HI MY NAME IS RYAN Documentary Competition

I like to stay busy. I like to make people happy. I am an entertainer,” quips the exuberantly youthful Ryan Avery, luminous figurehead, rebellious visionary and eclectic member of Phoenix’s outsider art scene . Charmingly crafted by Paul Eagleston and Stephen Rose, this accomplished documentary portrait introduces the life’s work of a confounding and vibrant young artist. Ryan himself delivers testimonials to Ryan, with a melange of cohorts, colleagues, patrons , rivals, fans, bystanders, relatives and other members of his small Arizona community also chiming in. The resulting film hilariously divulges Ryan’s infectious personality and distinctive creative energy through Rashamanic layers of perceptions. Ryan’s life is laid bare for the audience, from his troubled upbringing to the channeling of that negative energy into his desire “to make everything awesome.” By executing that edict, Ryan draws those around him into making fiercely imaginative performance art. Along the way, the filmmakers continually build up and then shatter our notions of Ryan’s character and work, structuring their ultimately affirming film as an almost messianic story. By the end, one hopes that Ryan, a true farce of nature, has only just begun his work in building a cultural movement.