William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Project by Yony Leyser
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About this project
Official Website: William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
We are fiscally sponsored by CIMMfest and donations above $100 are tax deductible.
BOY MEETS BURROUGHS
In 2005, then-21-year-old Yony Leyser got his hands on a video camera and decided to make a documentary about William S. Burroughs. As he delved deeper and deeper into the life of the legendary author, Yony's curiosity and enthusiasm — along with the help of some friends — allowed him to finish the film on a budget of next to nothing. This month, four years after, the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City announced that Yony's film had been accepted and would premiere at the 2010 festival's opening night.
THE BIZARRE AND EXPENSIVE WORLD OF FILM FESTIVALS
The goal at the Slamdance Film Festival is to connect with a distributor that will release the film in theaters and on DVD, exposing the odd and beautiful world of Burroughs to the public. Slamdance runs concurrently with its big brother, Sundance, and is our best shot to do this.
The expenses associated with putting a film in a festival are substantial — we have to hire a publicist, cover travel costs, print posters, convert the film to HD, and pay for final footage rights. Our credit cards are maxed out, our checking accounts empty. Regardless, we want to make this happen.
ABOUT THE MOVIE — WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS: A MAN WITHIN
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within paints a tender portrait of the Beat author and American icon, whose works at once savaged conservative ideals, spawned vibrant countercultural movements, and reconfigured 20th century popular culture.
It features never-before-seen archival footage, as well as exclusive interviews with Burroughs’ colleagues and confidants including John Waters, Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson, John Giorno, Sonic Youth, Amiri Baraka, Anne Waldman, Gus Van Sant, Genesis P-Orridge and many more.
Burroughs was one of the first writers to cross the boundaries of queer and drug culture in the 1950s. His novel Naked Lunch was one of the last books banned in the United States, and now remains one of the most recognized literary works of the 20th Century. However, his friends were left wondering, did William ever find happiness? This intimate documentary breaks the surface of the troubled and brilliant world of one of the greatest authors of all time.
YONY LEYSER ON MAKING THE FILM:
I just started, and I interviewed Burroughs' friends that were still in Lawrence and then they started introducing me to other people. They introduced me to a beat poet by the name of Charles Plymell in upstate New York, who introduced me to Sonic Youth, who introduced me … on and on, and that’s how I got all the interviews. And doing this with no money — I just had a camera — puts you in some pretty interesting situations. I was looking at some footage the other day of when I went to go interview Iggy Pop, and it was pretty funny because I didn’t have a camera person and I was down in Miami and didn’t know anyone. So I talked to my friend and she said, “Yeah, I know someone who shoots porn, she can do it.” But in the end she couldn’t do it because she was also a repo person and had to repo some cars. She hooked me up with someone else and after he shot it we were driving back in his fancy Mercedes Benz, and he told me I had to give him all my money and my wallet before he gave me my equipment back and let me out of his car.
JAMES GRAUERHOLZ, EXECUTOR OF THE BURROUGHS ESTATE, ON YONY AND THE FILM:
When I saw that it was more than a collegiate's dream, I joined forces with him. Students have been known to have ambitions they don't act on. Yony had perseverance. He kept in touch. He kept going to see people. There have been a handful of other orphaned projects about Burroughs that have gotten scooped up by Yony. The way he assiduously looked for other projects impressed me. And above all he was getting on with my friends.
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within Official Website
Project location: Chicago, IL
40
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$3,550
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on January 17.Pledge $25 or more
Typhoid Mary -- Thanks on website
4 BACKERs
Pledge $50 or more
Clem Snide -- 1. Receive a copy of the film on DVD or digital download once it is released
10 BACKERs
Pledge $100 or more
JOHNNY YEN -- At this level you will receive: 1. A ticket to a screening at a film festival in your area 2. A copy of the DVD 3. Special Thanks on the website.
10 BACKERs
Pledge $250 or more
DR. BENWAY -- At this level you will receive: 1. A Special Thanks in the film 2. A signed framed still from the film 3. A ticket to a screening at a film festival in your area 4. A copy of the DVD 5. A Special thanks on the website.
6 BACKERs
Pledge $1,000 or more
LIMITED REWARD
1 of 1 remaining
Old Bull Lee -- At this level you will receive: 1. An original Burroughs Adding Machine, invented by William's grandfather. There is only one of these rare relics. 2. A Special Thanks in the film 3. A signed framed still from the film 4. A ticket to a screening at a film festival in your area 5. A copy of the DVD 6. A Special thanks on the website.
0 BACKERs
Pledge $2,500 or more
LIMITED REWARD
3 of 3 remaining
NAKED LUNCHMATE -- At this level you will receive: 1. An Associate Producer credit 2. Dinner with the director 3. A Special Thanks in the film 4. A signed framed still from the film 5. A ticket to a screening at a film festival in your area 6. A copy of the DVD 7. A Special thanks on the website.
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Project By
Yony Leyser
Chicago, IL
Send MessageYony Leyser is a twenty-five-year-old filmmaker living in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He has directed several short films. William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, his first feature film.
He also works as a curator, video artist and photographer, documenting people who are outside the mainstream of society. His photograph series have included Ida, a utopian transgender commune in Tennessee; Christiana, an anarchist village in Copenhagen; Kopi, Berlin’s largest squat, and naked bike rides in the US. His work has been shown work in galleries and theaters in Chicago, New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Los Angeles. Yony Leyser brings a more personal perspective to Burroughs' legacy, examining the private versus the public personae of Burroughs and the effect this may have had on his most intimate self.
He attended California Institute for the Arts, and The New School University, receiving his Bachelors in Arts degree in 2007.
