreme wealth and luxury (he was rumored to be the bastard son of King Edward VII), he turned his back on the rigid aristocratic circles of Edwardian England, and befriended, supported, and collaborated with fledgling artists who would become household names in later years. Those artists included Salvador Dali, Leonora Carrington, Rene Magritte, Kurt Weil, Bertolt Brecht, George Balanchine, Aldous Huxley, Man Ray, and Sigmund Freud. Although he has been called "A legend among the legendary", only a few people recognize his name or know of his artistic accomplishments.
In English with optional Spanish subtitles.
| Catalog Number: MC-855 |
Type: Feature |
Genre: Documentary |
| Copyright: 1995 |
Length: 58 minutes |
Format:
DVD Region: 0 (All) |
| TV System: NTSC |
ISBN: |
UPC: 880198085597 |
| Label: Blackchair Collection |
This title is available in Europe for Wholesale - List Prices: £13.99 / 19.99€
This is a Microcinema Exclusive title.
Wholesale Purchasing:
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Exhibition:
Program MC-855 may be licensed for Exhibition.
Films In Compilation
Builder of Dreams directed by
Avery
Danziger
USA,
Documentary,
1995,
Color,
Magnetic Stereo,
00:58:00
Leaving England in 1940 with the intention of making the United States his home, he found himself in 1944 moving instead to the city Cuernavaca, Mexico.
There he met Plutarco Gastélum, a yaqui ...
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2009-05-21 Short and Sweet NYC
By Tim Needles
Edward James, Builder of Dreams tells the fascinating account of the little known artist and collector who was as eccentric as he was rich. Edward was born into a life of proper English society and found himself rebelling and gravitating towards an untraditional life in the arts as a poet, financer, and later as a legitimate surrealist artist himself. After befriending creative giants like Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Rene Magritte, James worked towards becoming an accepted artist and poet with little success but in creating his opus sculpture garden entitled Los Pozas (the Pools) in the rain forest of Mexico he came into his own.
The documentary, directed by Avery Danziger and Sarah Stein, is an informative look at James’ life with interviews from James and those who knew him along with historic photographs and film clips. The film takes on the complete life of the artist, covering a pivotal time in history, from his youth with a cold, impersonal mother who was rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of King Edward VII (who made frequent visits to their sprawling home, West Dean) to his later life in Mexico building his monument among nature. The story itself is quite amazing with his obsessive habits, marriage to ballet dancer Tilly Losch (who denied him a sexual relationship), their later scandalous divorce, and his interaction with some of the finest minds of the 20th Century.
Where the documentary fails is in giving the audience all of the information because even with the depth of detail in the story, it still feels like an incomplete tale, especially in his later life, finances, and sexuality. Despite these omissions, the film is a revealing look at a man who was charismatic, creative, and inspirational with famed interactions like his visit to Sigmund Freud with Dali and his Oscar Wilde-like entertaining and wit.
The work at Los Pozas is really a major surrealist architectural and sculptural achievement with its unique forms taken from anatomy and nature, columns that give the illusion of support to the mountains, and stairways to the sky. The true highlight of the film is really Edward James’ character with his high, girlish voice and storytelling, but Los Pozas comes in a close second, making for a great learning experience. The documentary is an uplifting tale of a little known artist who was hugely influential to many of the most important artists in modern art and any artist, history buff, or creative type should check it out.
| 2009-05-21 Educational Media Reviews Online
By Sebastian Derry
Born into unimaginable wealth and privilege, a poet, a collector, an eccentric, a raconteur, a patron of the surrealist art movement and a man rumored to be the bastard son of Edward VII, King of England, the life of Edward James (1907-1984) defies any attempt at categorization, as this film makes plain.
Believing that art should compete with reality, when James glimpsed Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers in Los Angeles, it came as a revelation. Subsequently in the rainforest of the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, James found his Garden of Eden, and set out to create Las Pozas (“The Pools”).
Bursting with ideas and inspiration but with no experience in architecture or drafting, and little concern for money, James conceived of Las Pozas as 36 fantastical concrete structures spread out over 80 acres of jungle—requiring 40 workmen 25 years to build.
An enthralling story, this documentary skillfully weaves a compelling portrait of Edward James and what drove him, drawing on archival footage—interviews with James, his colleagues and friends—and current videography of Las Pozas as it looks today, all set to a hypnotic, percussive score.
Fittingly, the film opens and closes with a performance by the avant-garde dance/theatre group Byakko-sha at Las Pozas—surrealism in the flesh. No doubt Edward James would have loved it.
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Dali Dimension, The
MC-868, 2004
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Multiple Award winning film delves into the psyche of the most important Surrealist artist who ever lived, Salvador Dali. Through a series of rare film clips and interviews with the artist, Dali Dimension explores the many inspirations that resulted... more >
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Dali in New York
MC-764, 1966
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Filmmaker Jack Bond and Salvador Dali got together at Christmas 1965 to make Dali in New York, a highly entertaining film. Dali devoted two weeks of his life to creating extraordinary scenes for the film, performing “manifestations” with a plaster... more >
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