Doctor Clown

color, sound, 30 min
scans not available
Doctor Patch Adams (“Doctor Clown”) is on a mission to infuse joy into even the grimmest circumstances. In this documentary, filmmaker Roberta Cantow takes us along on one of Patch’s ...
Rental format: VHS NTSC

About

Doctor Patch Adams (“Doctor Clown”) is on a mission to infuse joy into even the grimmest circumstances. In this documentary, filmmaker Roberta Cantow takes us along on one of Patch’s many Citizen Diplomacy trips, as he travels with an entourage of health care workers and amateur and professional clowns to Leningrad and Moscow and their outskirts in 1991, just before the collapse of the USSR.

Dressed in costumes, and carrying an array of clowning paraphernalia, the group visits orphanages, orthopedic centers, and children’s hospitals while the skillful camera work focuses in on the reactions of the people who inhabit these interior spaces and the dreary, wintry streets and landscapes that surround them.

Teasing and clowning with the children and adults he encounters, bringing smiles and surprises to many faces, Patch shows complete commitment to his mission, even in situations when he encounters resistance. Adding to the richness of the viewing experience, Cantow presents a range of voices and reactions, shedding light on the way one’s current circumstances and past traumas might affect one’s ability to simply open and laugh. The film’s less than perfect visual quality may be easily overlooked in the face of the questions the film provokes.

Films

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

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    Autostop
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Autostop
    Roberta Cantow

    16mm, black and white, sound, 17 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Literarature / Theater
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    Rites of Passage
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Rites of Passage
    Roberta Cantow

    16mm, color, sound, 17 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    Clotheslines
    Documentary
    Experimental

    Clotheslines
    Roberta Cantow

    16mm, color, sound, 32.25 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Ethnographic
    • Family
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    If This Ain't Heaven
    Experimental

    If This Ain't Heaven
    Roberta Cantow

    16mm, color, sound, 27.25 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Philosophical
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    Iluminada
    Experimental

    Iluminada
    Roberta Cantow

    color, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Environment / Nature
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    The Book of Laughs
    Documentary
    Experimental

    The Book of Laughs
    Roberta Cantow

    color, sound, 45 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Family
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    Mosaics
    Documentary

    Mosaics
    Roberta Cantow

    color, sound, 15 min
    Rental format: VHS NTSC
    • Ethnographic
    • Political / Social Activism
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     Bloodtime Moontime Dreamtime (Trilogy) : Women Bringing Forth Change
    Documentary
    Experimental

    Bloodtime Moontime Dreamtime (Trilogy) : Women Bringing Forth Change
    Roberta Cantow

    Digital File, color, sound, 120 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Body
    • Arts / Artists
    • Spiritual / Mystical
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    Not a Still Life
    Documentary

    Not a Still Life
    Roberta Cantow

    Digital File, color, sound, 59 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Psychology / Mental Health
    • Biography / Autobiography
    • Spiritual / Mystical
    • LGBT / Queer
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    Accordions Rising
    Documentary

    Accordions Rising
    Roberta Cantow

    Digital File, color, sound, 73.43 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Music
    • Arts / Artists
    • Ethnographic