THE ADVENTURE OF FAUSTUS BIDGOOD
Dirs. Andy Jones, and Michael Jones, 1986.
Canada. 110 min.
In English.
SATURDAY, JUNE 8 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, JUNE 23 – 5 PM with producer/actor Q&A (This event is $10.)
THURSDAY, JUNE 27 – 7:30 PM
A Canadian cult classic and a hot contender among the strangest films ever made, The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood was the first feature film shot entirely in Newfoundland. This satirical phantasmagoria of politics and bureaucracy follows the ineffectual Faustus Bidgood, an administrator for the Department of Education in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Viewers weave in and out of his muddled, ludicrous daydreams about leading Newfoundland’s secession from Canada, losing grip on the film’s reality along the way. Containing schemes within schemes and films within films, Faustus Bidgood provides an answer for those who have wondered, what if the Zucker Brothers created a film inspired by the French New Wave on a shoestring budget?
The film famously took ten years to complete due to the constraints of its budget, which was so small that the crew couldn’t afford to get the film processed. Instead, they stored the unprocessed reels in their home freezers and eschewed the important undertaking of screening daily rushes.
Set and shot during the early years of Newfoundland’s confederation with Canada, filmmaker Andy Jones has noted that Newfoundlanders still felt a need to prove their worth to Canada at the time. Indeed, both the film and the characters’ sense of national incongruity shines through, resulting in a film that is not quite Canadian and not quite anything else. Instead, for Canadians and non-Canadians alike, The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood is a cinematic escapade that is equal parts resonant and incomprehensible.
On Sunday, June 5th at 5:00 pm, we will be joined for a Q&A with Faustus Bidgood producer and actor, Robert Joy.
