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VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE
In 1958, while on a train, Brion Gysin experienced a strange psycho/physiological phenomenon: sunlight flickering through the trees as the train sped along induced a kind of euphoria, a drugless high. Gysin was compelled to invent a machine recreating his experience, one capable of producing the same effect in other viewers, Gysin's "dream machine" was meant to explore consciousness and to plumb the possibilities of the human brain. Though never successfully marketed to the public, the dream machine reached cult-like status in the artistic underground.
Director Nik Sheehan uses Gysin's magical machine as the basis for a philosophical exploration of art's potential and the role of the artist. Was the dream machine simply inducing a physiological response, or is it capable of provoking transcendent visions? Visiting those who knew Gysin, Sheehan delves into the avant-garde world that produced such greats as Gysin's close friend and collaborator William S. Burroughs.
Gysin's wide scope of ideas inspired not only the Beats, but also the artists succeeding them, many of whom share their diverse thoughts on Gysin's work, including: Marianne Faithfull, Iggy Pop, Genesis P-Orridge (Psychic TV), and Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth). As one Gysin follower put it, "art doesn't stop when you close your eyes," and neither do the questions Sheehan raises in his rich examination of an artist whose ideas about art and consciousness were radical and influential.
Nik Sheehan is a Toronto-based director, writer and producer. Prior to FLicKeR, he made a critically acclaimed and widely broadcast study of artist and teacher Paul Young, The Drawing Master (2005). Earlier acclaimed documentary features, which played in major festivals and were nationally broadcast, include the story of renegade artist Scott Symons in God's Fool (1997), and Symposium: Ladder of Love (1995), a revisiting of Plato's classic with a cast of well-known Canadian artists and writers. He established an international reputation in 1985 with No Sad Songs, the world's first major documentary on AIDS.
"The rare documentary that jumps beyond informative and entertaining into the realm of mind- expanding" — San Francisco Weekly
"Sheehan succeeds at renewing interest in an artist whose influence far outweighs his fame." — Eye Weekly
"Sheehan captures the dynamic, supernatural world of Gysin, the queer cultural terrorist who fused science, magic and art to expand human consciousness and transcend material reality."— Xtra
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