She Unfolds by Day
"Alzheimers and a Memory of the Wolf"

She Unfolds by Day explores the afternoon in which a frustrated middle-aged son tries to manage his misanthropic 80-year- old mother. Along with his dog, they cope with signs of Alzheimer's, and her wandering draws her to a nearby woods where the forms and rhythms of eco-systems shape their story. A series of disjointed loops melds fiction, documentary and nature elements into a strange mixture of heightened reality and unconscious imagery. She Unfolds by Day reintroduces life forms and natural elements as inseparable from our story. Belgum spent four years weaving visuals of tiny creatures from his backyard, animated motions of his dog and sublime expressions of wolf life with the antics of his forgetful 80-year-old mother. What began as documentary ends as fiction. What began as fiction becomes a study of nature.

Filmmaker Biography:
Belgum was selected for the 2000 Whitney Biennial along with Errol Morris and Harmony Kornine. His film, Driver 23, is the lowest budget feature ever purchased by a major network (Showtime). His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Village Voice, Art In America and Bomb magazine. Belgum grew up near a heavly wooded area on the banks of the Mississippi river just outside of Minneapolis. At the University of California San Diego he studied with Jean-Pierre Gorin and Babette Mangolte. She Unfolds by Day is an ecological narrative exploring life forms and natural elements as inseperable from our story.

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Driver 23

Driver 23, from Minneapolis filmmaker Rolf Belgum, documents three years in the life of Dan Cleveland, a Minneapolis-based rock guitarist and deliveryman. Although Dan rarely plays music outside of his cramped basement, he believes he´s meant for stardom in the music industry. All obstacles to Dan´s ambition are met with uncanny determination and bizarre "inventions," which make his frustration visible and tangible. As his life goes to pieces around him, Dan retreats deeper and deeper into his basement, searching for an outlet into the world of dreams and hard rock. An amazing debut about unflinching desire and obsession from a surprising quarter of local talent. - www.ufilm.org

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The Atlas Moth

The Atlas Moth continues the saga of Dan Cleveland, the hardest-working man in local rock, and his band Dark Horse. Several years have passed since the events of Driver 23, (featured in the 2000 Whitney Biennial) but
Cleveland's enthusiasm for his dream of heavy metal stardom has not been dampened in the least. The Atlas Moth follows the often grueling process of recording, packaging, and promoting Dark Horse's debut album "Guts Before Glory". Like everything in Cleveland's musical life, the album is a labor of love. This time around, Dan cedes the spotlight to his band-mates Sean Cassidy and Jon Mortenson. As Sean carefully shows the moths raised in his basement and Jon displays his breathtaking photography, we are navigated through the creative passions that drive Dark Horse in and out of the studio. Although they put their heart and soul into a form of music that has been out of style for almost two decades, their good-natured perseverance and energy is so unfailingly infectious that you can't help but root for their success. As an antidote for the bloated, manufactured rock stars of the MTV generation,
The Atlas Moth is packed with stranger-than-fiction human comedy and down to earth realism.

Video Clips:
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View stills from the film!