We're pleased to tell you one of our 'instructional videos' - At Home With David Hoyle - won the Outrate Short Film Festival. Here's what the judges had to say -I found this film fascinating, like watching a one-man show or reading a particularly rich memoir. That it could work in various media was one reason I found it so strong. The intimacy of David's story—complete with big-picture questions of life as well as the banalities of an existence that challenges the notion that all gay people are rich and frivolous—is arresting. Loved the details, the items filmed off to the side, David fixing his hair in the mirror. The blinking of the lens was brilliant...it's like the camera is half-interested, half-politely tolerating his conversation.
Watching David Hoyle unapologetically invite us through his cocoon of a home felt like a cross between “Gray Gardens” with a touch of “Welcome To My Home” spun with a hint of “Crumb” the documentary. There was a certain pathos watching him speak with such rawness as the road map of his face indicates he has obviously endured quite a career. In his 'retirement' space we see the aftermath: smoking and drinking alone, recovering mentally but never playing the martyr. The open angst of this artist who suffers from depression does not make it feel like it is exploitative to either the audience or performer. This stream of consciousness is a rare art form in itself as it neither plays off as self-indulgent or heavy fisted. The director has picked appropriate cuts which puncture the point much harder than him explaining the message - we certainly get it.
Nathan Evans has cleverly directed this story without pimping emotions out of the audience; he lets out just enough to quench our curiosity. It was with his deft hand that we see the irony of a lonely man not just inviting us into his home but into his very full mind.
Never feeling as if we were sneaking into one man's therapy, although that is what the words would indicate, David Holye allows us to access his psyche. He entertains like a grand master of a circus yet being cordial, almost formal, through out. He is very aware that through the camera lens there is the answer to his loneliness. If fate had played out differently David would be paid big dollars to narrate a tour of his home on MTV's show "Cribs" or he would have his own reality show. Here we see the former Divine Dave who still has that spark which now sits in isolation just waiting to ignite with others.