[Program title] LE TEMPS DEVANT SOI II – Hors du temps
[Film title] IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL : THE MYSTERY OF HENRY DARGER
[Date] 2012.6.2 – 6.30
[Screen time] 1hr 22min.
[Place] Maison Hermès 10F 5-4-1, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
2004 / USA / 82min / Color / SRD
Director: Jessica Yu
Writers: Jessica Yu, Henry Darger (writings)
Producer: Suzan West
Animation producer: Kara Vallow
Staring: Henry Darger, Dakota Fanning and Larry Pine
When a reclusive old man died, a novel manuscript of over 15000 pages titled In the Realm of the Unreal and several hundred illustrations were found in his room where he had lived for 40 years. It was the lifework of Henry Darger (1892-1973), who had put his fantasy into words and pictures alone in this room during his off hours from the job as a janitor in a hospital. It is a story of fierce battles fought by seven innocent girls called Vivian Girls in order to save the children from the vicious Glandelinians with inhuman abilities.
The director Jessica Yu spent two years creating an extraordinary film that portrays this artist who lived and died without ceremony. The film contains an animation based on Darger’s epic novel.