with producer/writer/artist Sandow Birk
Dante's Inferno has been kicking around the cultural playground for over 700 years. But it has never before been interpreted with exquisitely hand-drawn paper puppets, brought to life using purely hand-made special effects. Until now! Rediscover this literary classic, retold in a kind of apocalyptic graphic novel meets Victorian-era toy theater. Dante's Hell is brought to lurid 3-dimensional, high-definition life in a darkly comedic travelogue of the underworld—set against an all-too-familiar urban backdrop of used car lots, gated communities, strip malls, and the U.S. Capitol. And populated with a contemporary cast of reprobates, including famous—and infamous—politicians, presidents, popes, pimps. And the Prince of Darkness himself. Sandow Birk works in a variety of media, using drawing/painting, printmaking, bookmaking and film in his work, which focuses on reinterpretations (albeit faithful) of Dante's Divine Comedy. Specifically, he has published a three book project of Dante's Divine Comedy as well as this full-length film, which premiered at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival. According to Birk, the film "grew out of the book project, but it also became a thing on its own. Where the books are extremely faithful to Dante's original poem, the film is a bit more contemporary, more political, and much funnier." To view the trailer of film visit www.dantefilm.com. Sandow Birk's website is www.sandowbirk.com Cosponsored by the Dept. of Art and the Dept. of English.
2007, color, 1 hour 18 minutes, USA