In A Dream

Philadelphia muralist Isaiah Zager is the subject of his son Jeremiah’s documentary, In A Dream, whose trailer comes to us via Cinematical. Winner of the audience award at SXSW Film Festival a couple of weeks ago, the film will be screening across the country on a schedule you can find at the In A Dream blog. Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Like the dazzling, colorful mosaics that Isaiah has pasted to buildings around town – crazy-quilt images of people (often the artist himself), shards of shattered mirror, cracked crockery, bottles, bicycle wheels – his life has been kaleidoscopic, yet singularly focused. Now 68, Isaiah and his wife, Julia, have been fixtures in Philadelphia since the hippie days of yesteryear. She runs the Eyes Gallery and he runs around town, looking for blank walls to cover. There are more than 100 of his murals in the city, and the “magic garden” in front of his studio has become a tourist destination…

Mixing old home movies, wonderful animated sequences derived from Isaiah’s art, and scenes of Isaiah at work, of Julia in agony, and of their eldest son, Zeke, grappling with his own demons, In a Dream captures a family imploding. Their lives are laid bare, in broken bits, like the ceramic that Isaiah uses for his art, and they come together in In a Dream with sadness and beauty, rage and insight.

Wikipedia says: “Embedded in many of his works are the words ‘Art is the Center of the Real World’. His murals reflect an appreciation for the imaginative human and sensual element in the potentially bleak urban environment.” Beautiful portrait of Isaiah Zagar after the cut.

(click for high res)