Volcano Man

Reminiscent of Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell, Volcano Man proves that the intricacies, dreams and heart break of one unknown family is just as magnetic and affecting as any big ticket documentary subject.

Volcano Man draws you into the world of the eccentric, hilarious, ambitious and sometimes selfish for survival, Richard Crawley, with the use of a lifetime of archival footage that he shot with the dream of making a documentary, but never looked at again.

His son, also a filmmaker, is able to carve the footage into the story of his fathers life, which fuses non-fiction with recreated cinematic imaginations that allow Richard to reach the heights of his ambition and dreams (with just enough hilarious moments of his son cringing at his Dad's jokes and stories). It exposes the fractures of a father/son relationship and compassionately examines the inevitability of hurting those closest to you when mourning the loss of someone essential to your life.

Extremely generous in its vulnerability, Volcano Man is ultimately an incredible deep dive into the relationship of a father and son, and a Mother who tied them so closely together. It's hilarious. It's heartbreaking. It's truly phenomenal. An incredible documentary debut for James Crawley.