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.