Film screening raising funds for gallery

The film documentary ?Puppet? by David Soll will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at ICON Gallery.

The central figure in the documentary is Dan Hurlin, the brother of Fairfield?s Bill Hurlin. This is a highly regarded film that was selected for numerous independent film festivals. Dan Hurlin will introduce the film in person.

The film chronicles master puppeteer Hurlin as he plans, produces, creates and presents his artistic idea ? a serious puppet play about Arkansas rural photographer Mike Disfarmer.

Disfarmer has, in recent years, become a folk legend for his life story and exquisite community photographs he made in the 1930s.

For three years, filmmaker David Soll followed Hurlin as he developed his puppet play Disfarmer, capturing the gamut of his process, from a research trip to rural Aransas, to gluing tiny bits of paper onto a plasticene mold, to a rich and fraught rehearsal process, to crushing opening night reviews.

In the words of Ronnie Scheib in Variety, ?Parallels between photographer Disfarmer and puppeteer Hurlin multiply as Disfarmer?s paranoia mirrors his creator?s: Both figures are threatened by the notion of the artist and the medium disappearing forever, be it glass plate photography or avant-garde puppetry.? The result is a comprehensive look at the American puppetry scene that is as enlightening as it is moving.

?I knew nothing about this puppet world,? said ICON Director Bill Teeple, ?until Bill Hurlin turned me on to this film about his brother. I am now fascinated by Dan and the world he is a major player in. It?s our great fortune that Dan will be coming to Fairfield to introduce the film. The film is not only the story of Dan?s quest to produce a serious play using puppets, but it is a powerful statement about what it is to be a true artist.?

This screening is a fundraiser for ICON, with a $10 donation entrance fee.