Bradley Beesley

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Bradley Beesley is an American independent film and video director, producer and cinematographer. He has long been associated with the alternative music band, The Flaming Lips. Beesley first worked with The Flaming Lips filming some promotional videos for the band's album Hit to Death in the Future Head.  Most of Beesley's video work with the band is included on the VOID video retrospective. Aside from his work with The Flaming Lips, Beesley has directed a number of award-winning documentaries. His first was 1999's "Hill Stomp Hollar", a one-hour film about the Fat Possum record label and many of the blues artists, particularly R. L. Burnside. Beesley's next film Okie Noodling (2001) focused on the unusual practice of catching catfish using only the bare hand as bait. It featured an original soundtrack by The Flaming Lips and won the Audience Choice Award and was runner-up for Best Documentary at the 2001 South by Southwest film festival. In 2005, Beesley released the documentary The Fearless Freaks: The Wondrously Improbable Story of The Flaming Lips. Critics said the film offered an unusually personal and intimate view into the band. The Flaming Lips also provided the soundtrack for the documentary that Beesley produced and co-directed, Summercamp!, which opened July 18, 2007. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bradley Beesley, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies

Fathers of Football
Executive Producer
Fathers of Football follows the triumphs and struggles of life in a small town, where football is not only the brightest stage but also the best ticket out.
Fathers of Football
Director
Fathers of Football follows the triumphs and struggles of life in a small town, where football is not only the brightest stage but also the best ticket out.
Quaker Oaths
Producer
To make their divorce final, a Quaker couple must follow tradition by seeking out everyone who came to their wedding...and asking them to cross their names off the marriage certificate.
The Verdigris: In Search of Will Rogers
Director of Photography
A songwriter from Oklahoma, Beau Jennings spent the last few years writing songs about his boyhood hero and 'Oklahoma's favorite son' Will Rogers, the legendary Cherokee-Indian cowboy, vaudeville performer, newspaper columnist and movie star. As songs accumulated, Beau realized the need to further explore the source of his inspiration, and a plan was hatched to travel the U.S. retracing Will Rogers' footsteps, performing songs about Will at locations where significant events in his life took place. Beau decided that the performances should be filmed for the creation of a feature-length documentary film and accompanying album with the working title The Verdigris - a reference to the river that runs through Will's hometown of Oologah, OK and through Beau's hometown of Inola, OK.
Calls to Okies: The Park Grubbs Story
Director
In the early 1980's, a group of disenfranchised Oklahoma teenagers mastered the art of prank phone calls and became known as Park Grubbs.
Jungle Fish
Producer
This documentary follows three fishermen on an epic voyage into the heart of Guyana's untamed jungle. Their mission: to prove that the world's largest freshwater fish-the arapaima-can be caught with a fly. If they succeed, it'll mean a brighter future for the Amerindians, the rain forest they call home-and for the threatened arapaima itself.
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
Director of Photography
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual 'Prison Rodeo'. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it's one of the last of its kind - a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
Producer
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual 'Prison Rodeo'. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it's one of the last of its kind - a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
Writer
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual 'Prison Rodeo'. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it's one of the last of its kind - a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
Director
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual 'Prison Rodeo'. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it's one of the last of its kind - a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud
Winnebago Man
Director of Photography
Jack Rebney is the most famous man you've never heard of - after cursing his way through a Winnebago sales video, Rebney's outrageously funny outtakes became an underground sensation and made him an internet superstar. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer journeys to the top of a mountain to find the recluse who unwittingly became the "Winnebago Man".
Christmas on Mars
Director of Photography
The film tells the story of the experiences of Major Syrtis during the first Christmas on a newly-colonized Mars. Coyne has described the film as "Maybe Eraserhead or Dead Man crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like The Wizard of Oz and maybe A Space Odyssey, and set at Christmas-time. The story that unfolds is intended to hint at childlike magic within a tragic and realistic situation."
Christmas on Mars
Director
The film tells the story of the experiences of Major Syrtis during the first Christmas on a newly-colonized Mars. Coyne has described the film as "Maybe Eraserhead or Dead Man crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like The Wizard of Oz and maybe A Space Odyssey, and set at Christmas-time. The story that unfolds is intended to hint at childlike magic within a tragic and realistic situation."
The Creek Runs Red
Director of Photography
"Since the area was declared a Superfund site in 1981, Picher's residents have been forced to choose between preserving their image of the American dream and preserving their health. The Creek Runs Red carries us into the heart of a sharply divided community to reveal, with extraordinary intimacy and insight, an array of human reactions to an environmental disaster."--Container.
The Creek Runs Red
Director
"Since the area was declared a Superfund site in 1981, Picher's residents have been forced to choose between preserving their image of the American dream and preserving their health. The Creek Runs Red carries us into the heart of a sharply divided community to reveal, with extraordinary intimacy and insight, an array of human reactions to an environmental disaster."--Container.
Summercamp!
Director of Photography
Anybody who ever went to Summer Camp will surely be able to relate to this documentary. It deals with a few weeks at a Summer Camp for young folk, aged 6 to 15. We are introduced to the main element of the more troubled campers, an introvert, a bully,a passive-aggressive,and others.
Summercamp!
Producer
Anybody who ever went to Summer Camp will surely be able to relate to this documentary. It deals with a few weeks at a Summer Camp for young folk, aged 6 to 15. We are introduced to the main element of the more troubled campers, an introvert, a bully,a passive-aggressive,and others.
Summercamp!
Director
Anybody who ever went to Summer Camp will surely be able to relate to this documentary. It deals with a few weeks at a Summer Camp for young folk, aged 6 to 15. We are introduced to the main element of the more troubled campers, an introvert, a bully,a passive-aggressive,and others.
The Fearless Freaks
Narrator
Equal parts punk and psychedelia, the Flaming Lips emerged from Oklahoma City as one of the most bracing bands of the late 1980s. The Fearless Freaks documents their rise from Butthole Surfers-imitating noisemakers to grand poobahs of orchestral pop masterpieces. Filmmaker Bradley Beesely had the good fortune of living in the same neighborhood as lead Lip Wayne Coyne, who quickly enlisted his buddy to document his band's many concerts and assorted exploits. The early footage is a riot, with tragic hair styles on proud display as the boys attempt to cover up their lack of natural talent with sheer volume. During one show, they even have a friend bring a motorcycle on stage, which is then miked for sound and revved throughout the performance, clearing the club with toxic levels of carbon monoxide. Great punk rock stuff. Interspersed among the live bits are interviews with the band's family and friends, revealing the often tragic circumstances of their childhoods and early career.
The Fearless Freaks
Director
Equal parts punk and psychedelia, the Flaming Lips emerged from Oklahoma City as one of the most bracing bands of the late 1980s. The Fearless Freaks documents their rise from Butthole Surfers-imitating noisemakers to grand poobahs of orchestral pop masterpieces. Filmmaker Bradley Beesely had the good fortune of living in the same neighborhood as lead Lip Wayne Coyne, who quickly enlisted his buddy to document his band's many concerts and assorted exploits. The early footage is a riot, with tragic hair styles on proud display as the boys attempt to cover up their lack of natural talent with sheer volume. During one show, they even have a friend bring a motorcycle on stage, which is then miked for sound and revved throughout the performance, clearing the club with toxic levels of carbon monoxide. Great punk rock stuff. Interspersed among the live bits are interviews with the band's family and friends, revealing the often tragic circumstances of their childhoods and early career.
Okie Noodling
Director
For centuries, a unique breed of fishermen has been catching monster catfish with their bare hands in the rivers and lakes of Oklahoma. Today, the tradition of "noodling" still has Okie anglers hooked. This documentary by Bradley Beesley features interviews with hardcore handfishing veterans as well as footage of real noodlers in action. Set against an original musical score by rock band The Flaming Lips, Okie Noodling offers an anecdotal look at a most unusual piece of Midwest American culture.