TWO FILMS: Born To Film + Media Man

Born to Film (Dir. Danny Lyon, 1982, New York and Mexico, b&w, 33 minute)

a young boy emerges from the filmic history of his past....

"'Born to Film' is, among other things, intimately autobiographical, interspersing footage of Lyon's own young son with film shot in the 1930's by Lyon's father, a doctor who immigrated from Germany. . . Lyon's passionate vision has deepened and grown in resonance and the film is not just family or even social history, but about human continuity, the power of instinct to survive, the grace that love and play bring to it, the wonder of being alive."
Thomas Albright, San Francisco Chronicle

". . . in his relationship with his father and son in Born To Film, Lyon serves as a connecting link, collaging together separate lives. The disparate, often incoherent or contradictory images are presented with a passion and directness which gives them reality. . . "
Pamela Allara, Pictures from Films/Films from Pictures, 1984

Media Man (Dir. Danny and Nancy Lyon 1994, New York, Mississippi, and New Mexico, color and B&W, 60 minute)

Danny Lyon's answer to CNN, NBC, and all things false and electronic.

Media Man begins in the filmmaker's garden where Danny Lyon is growing "blemish free tomatoes" in the expectartions of Jesse Helms, or "someone from the NEA" coming to dinner. Then smashing a large rotten pumpkin, Lyon announces that he is making "a film about America. The good America." Then all hell breaks loose.

"Subtle, funny, quirky"
Jan-Christopher Horak, Senior Curator, G.E.H

"Danny and Nancy Lyon's 'Media Man' is a documentary in search of the truth. . . totally honest and very funny."
Phillip Brockman, Currator of Media Arts, The Concoran Gallery of Art

"A truly great film."
James Enyeart, Director, George Eastman House

Part of the Danny Lyon Film season (25 - 28 June)

Danny Lyon - film maker photographer.
 Danny is a film maker who takes up his own subjectivity as a personal banner. There is no hidden observer, look into the shot and you will
always see the shadow of the film maker.  A film without its shadow is like a secret code never revealed.

Great article on Danny Lyon in the NEW YORK TIMES here.