Film Screening of Mary Livoni’s Adaptation of Stuart Dybek’s The Apprentice

Artist Mary Livoni's short film, The Apprentice, is based on Stuart Dybek's short story by the same name. The atmospheric, vibrantly shot film tells the story of a boy and his uncle. It is the final story in Dybek's 1979 collection, Childhood and Other Neighborhoods. According to a Kirkus Review critique published around the time of the collection's publication date, "all of Dybek's range and flair works together in the final story, 'The Apprentice,' in which a truant boy courses through the city in the constant company of his crazy, ex-taxidermist uncle; together they collect dead-on-the-road animals destined for an imaginary restaurant the uncle claims to supply and which caters to displaced-person gourmets--a metaphor the boy doesn't appreciate for a while (and neither do we, right off). The uncle is full, in fact, of metaphors, lovely and outsized ones; and the story's climax reaches a literal (bridge-climbing) height and arc, as well as a symbolic one, that's absolutely superb." Livoni captures the intensity and drama of that childhood time and through masterful cinematography takes us to the top of that bridge. Dybek, a Fuller Award honoree, and Livoni, a former CLHOF board member, will participate in a discussion after the screening. Open to the public. Registration to open soon.