Who is Bozo Texino? by Bill Daniel
Photo by poohka
From the website: http://www.billdaniel.net/who_is_bozo_texino/
THIS SPECTACULAR TRAVEL ADVENTURE FAITHFULLY PHOTOGRAPHED IN REALISTIC BLACK AND WHITE FILM AT CONSIDERABLE RISK FROM SPEEDING FREIGHT TRAINS AND IN SECRET HOBO JUNGLES IN THE DOGGED PURSUIT OF THE IMPOSSIBLY CONVOLUTED STORY OF THE HERETOFORE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE CENTURY-OLD FOLKLORIC PRACTICE OF HOBO AND RAILWORKER GRAFFITI AND THE ABSURD QUEST FOR THE TRUE IDENTITY OF RAILROADING’S GREATEST ARTIST WILL LIKELY AMUSE AND CONFOUND YOU IN ITS SINCERE ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND AND PRESERVE THIS ARTFORM.
Who is Bozo Texino?
by Bill Daniel
56 min. black and white, experimental/documentary
Who is Bozo Texino? chronicles the search for the source of a ubiquitous and mythic rail graffiti-- a simple sketch of a character with an infinity-shaped hat and the scrawled moniker, “Bozo Texino"-- a drawing seen on railcars for over 80 years. Daniel’s gritty black and white film uncovers a secret society and it’s underground universe of hobo and railworker graffiti, and includes interviews with legendary boxcar artists, Coaltrain, Herby, Colossus of Roads, and The Rambler. Shooting over a 16-year period, Daniel rode freights across the West carrying a Super-8 sound camera and a 16mm Bolex. During his quest he discovered the roots of a folkloric tradition that has gone mostly unnoticed for a century. Taking inspiration from Beat artists Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac, the film functions as both a sub-cultural documentary and a stylized fable on wanderlust and outsider identity. “I was drawn to the subject by the universal graffiti impulse and the classic, corny notion of freight train blues escape.” - BD
Posted on May 19, 2008 at 10:25 AM | Previous Entry | Next Entry | Entry List | Email Entry | Digg
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