Tyler Turkle

This powerful film documents the hardships, tragedy and loss suffered by the prolific Southern writer and novelist Harry Crews. Interviewed by artist and filmmaker Tyler Turkle, Crews’ state of mind is revealed in a rapid-fire and startling narrative of emotional and physical pain and suffering. From his home in Gainesville, Florida, Crews provides details of his near fatal childhood coupled with stark tales of his adult alcoholism and drug abuse and the tragic, accidental drowning of his first born son. Throughout, Crews remains as tough as nails in his delivery of personal experiences and exploits which he sums up by quoting Mark Twain: “I have reached the age of seventy by strictly following a regimen that would have killed anybody else.”

Born and bred in the deep South, the football rivalry between Florida State University (Seminoles) and the University of Florida (Gators) has roots so old it is hard to tell exactly when and where it began. The great history of that rivalry is now revealed and elaborated on as fans and supporters of Florida State University express themselves in a wild and vivid celebration of school spirit. This thirty minute video is a kitchen sink of satire, parody and social commentary packed with fast-moving and informative interviews, t.v. preaching, alligator wrestling, stuffed animals, fight songs, blood hounds, and chitlin’ eating

Seventy seconds of furiously energetic filmmaking in which all of the possible pauses in visual and aural activity have been removed. What is left when all of the fat has been trimmed? Monkeys with diamond studded collars, killer fish, and a parade of incongruous images, statements, questions, and answers guided to an exciting climax by a storefront dummy who takes over the interviewing chores midway through the film.

“Playing on all of Tyler Turkle’s previous interview films, accelerating and violating their stylistics, LINCOLN LOGS FOR JESUS is a nearly Cubist look at the world. A fast-paced consumer jaunt, almost ritual in nature, winds its way through flashes, repetition, swift cuts, and the reverse switch for an edgy, jarring continuity.” – Steve Dollar, Media X.

“A ‘silent’ interview, QUIET AFTERNOON is the most strange and moving of Turkle’s films, documenting the year-round garage sale of an eccentric, elderly Ohio couple. The omission of sound and the focused, grainy attention of their legacy of bric-a-brac, discarded appliances and collected curiosities adds greatly to the film’s ultimate emotional effect.” – Frank Young, Florida Flambeau.

A peculiar homage to the things that go wrong, this film is purportedly about rugby. The self-explanatory title for this jumpy “documentary” is less concerned with the filmed subject (the game, the field, the players) than a comic editing style and the complete acknowledgement given to the technical aspect of gathering and manipulating raw footage.

A lyrical tour guide takes the viewer on a trip down the Wakulla River in North Florida. Although the camera remains relentlessly fixed on him, his vivid, near-musical descriptions of Southern flora, fauna, and wildlife gives a better view of things than total visual mobility could ever allow.

A chance meeting between the artist, ten young boys, and a yo-yo champion in a drugstore parking lot provides the substance for this rambling and anarchic filmed interview that at once parodies “man on the street” television interviews while introducing and sustaining an unusual but deliberate verite technique on its own.

Fast -paced film works its way through American culture in a crazy quilt of images and wild sounds including truckers’ CB radio banter and arcade machine gun fire. A theme of give and take is established as a young man tries to get rid of a coconut head, visits a carnival peep show, dances and twirls batons with a dog, and finally hops a truck to somewhere.

Strange assembly of stark and nearly surreal images tell the tale of life and death as seen through the eyes of an observer and eventually the subject himself – a blind man in a wheelchair. The film relies on a number of cinematic devices to bring into focus the trials and tribulations of being out on the streets, alone and handicapped. The result is a striking visual narrative of how people view those among us who are “different.” We believe we can see them but they can’t see us. Or can they?