Nice Shorts on Willis Earl Beal
Willis comes from the tradition of outsider artist, landing on the cover of Found Magazine years ago, he obscurely went from drifting artist to signing with XL imprint, Hot Charity…before quickly renouncing it.
Absurdist is proud to bring Willis Earl Beal to Oakland this Thursday, May 14th, 9PM at the Starline Social Club, his only California show this tour.
Principles of a Protagonist (6m)
An animated film by the artist himself, this short captures Willis’ 6 principles, likely shaped in those long intervening years before he was discovered. Soulfully spoken words uttering true intentions against a backdrop of operatic dystopia…figaro.
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The Church of Nobody & Mischa Barton (11m)
Quietly uncomfortable, Willis captures the eagerness of members embracing “an underground movement of consciousness…in the desert of New Mexico…” a movement founded on ego death and quite possibly physical. Mischa Barton enters as a likely member, shedding her OC days for The Church of Nothing— making the short all the more puzzling, “this film is all that remains.”
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Memphis (Feature)
The story of unstable talent drifting through mythical Memphis, “Surrounded by lovers, legends, hustlers, preachers, and a wolfpack of kids, the unstable performer avoids the recording studio and is driven to spend time in his own form of self-discovery.”
