In 1888 the controversial painter Thomas Eakins of Philadelphia met the poet Walt Whitman. He painted his portrait and when the poet died in 1892, made his death mask. Realism & Lilacs is a fictional melodrama musing on what may have happened in between.
This Victorian melodrama merges fact with fiction and incorporates the staples of the genre: blackmail, nudity, insanity, suicide, mistaken identity, grave robbing, and nude wrestling.
Realism & Lilacs is an homage to the homoerotic work of Eakins and Whitman in addition to being a story of art istic integrity, the importance of freedom of expression, and the importance of friendship and trust amidst the dark hypocrisy of Victorian morality.
Shot on black and white film this screening will feature the 75 minute rough cut on video. The writer/producer will be present and a Q & A discussion will follow the film.