Join us for a screening followed by a Q&A with director Terry Gilliam.
Moderated by Bruce Fretts, contributor to The New York Times.
Estimated program end time: 9:45 PM
SYNOPSIS
Toby, a cynical advertising director, finds himself trapped in the outrageous delusions of an old Spanish shoe-maker who believes himself to be Don Quixote. In the course of their comic and increasingly surreal adventures, Toby is forced to confront the tragic repercussions of a film he made in his idealistic youth – a film that changed the hopes and dreams of a small Spanish village forever. Can Toby make amends and regain his humanity? Can Don Quixote survive his madness and imminent death? Or will love conquer all?
PANELIST BIO
Terry Gilliam, over a forty-year filmmaking career, has directed a number of visually stunning pictures, which have championed the power of imagination and dared cinema goers to view the world differently. Born near Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gilliam settled in London in the 1960s where he became a member of the Monty Python team, performing sketches and contributing the animated sequences. He co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) with Terry Jones. He was the production designer of Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979), for which he was also actor, writer, and animator. In Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983), Gilliam’s chief contribution was a typically eccentric short film, The Crimson Permanent Assurance. His first outing as sole director was Jabberwocky in 1977, which he then followed with Time Bandits (1981), an anarchic time travel romp, featuring Sean Connery and John Cleese. In 1985, Gilliam released his ambitious Brazil, a dystopian science fiction film, which was given a Best Film award by the Los Angeles Film Critics, and two Academy Award® nominations (Original Screenplay and Art Direction). This was followed by the sumptuous The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), shot in Rome, with John Neville, Robin Williams, Oliver Reed and Uma Thurman. It gained four Academy Award nominations. Gilliam made his next three feature films in the United States. New York City-set The Fisher King (1991), starring Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams and Mercedes Ruehl, won the Silver Lion at the Venice International Film Festival and its director received a Golden Globe nomination. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards®, winning one for Best Supporting Actress Mercedes Ruehl. Twelve Monkeys (1995) followed, a critically-acclaimed time travel story, featuring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. In 1998, Fear &Loathing in Las Vegas was released, adapted from Hunter S. Thompson’s novel and featuring Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. In 2000, Gilliam went to Spain, intending to make Quixote, yet shooting was suspended after severe weather and injury to its leading actor. Gilliam then made The Brothers Grimm (2005) in Prague with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, followed by the haunting Tideland (2005), with Jodelle Ferland and Jeff Bridges. Gilliam’s next film, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus (2009), which he co-wrote and directed, starred Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Andrew Garfield and Lily Cole. Ledger died during production, and his role of “Tony” was completed by his friends Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. The project collected two AcademyAward® nominations. In 2011, Gilliam wrote and directed a 20-minute short film, The Wholly Family, which was named Best Short Film by the European Film Academy. He then directed The Zero Theorem (2013), starring Christoph Waltz, Matt Damon and Melanie Thierry. He made his opera debut in 2011, directing The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz, for English National Opera. In 2014, he returned to the stage, directing Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini, again at ENO. Both productions gathered five-star reviews in the London press. The filmmaker still lives in London, and now that Quixote is out of his life, he is looking forward to many long months of post-natal depression.
