Filmmaker Spotlight: Philip Brubaker
by Margot C. Lester
“The self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and … Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realize that energy.†– Oscar Wilde
The lines between art and life are blurred in Durham filmmaker Philip Brubaker’s 2008 documentary, Brushes with Life: Art, Artists and Mental Illness. The film showcases a creative arts program for people in the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program at the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health and Club Nova. Through interviews with patients and supporters, it explores the connection between art and mental illness and how creativity offers relief and release. Says one subject: “The art is better medicine than the medicine is.â€
Brubaker made the film for creative and personal reasons.
“I wanted to make another documentary and I knew the people who ran the Brushes With Life art gallery,†he recalls. “I also wanted to give something back to the organization, because I had submitted my photographs to their gallery for many years.â€
Brubaker, you see, has overcome his own battle with bipolar disorder. Films and still photography are the “beautiful forms†through which his life expresses its creative energy.
Brushes with Life has picked up several awards, including Best Editing in a Short Documentary in the 2010 FirstGlance Film Festival, an Honorable Mention in the 2009 Voice Awards and second place in the 2009 Eli Lilly Reintegration Awards. Brubaker is currently seeking an online distribution deal for the movie.
Documentary is Brubaker’s chosen form. His first film, Squish Story, was a four-hour epic shot when he was 16. The National Hollerin’ Contest was his first widely seen documentary, released in 2005. He’s currently in the middle of a multi-year doc project about “a real-life mystery about the search for God and an infant’s death in 1945.â€
His favorite documentary is Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.
“It is very inspiring because it shows the lengths Herzog will go in the name of making movies,†says Brubaker, who gets much of his inspiration from music and dreams, as well as his own footage. He’s also a fan of Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese and Terrence Malick.
“The first two are my favorite filmmakers and the first and third are very private, enigmatic individuals I would like to know more about.â€
But filmmaker wasn’t on Brubaker’s list of what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“A writer, a stand-up comedian, a zookeeper, an aquarium attendant and a private detective,†were the professions he thought he’d pursue. He got into photography at a young age, when he was given a point-and-shoot camera to play with.
“But I always found moving pictures to be more exciting than still ones,†he says.
The Washington, D.C.-area native graduated from UNC-Greensboro in 2004 with a degree in media studies. Brubaker also studied filmmaking at the North Carolina School of the Arts. He is in the inaugural class of the MFA at Duke in Experimental and Documentary Arts.
That’s quite a coup for a kid who didn’t apply himself in school.
“I’ve learned that the real world is an unforgiving place and good grades will take you further in life,†he notes. “But I guess it all worked out, because I’m getting my master’s from Duke in the fall.â€
Festival Notes
Local filmgoers will want to check out the lineup for next month’s N.C. Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Durham. The 16th annual event comes to the Carolina Theatre Aug. 11-14. Individual tickets are $9; a 10-film pass is $75. Film synopses, schedules and tickets are available at ncglff.org.
The latest installment of Movies on the Lawn, presented by the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and American Tobacco, presents a music-based double feature starting at 9 p.m. on Aug. 12 on the main lawn at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham. The evening starts with a re-screening of One Night in Kernersville, which documents a recording session with jazz bassist John Brown and his big band. The second film is Do It Again, in which a reporter attempts to reunite the epic rock band The Kinks, “collecting spontaneous performances by some of rock’s royalty along the way.†Bring a chair or blanket and snacks. (A little bug spray may also be helpful.)
The Carrboro Film Festival is accepting submissions for its sixth annual show in November. Submissions for the Nov. 20 event close Sept. 30. Films received by Aug. 20 carry a $10 entry fee; $15 per film after that. The festival is open to any filmmaker who has “breathed the good air of North Carolina†sometime in their lives. Filmmakers may submit their films and pay entry fees at carrborofilmfestival.com. Those unable to use the online submittal system should email filmfest@carrboro.com. Complete submission details may be found at carrborofilmfestival.com. For more information, email filmfest@carrboro.com