A LIFE ON THE FARM

Try to imagine: it’s the year 1991. You live in a small farming community in rural England where your closest neighbor lives a short 10 miles down the road. Now imagine that your farmer neighbor is David Lynch, but instead of spending his free time making dark, surrealist Hollywood thrillers, he makes home movies just for you…. When filmmaker Oscar Harding’s grandfather, who actually lived on a farm in the rural English countryside, passed away, he bequeathed an extraordinary videotape to the filmmaker—a feature-length home video from neighbor Charles Carson. If Bob Saget had shown CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST on AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS, the cutdown would have been A LIFE ON THE FARM. Harding’s debut documentary utilizes the bizarre found footage from Charles Carson’s feature-length home movie to investigate the obscure life of this prolific inventor, outsider artist, and pioneer of death positivity. Carson is equal parts endearing and disturbing, as only a man who photographs chickens in overcoats and puppeteers dead cats can be. The documentary takes a deep dive into his legacy through the help of a whole new generation of fans, including Karen Kilgariff (MY FAVORITE MURDER), Derrick Beckles (TV CARNAGE, HOT PACKAGE), Davy Rothbart (17 BLOCKS), Joe Pickett & Nick Prueher (THE FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL, CHOP & STEELE) and the collective Everything Is Terrible! A LIFE ON THE FARM is a celebration of a remarkable life not easily forgotten, and a love letter to found footage without having put pen to paper. The film is a well-needed refresher on the importance of amateur filmmaking. (AHBRA PERRY)