TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
Bigfoot Film Showcases Friendship
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: April 4, 2008
TAMPA Any story that starts with Bigfoot and ends with a poignant look at friendship and hope is bound to be a little strange.
But Jay Delaney has enjoyed the journey.
Next weekend, things come full circle. Delaney, a Sarasota resident, will have his documentary, "Not
Your Typical Bigfoot Movie," shown twice at the Sarasota Film Festival. He plans to attend both screenings. For the 28-year-old filmmaker, the experience — and the one he had in March when the film screened at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas — has been "magical."
Until now, "I've only shown it to about six people, just friends and family," said Delaney, who is in his first year of law school at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport. "The thing that I am most curious about is to see how people react to the movie."
Certainly, it lives up to its title.
The film centers on two men, Dallas Gilbert and Wayne Burton, amateur Bigfoot researchers living in the tiny southern Ohio town of Portsmouth, in the Appalachian foothills. The men are in their 50s and poor, living in an area long ago abandoned by the steel industry.
"Portsmouth is not like it was 30, 40 years ago," Burton says in the movie's trailer (available at notyourtypicalbigfootmovie.com). "There's no jobs here that amount to anything."
Or, as Gilbert puts it: "I'm tired of not having nothing."
Burton was working in a car wash when Delaney met them. Gilbert, who worked in the construction industry, has been out of work for years because of an injury. The two share a dream that gives them hope, the dream that drew Delaney into making the film: They want to prove the legendary creature Bigfoot exists.
Why? In the case of Gilbert and Burton, it goes deeper than some might expect.
"Really, I think that is one of the great unanswerable questions — why is anyone so passionate about something?" Delaney said. "But I think the idea of being a Bigfoot researcher, it really gives them a lot of hope. I think it comes down to that and the fact that it brings so much meaning to their lives.
"For me, this movie is about these two guys and how much passion they have for this — their unflinching commitment to proving that Bigfoot is real."
Both are so interested in the topic that fame kept a far weaker hold on their imagination, Delaney said, adding, "I think they are excited to see themselves on film. But I think also they are just excited to get any word out about Bigfoot."
Before moving to Sarasota, Delaney lived in Ohio. After hearing about the men, he went to Portsmouth, where they agreed to let him film them. He filmed off and on between October 2005 and February 2006. Delaney said he quickly realized that "part of the reason their research evolved was because of the friendship they sparked."
The film received good reviews in Austin. The Austin Chronicle's Cindy Widner wrote the documentary is "a heart-breaking meditation on friendship and the ways in which class and caste can destroy the lives of the working poor."
Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie
WHEN: 4 p.m. April 12, 12:15 p.m. April 13
WHERE: Regal Cinemas Hollywood 20, 1993 Main St., Sarasota
COST: $9; 1-866-575-3456; www.sarasotafilmfestival .com/2008
Reporter Kevin Walker can be reached at (813) 259-7975 or kwalker@tampatrib.com.
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
