San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Dancer lives again in biopic
Brontez Purnell, a dancer and choreographer as well as a filmmaker, got to know Ed Mock (1938-86) through taking part in “He Moved Swiftly But Gently Down the Not Too Crowded Street: Ed Mock and Other True Tales in a City That Once Was …,” an homage to the San Francisco dance legend by Amara Tabor-Smith that took place in locations throughout San Francisco in June 2013. The experience made such an impact on Purnell that he dived headfirst into Mock’s life to make a documentary, “Unstoppable Feat: The Dances of Ed Mock,” that screens as part of
Unstoppable Feat: The
Dances of Ed Mock: 11 a.m. Saturday, June 23, Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St., S.F., $13/$14. www.frameline.org
Frameline on Saturday, June 23, at the Victoria Theatre — a venue where Mock performed.
“I’m definitely going to be lighting candles in the back and chanting a little before the show,” says East Bay filmmaker Purnell, 35. “I think it’s really nice that it brings him full circle.”
Purnell describes Mock as Tabor-Smith’s “dance father,” and when they were working together, Tabor-Smith told Purnell that his style sometimes reminded her of her mentor. His interest piqued, Purnell planned to write a book about Mock. But his friend and fellow filmmaker Travis Mathews (“Interior. Leather Bar.”) urged him to make a film instead. The suggestion yielded a documentary that is part biography as it charts Mock’s life and career and his death from AIDS; part affectionate reminiscence as Tabor-Smith, Joe Goode, Rhodessa Jones and others who worked with or were taught by Mock recall their friend and colleague; part evocation of Mock’s legend through archival performance footage; and part tribute through new performances of some of Mock’s works.
“The crew I was working with had a strong aesthetic for movement on film,” Purnell says. “We wanted to maybe breathe new life into these dances by giving them a more filmic perspective. Ed was strictly stage. We wanted to show the original work, but also kind of leave our stamp on it, too, with our interpretation, something that would connect with contemporary audiences a little more.”
Going into the project, Purnell feared it would be difficult to find material on his subject. Instead, he uncovered a treasure trove. Many of Mock’s dances are archived at San Francisco’s Museum of Performance and Design. There was the performance footage and an audio interview with Mock.
“People were really eager to share what their life was like in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s in San Francisco, painting a vivid picture of what an artist’s life was like then,” Purnell says.
Thirty-two years after Mock’s death, reminiscences would sometimes conflict and that intrigued Purnell, who would have to decide which, if any, version of a story to keep. People in the room when
The specter of AIDS looms large in “Unstoppable Feat.” Considering the life not lived and the dances not made was sobering for filmmaker Brontez Purnell.