Kathleen Temme, principal of Purple Mountain Pictures, is producing/directing a documentary film on the Warrior Storyfield, a 12-year collaborative art project in rural Boulder County facilitated by artist Robert Bellows. The Storyfield has engaged hundreds of veterans and civilians in exploring the complex and difficult journey of going to war and returning home through the creative process of constructing two 18’ 10-ton sculptures, a dragon and a phoenix, and “the space between.” The project is now at a critical juncture, as the artwork is nearly complete and the artists are looking to move them to a more permanent home.
The documentary will tell the story of how this unique collaborative art project came into being, how it has grown and evolved over the past 13 years, and what effect it has had on those (veterans and civilians) who have contributed to it. In addition, the looming question of where the sculptures will go next has become a crucible for reflection, conversation, and some conflict as to the significance of the sculptures and the process of making them. More importantly, how can that meaning be conveyed to the general public out of their original context? How can “strangers” enter into the ethos of the Warrior Storyfield experience and be transformed by it just as those who built them were?
The film will use archival video and photography to depict the project’s evolution over time, supplemented by immersive footage of current work on the sculptures (metalwork at this scale is a dramatic, multi-sensory experience). The story will be told exclusively by WSF participants themselves via first-person interviews and extemporaneous conversations. There will no voice-over narration and minimal historical/cultural exposition.
