Calvin Black was a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume. He also built the "Bird Cage Theater," where the dolls perform and sing in voices recorded by the artist. The film works on two levels. One is the documentation of the artist's legacy and commentary on women: grotesque female figures moving in the desert wind and the theater with its frozen "actresses," protected by his widow from a world she views as hostile. The other is the re-creation of the artist's vision through the magic of film, as the camera enables the dolls to move and sing and brings theater to life as the artist imagined it.
Cast
Recommendations
view all
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me

Seduced and Abandoned

Casting By

The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

Justin Bieber's Believe

McQueen

Naqoyqatsi

Sidney

The Class of ‘92

Halloween: 25 Years of Terror

John Candy: I Like Me

Powaqqatsi

Looking for Richard

28 Up

Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster

The Crash Reel

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story