Synopsis

Film director Terry Gilliam has been dreaming of a screen adaptation of 'Don Quixote' for over 30 years. When he attempted the first production in 2000, Gilliam already had the reputation of being a bit of a Quixote himself: a filmmaker whose stories of visionary dreamers raging against gigantic forces mirrored his own artistic battles with the Hollywood machine. The collapse of that now-famous, ill-fated production only further cemented Gilliam’s reputation as an idealist chasing an impossible dream.

HE DREAMS OF GIANTS picks up Gilliam’s story 17 years later as he finally gets the film into production and once again and struggles to finish it. Facing him are a host of new obstacles: budget constraints, a history of compromise, and heightened expectations, all compounded by self-doubt, the toll of aging, and the nagging existential question: What is left for an artist when one completes the project that has defined the good part of a career?

Combining immersive verité footage of Gilliam’s production with intimate interviews and archival footage from Gilliam’s entire career, HE DREAMS OF GIANTS is a revealing portrait of a late-career artist and a meditation on the value of creativity in the face of mortality.

Official Selection DOC NYC 2019 - World premiere



