Marwencol
Encyclopedia
Marwencol is a 2010 independent documentary film
that explores the life and work of photographer Mark Hogancamp. It is the debut feature of director-editor Jeff Malmberg.
. After nine days in a coma and forty days in the hospital, Mark was discharged with brain damage that left him little memory of his previous life.
Unable to afford therapy, Mark creates his own by building a 1/6-scale World War II
-era town in his yard and populating it with dolls representing himself, his friends, and even his attackers. He rehabilitates his physical wounds by manipulating the small dolls and props — and his mental ones by having the figures act out various battles and stories.
When Mark begins documenting his miniature dramas with his camera, his photos are discovered and published by Esopus
magazine and even shown in a New York
art gallery
. But having the label of "art" applied to his intensely personal work forces Mark to make a choice between the safety of his fictional town and the real world he's avoided since his attack.
between 2006 and 2010, using a combination of DVCAM video and Super-8 film formats.
as of June 2011.
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote "Marwencol emerges as a number of things: an absorbing portrait of an outsider artist; a fascinating journey from near-death to active life; a meditation on the brain’s ability to forge new pathways when old ones have been destroyed."
Entertainment Weekly
s Lisa Schwarzbaum awarded it an A-, saying "I can barely describe the wonders of Marwencol. ... This tender documentary considers the mysteries of both art and coping."
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post'' called it "a fine, delicately nuanced portrait of an artist compelled by mysterious forces to create something utterly unique."
According to Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter, the film is "unpredictable and absorbing."
Walter Addiego of The San Francisco Chronicle
wrote "If you have even a passing interest in outsider art, you owe it to yourself to see Marwencol."
Kevin Thomas (The Los Angeles Times
) called the film "a celebration of the transformative power of art in coping with so many of the challenges people face."
V.A. Musetto of The New York Post
added "First-time director Jeff Malmberg tells Hogancamp's fascinating story with sensitivity, never resorting to exploitation."
From Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Marwencol "is also, on a deeper level, about how we process our experiences - good and bad, violent and mysterious - and how we try to build safe places in our lives."
Dana Stevens of Slate
chose it as one of her Top 10 films of 2010, calling it a "quietly radiant debut documentary about art, imagination, addiction, and survival" and saying "Hogancamp's Marwencol, and Malmberg's Marwencol, have to be seen to be believed."
The film was also in the top ten lists of the Boston Globe, The Globe and Mail
, and David Edelstein
.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
that explores the life and work of photographer Mark Hogancamp. It is the debut feature of director-editor Jeff Malmberg.
Plot
On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was attacked outside of a bar by five men who nearly beat him to death for being a crossdresserCross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
. After nine days in a coma and forty days in the hospital, Mark was discharged with brain damage that left him little memory of his previous life.
Unable to afford therapy, Mark creates his own by building a 1/6-scale World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
-era town in his yard and populating it with dolls representing himself, his friends, and even his attackers. He rehabilitates his physical wounds by manipulating the small dolls and props — and his mental ones by having the figures act out various battles and stories.
When Mark begins documenting his miniature dramas with his camera, his photos are discovered and published by Esopus
Esopus (magazine)
Esopus is a twice-yearly nonprofit arts and culture magazine founded in 2003 by Tod Lippy and published by the Esopus Foundation. Its primary objective is to give artists a noncommercial forum in which to publish their projects...
magazine and even shown in a New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
art gallery
Contemporary art gallery
A contemporary art gallery is a place where contemporary art is shown for exhibition and/or for sale. The term "art gallery" is commonly used to mean art museum , the rooms displaying art in any museum, or in the original sense, of any large or long room.-Identity, function and locality:A...
. But having the label of "art" applied to his intensely personal work forces Mark to make a choice between the safety of his fictional town and the real world he's avoided since his attack.
Production
The film was shot in New York State in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
between 2006 and 2010, using a combination of DVCAM video and Super-8 film formats.
Reception
The film received widespread critical acclaim, holding a 98% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
as of June 2011.
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote "Marwencol emerges as a number of things: an absorbing portrait of an outsider artist; a fascinating journey from near-death to active life; a meditation on the brain’s ability to forge new pathways when old ones have been destroyed."
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s Lisa Schwarzbaum awarded it an A-, saying "I can barely describe the wonders of Marwencol. ... This tender documentary considers the mysteries of both art and coping."
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post'' called it "a fine, delicately nuanced portrait of an artist compelled by mysterious forces to create something utterly unique."
According to Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter, the film is "unpredictable and absorbing."
Walter Addiego of The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
wrote "If you have even a passing interest in outsider art, you owe it to yourself to see Marwencol."
Kevin Thomas (The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
) called the film "a celebration of the transformative power of art in coping with so many of the challenges people face."
V.A. Musetto of The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
added "First-time director Jeff Malmberg tells Hogancamp's fascinating story with sensitivity, never resorting to exploitation."
From Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Marwencol "is also, on a deeper level, about how we process our experiences - good and bad, violent and mysterious - and how we try to build safe places in our lives."
Dana Stevens of Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
chose it as one of her Top 10 films of 2010, calling it a "quietly radiant debut documentary about art, imagination, addiction, and survival" and saying "Hogancamp's Marwencol, and Malmberg's Marwencol, have to be seen to be believed."
The film was also in the top ten lists of the Boston Globe, The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, and David Edelstein
David Edelstein
David Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
.
Awards and accolades
- Film Independent Spirit Awards
- Jameson FIND Your Audience Award
- AVEENO Truer Than Fiction Award
- Best Documentary (nominated)
- Boston Society of Film CriticsBoston Society of Film CriticsThe Boston Society of Film Critics is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, based publications.The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make "Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the...
- Best Documentary
- Best New Filmmaker
- Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival
- Best Documentary
- Judges' Choice Award for Best Overall Film
- Best Documentary — Fantasia FestivalFantasia FestivalFantasia International Film Festival is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996...
(Montreal) - Best Documentary — Whistler Film FestivalWhistler Film FestivalThe Whistler Film Festival is an annual film festival in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 2001. The festival, which is held the first weekend in December, includes six juried competitive sections and one audience award...
(British Columbia) - Best Documentary (2010 Golden Tomato) — Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- Best Documentary Feature — Woodstock Film FestivalWoodstock Film FestivalThe Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival that was begun in 1999. The festival was first conceived as a part of the Woodstock '99 Music and Arts Festival, with movies being screened as part of that event.-History:...
- Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Film — South by SouthwestSouth by SouthwestSouth by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
- Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Film — Cleveland International Film FestivalCleveland International Film FestivalThe Cleveland International Film Festival, first held in 1977, is the largest film festival in Ohio. The 2010 festival featured over 300 films. Since 1991 the festival has been held at Tower City Cinemas in downtown Cleveland.-Roxanne T...
- Grand Jury Award for best Documentary Film — Seattle International Film FestivalSeattle International Film FestivalThe Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
- Special Jury Award for Best Documentary Film — Independent Film Festival of BostonIndependent Film Festival of BostonThe Independent Film Festival of Boston is a not for profit film festival in Boston, Massachusetts.- History :The Independent Film Festival of Boston was created in 2003 by the non-profit organization the Independent Film Society of Boston. The festival takes place each April in the Boston area's...
- HBO Emerging Artist Award — Hot Docs (Toronto)
- Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film — 2011 Cinema Eye Honors
- IDA/Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award — International Documentary AssociationInternational Documentary AssociationInternational Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...
- Cinematic Vision Award — SilverdocsSilverdocsAFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival is an American international film festival created by the American Film Institute and Discovery Channel. It is held every year in Silver Spring, Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Started in 2003, the festival is held for eight days in June at...
(Maryland) - STANDARD Readers' Jury Award — Viennale (Vienna International Film Festival)
- Best Documentary — Chlotrudis Society for Independent FilmChlotrudis Society for Independent FilmThe Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film is a Boston-area non-profit organization that teaches audiences to view films actively through discussion, formal and informal education, discourse, film festivals, special screenings and collaboration. Their focus is on international and independent film...
(Boston) - Best International Documentary — Docville (Belgium)
External links
- Marwencol at Independent LensIndependent LensAiring weekly on PBS through ITVS, the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama and documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie...
on PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....