Waiting for Hockney (2008)

Director:

Julie Checkoway

Writers:

Julie Checkoway (writer)
Neal Checkoway (writer)

Release Date:

2008 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Art. Ambition. Poppy seed cake.

Plot:

A young working class Baltimore man spends 10 years on a single portrait, believing it is his means to fame and fortune...

Plot Keywords:

Working Class | Painter | Art | Painting

Cast

Billy Pappas	...	Himself
Larry Link	...	Himself
Cookie Pappas	...	Herself
Jim Pappas	...	Himself
Jeff Grutkowski	...	Himself
Stephanie Panos Link	...	Herself
Gary Vikan	...	Himself
Lawrence Weschler	...	Himself
Charlie Scheips	...	Himself
Ben Schapiro	...	Himself
Gerneen Pappas	...	Herself
Will Pappas	...	Himself
Jimmy Pappas	...	Himself
Neil Rhodes	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bill Schulte	...	Himself

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Littlest Birds Films

Trivia:

By the end of the filming, Pappas was still storing his drawing in the basement of his parents' Baltimore home.

Soundtrack:

53rd Story

Truly a gem of a film…

I loved this film. At times it was hard to imagine that this feature length film is really a documentary. The characters are vivid, wild and eccentric. The film centers around Billy Pappas, a young man from a working class family who sets out to create the next new movement in the art world, spending nearly ten years of his young life making one pencil drawn portrait. With a support group that includes an eccentric mentor, a priest and the world's most loving mother, among others, Billy decides that there is only one person who can truly appreciate and validate his creation and that person is the famous artist/painter/photographer/art historian, David Hockney.

So many contemporary and important issues are addressed in this film such as "what is art?", "who can judge the value of art?" and "who can determine if an endeavor is worthwhile?".

The film tells this story beautifully using much more than the usual "talking heads" of many documentaries. The music, archival film and footage of Billy's daily life provides an engaging pace and plenty to keep the viewer actively involved as the story unfolds. I do not want to give away any of the suspense of the film, but suffice to say that I had just the right mix of anticipation and fulfillment that I needed to keep me thoroughly attentive throughout the film.

I was lucky enough to attend a screening of this film in May 2008 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Why do I say lucky? Well the film's "star", Billy Pappas, attended the screening and he along with the film's director, Julie Checkoway and her producer/brother all answered questions at the end of the screening. It was so much fun to see and hear it.