Surrealism: a 20th 21st-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind…
One hundred years ago, with their world on the brink of chaos, a pack of misfits called “The Surrealists” banded together to make art that would reject logic and reason, with a goal of saving humanity by highlighting the absurdity of life. They were sort of like an artsy Garageband, improv troupe, and fight club all wrapped into one.
In this series, we are rebooting this idea by dropping Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo and friends into 2019, arming them with today’s technology and social media, and letting them go bananas! We will watch these creators launch a surrealist revolution from their clubhouse, engaging in bizarre video art projects and hedonist behavior, achieving fame and infamy, and struggling to preserve their ideals while becoming drunk with fame and fortune. Or to put it more plainly: it’s Moulin Rouge meets Silicon Valley! Or Girls with Dali and Frida!
We will also refer to, and periodically see, elements of this bizarro 21st century that parallel the history of the 1900s. Imagine Hitler is on Twitter, Charlie Chaplin’s doing rom coms, Louis Armstrong is dropping music vids, and Sigmund Freud is giving Ted Talks. These glimpses of that world will be provided by what the main characters see on their tablets, phones, and laptops, and well as cameos by secondary characters coming in and out of their scene.
By melding these centuries together we will be able to use these iconic figures from history to comment on and better understand the times we live in and the cyclical patterns of humanity that never seem to change. We will deal with timely issues like art’s ability to effect change, the difference between how we present ourselves and actually live, and how the temptations of fame and fortune can change one’s ideals. All the while we will be telling the very real story of how the surrealist movement started, progressed, and disbanded while giving viewers the joy of seeing what these brilliant artists would do with modern technology and social media.
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The Surrealists is a short film about Salvador Dalí and the birth of the Surrealist movement…if it happened today.
About
One hundred years ago, a rogue Freudian psychologist named André Breton and his wild posse of artists that included Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Man Ray and others, launched a “revolution of the mind” called “Surrealism.” This revolution, which started as an exercise in exploring the unconscious mind, became a cultural phenomenon, thanks to a young entrepreneur named Peggy Guggenheim.
Why Make This Film Now?
The story of these artists reacting to a world that no longer makes sense feels as fresh today as it ever has. That is why I am making a film that will tell the story of the surrealist movement if it were to happen today, with these famous artists as millennial creators on social media, reacting to a chaotic world. I have pitched this story to several networks and studios they thought it was “too out there” for viewers. I think they are wrong and I want you to help me prove them so. A donation, however small, to “The Surrealists” is a vote for celebrating these great artists and telling their fascinating story in a very modern way, while drawing important parallels between our world and theirs.
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About The Film Maker
Trevor Williams is a filmmaker who specializes in delivering unique, slick, and funny content for TV and Web. His directing, editing and writing credits include Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, The New Yorker, and IFC, as well as commercial clients such as UPS, Samsung, and Hi-Chews. He has won several awards for his web-series and short films. Trevor first cut his teeth in showbiz as a comedian and commercial actor before becoming an in-house director of scores of video at UCB Comedy. In 2013, he co-founded Pig Apple, a production company that specializes in live-action, animation, and kickstarted short films such as “The Jane” and “The Surrealists”!
