Creativity at the 47th Denver Film Festival

Reliably, Denver Film Fest screens bios and documentaries about artists. 2024 is no exception. My three favorites are: Swamp Dogg Gets his Pool Painted and Secret Mall Apartment and Two Artists Trying not to Kill Each Other – all different, all homages to the spirit of curiosity, insight, and collaboration. If you enjoy how creativity manifests in actions and relationships, these films will light you up! 

In brief, Swamp Dogg Gets his Pool Painted chronicles the life and musicality of Jerry Williams, Jr., an R&B singer and keyboardist who started performing in his teens and by the time he reached his early 20s, realized he needed a wilder name he could grow into for stage presence and edgy antics, and so became Swamp Dogg. Over the decades he toured, produced recordings for a wide range of artists, and wrote songs performed by blues, R&B, Southern rock and country singers. Meanwhile he was making his own records, and getting canned by one label after another. In his 70s he’s a widower, at home in The Valley – northeast LA – sharing his bachelor pad with Guitar Shorty and the young surprising multi-instrumentalist Moogstar, a man raised in the church who could play any instrument well and found healing from a harsh upbringing as a flamboyant and remarkable individual. And yes, the pool gets painted. 

Secret Mall Apartment is just what the title says: an empty space within the structure of the upscale Providence Mall in Providence, RI, discovered and inhabited by a group of artists displaced by development from the abandoned mill buildings across the river. RISD instructor Michael Townsend, who sparks ideas constantly, leads the group of artists who claim and transform this space. Along the way we learn about Townsend’s other projects, and who could not be moved by the transformational quality of his work? It’s a must-see! 

Two Artists Trying not to Kill Each Other is about the midlife marriage of Joel Meyerowitz, prolific and successful photographer, and Maggie Barrett, writer and artist who, while overshadowed by his fame, is his equal in their partnering of souls. We see some of their art, but what takes center stage is an honest mature relationship, in which both are able to say what they mean, criticize, and renew their deep affection. It’s a treatise in how to grow and maintain a loving adult relationship. 

And, it’s worth mentioning that in the toolbox of all these artists is a large portion of kindness. This is what we need these days, so you should see these films! Thank you for the opportunity to see them, DFF!

Summerlong, by Peter S. Beagle

Peter S. Beagle has been one of my favorite authors since I read The Last Unicorn decades ago. Every time I visit a bookstore, I check the Sci Fi/ Fantasy section to see if they have a book of his I haven't read yet. So I was delighted to find Summerlong, a new and lovely novel in which the mythic and the everyday bump up against each other.

A young woman named Lioness shows up on the Puget Sound island where Abe, a sixty-something scholar, toils over a book, visited often by his longtime inamorata Joanna, a flight attendant, and her daughter Lily. The visitor has an aura of spring, and the very earth responds - the air is gently warm, the soil and plants abundant, and around her people feel touched as if by magic. Though Lioness appears young, in her eyes are the memories of centuries, of aeons, and her voice and accent evoke Otherness.

In Beagle's stories, the world we're accustomed to and one with greater possibilities exist side by side, and one need only to turn a certain corner to move from our quotidian plane to one where myth and mystery are part of the landscape.

In a time when kindness seems in short supply, this writer offers a long view in which joy is contagious and even a god can be moved by what we do. Read him and smile!