Painting at the Edge

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Synopsis Traveling mostly on foot, by raft or canoe, English artist Tony Foster paints landscapes in the remotest of areas often risking his life to bring awareness to wilderness destruction and climate change. David C. Schendel, Writer/Director/Producer Joe Pavlo, Producer/VFX Artist | Ikuko Kobayashi, Production Design/Graphics Francisco X. Rivera, Editor | Moritz Hans Laub, Composer From the Filmmaker As a documentarian I am always looking for stories that have multiple levels of meaning. Yank Tanks was a clever way of dissecting the cultural truth behind the Cuban Embargo. The Comedy Club was a not-so-subtle look at the corporatization of standup comedy and its effects on freedom of expression. Enduring Democracy explores economic opportunism and the dangers when that intersects with racism. And Painting at the Edge is a story about an eco-warrior that shows us how to forge a new relationship to nature. On the surface these films might seem as simple as “how do you keep an old car running without spare parts” but one level below there is a bigger question. I met Tony Foster when I was hired to produce a video about the opening of his museum in Palo Alto, CA. My dad, Alfred was a master watercolour painter and so when I saw Tony’s paintings, I immediately recognized the talent in the work. Watercolour is by far the most difficult and unforgiving medium to paint in – believe me I tried! At his museum opening I was standing in front of one of the largest paintings I’ve ever seen of the Grand Canyon. Someone next to me asked what I thought of the painting. I replied “it’s a masterpiece but the colors look very pop art.” “Well, I used to make pop art!” I turned to see it was Tony Foster himself. From that moment we had a trusting relationship because I had dared to critique the master directly. After several years of discussions about the shape of the film, Tony and I decided to make the documentary about his life together. As a filmmaker this has been the…

Description from northofboston.org