Bradley Beesley
2021Beesley first worked with The Flaming Lips filming some promotional videos for the band's album Hit to Death in the Future Head. Most of Beesley's video work with the band is included on the VOID video retrospective.
Aside from his work with The Flaming Lips, Beesley has directed a number of award-winning documentaries. His first was 1999's "Hill Stomp Hollar", a one-hour film about the Fat Possum record label and many of the blues artists, particularly R. L. Burnside.
Beesley's next film Okie Noodling (2001) focused on the unusual practice of catching catfish using only the bare hand as bait. It featured an original soundtrack by The Flaming Lips and won the Audience Choice Award and was runner-up for Best Documentary at the 2001 South by Southwest film festival.
In 2005, Beesley released the documentary The Fearless Freaks: The Wondrously Improbable Story of The Flaming Lips. Critics said the film offered an unusually personal and intimate view into the band. The Flaming Lips also provided the soundtrack for the documentary that Beesley produced and co-directed, Summercamp!, which opened July 18, 2007. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bradley Beesley, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
The Fearless Freaks
Bradley Beesley
Beck, Bradley Beesley
Equal parts punk and psychedelia, the Flaming Lips emerged from Oklahoma City as one of the most bracing bands of the late 1980s. The Fearless Freaks documents their rise from Butthole Surfers-imitating noisemakers to grand poobahs of orchestral pop masterpieces. Filmmaker Bradley Beesely had the good fortune of living in the same neighborhood as lead Lip Wayne Coyne, who quickly enlisted his buddy to document his band's many concerts and assorted exploits. The early footage is a riot, with tragic hair styles on proud display as the boys attempt to cover up their lack of natural talent with sheer volume. During one show, they even have a friend bring a motorcycle on stage, which is then miked for sound and revved throughout the performance, clearing the club with toxic levels of carbon monoxide. Great punk rock stuff. Interspersed among the live bits are interviews with the band's family and friends, revealing the often tragic circumstances of their childhoods and early career.
The Fearless Freaks
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
Bradley Beesley
Danny Liles, Jamie Brooks
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual 'Prison Rodeo'. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it's one of the last of its kind - a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
Okie Noodling
Bradley Beesley
For centuries, a unique breed of fishermen has been catching monster catfish with their bare hands in the rivers and lakes of Oklahoma. Today, the tradition of "noodling" still has Okie anglers hooked. This documentary by Bradley Beesley features interviews with hardcore handfishing veterans as well as footage of real noodlers in action. Set against an original musical score by rock band The Flaming Lips, Okie Noodling offers an anecdotal look at a most unusual piece of Midwest American culture.
Okie Noodling
Summercamp!
Sarah Price, Bradley Beesley
Anybody who ever went to Summer Camp will surely be able to relate to this documentary. It deals with a few weeks at a Summer Camp for young folk, aged 6 to 15. We are introduced to the main element of the more troubled campers, an introvert, a bully,a passive-aggressive,and others.
Summercamp!
Road Kill Zoo
Bradley Beesley
Chandler Ryan
'Road Kill Zoo' follows a gang of nomadic, parentless teenagers as they practice the art of grifting. A tragic accident has left Byron and his younger sister Abby to fend for themselves. They travel the countryside meeting freaks, frauds and faith healers. With no resources or money, they must rely on what they know, which is fooling folks.
Road Kill Zoo
Christmas on Mars
Wayne Coyne, Bradley Beesley
Steven Drozd, Wayne Coyne
The film tells the story of the experiences of Major Syrtis during the first Christmas on a newly-colonized Mars. Coyne has described the film as "Maybe Eraserhead or Dead Man crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like The Wizard of Oz and maybe A Space Odyssey, and set at Christmas-time. The story that unfolds is intended to hint at childlike magic within a tragic and realistic situation."
Christmas on Mars
The Creek Runs Red
Bradley Beesley, James D. Payne
Orval "Hoppy" Ray
"Since the area was declared a Superfund site in 1981, Picher's residents have been forced to choose between preserving their image of the American dream and preserving their health. The Creek Runs Red carries us into the heart of a sharply divided community to reveal, with extraordinary intimacy and insight, an array of human reactions to an environmental disaster."--Container.
The Creek Runs Red
The Flaming Lips: U.F.O's At The Zoo
Wayne Coyne, Bradley Beesley
Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd
The Flaming Lips’ U.F.O.s At The Zoo: The Legendary Concert In Oklahoma City captures the over-the-top spectacle of the band’s 2006 homecoming performance. Filmed at the Zoo Amphitheater in front of a capacity crowd of manic fans, U.F.O.s At The Zoo delivers the sonic and visual sensory overload that is The Flaming Lips live experience.
The Flaming Lips: U.F.O's At The Zoo
