Superb, impressionistic doco retracing the footsteps of Factory hanger-on Danny Williams, a Harvard student, gifted filmmaker and Andy Warhol's lover, who disappeared in Massachusetts in 1966.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2007
A Walk Into the Sea 2007
Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory
Factory hanger-on Danny Williams was a Harvard student, a lighting whizz, a gifted filmmaker and, for a time, Andy Warhol’s lover. In 1966, while visiting his parents in Massachusetts, he disappeared. His car was found abandoned on a cliff top, but Danny was never seen again. This superb, impressionistic documentary, made by Danny’s niece Esther Robinson, retraces the footsteps of the uncle she never met. Those footsteps lead her straight back to such Factory alumni as Paul Morrissey, Gerard Malanga, Brigid Berlin, John Cale and Chuck Weis, and what she uncovers is a tangled court intrigue and rivalries that are still seething beyond the grave. Danny’s relatives and friends are on hand to provide a broader perspective. Ironically, although it deals with Warhol himself only obliquely, this modest film emerges as a more intimate portrait of the artist than the comprehensive official record featured elsewhere on our programme. Also screening in the Festival is a set of three recently rediscovered short films by Danny Williams.