Bruce Bickford

With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.

Explores the wildly fantastic world of legendary underground clay animator Bruce Bickford. Traces the origins of his remarkably unique sensibility, journeying back to Bickford's childhood in a competitive household during the paranoia of the Cold War. Finally, the film examines Bickford's relationship with his father, George, who is grappling with the onset of Alzheimer's Disease.

Black and white, single line and still an iconic goopy mess of genius.

Unseen moments from Mr. Bickford’s life, set to a live musical score.

A mental journey - historical, political, musical and metaphysical - in contemporary times, from the Sixties until nowadays.

Several pieces of Frank Zappa's music are set against clay animation by Bruce Bickford.

A 5 minute, 2D, straight-ahead animated film by Bruce Bickford.

Luck of a Foghorn is a documentary featurette about the late Seattle underground animator Bruce Bickford (1947 - 2019), former collaborator of musician Frank Zappa and creator of Prometheus’ Garden, one of the most original stop-motion films in animation history. Interweaving Bickford’s pulsing, violent, magical, and mesmerizing clay animation with atmospheric 16mm and Super 8mm cinematography, home movies, and sparse interviews, Luck of a Foghorn takes viewers behind the scenes and deep into the garden of Prometheus.

Rock artist Frank Zappa hosts a concert in New York City. This movie contains tons of on-stage footage, off-stage footage, and animation.

The 1974 unreleased made-for-TV concert movie ‘Cheaper Than Cheep’ is finally being released 50 years later! This never-before-heard-or-seen two-hour concert reveals the most intimate performance ever captured from the 1974 Mothers line-up, direct from the lovingly resurrected and restored original vault audio and videotape masters.

Inspired by the Greek myth of Prometheus, a Titan who created the first mortals from clay and stole fire from the gods, Prometheus' Garden immerses viewers in a cinematic universe unlike any other. The dark and magical images of this haunting film unfold in a dreamlike stream of consciousness revealing an unlikely cast of characters engaged in a violent struggle for survival.

Inspired by the Greek myth of Prometheus, a Titan who created the first mortals from clay and stole fire from the gods, Prometheus' Garden immerses viewers in a cinematic universe unlike any other. The dark and magical images of this haunting film unfold in a dreamlike stream of consciousness revealing an unlikely cast of characters engaged in a violent struggle for survival.

Black and white, single line and still an iconic goopy mess of genius.

A 2D line-animated film.

Cas'l' is a 45-minute stop-motion clay animated film by Bruce Bickford.

A collection of extraordinary animated short films from around the world, curated by Don Hertzfeldt. Released exclusively to movie theaters to support independent animators, the program includes “Martyr’s Guidebook”, “Zoon”, “The Hill Farm”, “I Am Alone and My Head is On Fire”, “Wednesday with Goddard”, “Jesus 2”, “The Big Snit”, “Untitled Line Drawings” (never-before-seen work by Bruce Bickford), and more.

Unseen moments from Mr. Bickford’s life, set to a live musical score.

A 5 minute, 2D, straight-ahead animated film by Bruce Bickford.

The result of a workshop at Calarts in January 2007 with Bruce Bickford, animator for many of Frank Zappa's films, including Baby Snakes. The animation was shot in a 'marathon' style over 36 hours, with each animator or group of animators having 4 hours to work, and without seeing any of the animation before them. The music was recorded by the crew. The film was completed on Mr. Bickford's birthday.

Experimental animation by Bruce Bickford, posthumously released from his archives for the “Animation Mixtape” theatrical program.

Experimental animation by Bruce Bickford, posthumously released from his archives for the “Animation Mixtape” theatrical program.

A blast of raw Bickford energy—clay in constant revolt.

A newly scanned experiment in hand-drawn chaos and kinetic forms.