Institute History
Description
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing
NUTS! recounts the true story of John Romulus Brinkley, a small-town Kansas doctor who discovers in 1917 that he can cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles into men. And that’s just the tipping point in this stranger-than-fiction tale. With the balls of a P.T. Barnum, the gonads of goats, and the wishful dreams of flaccid men, Brinkley amassed a fortune, was almost elected Governor of Kansas, invented junk mail and the infomercial, and built the world’s most powerful radio station. By the time all of the twists and turns of Brinkley’s story are revealed, NUTS! certainly earns its title.
Utilizing hilariously cheeky animation and the writings of Brinkley himself (whose dubious memoir provides the narration for this true story), filmmaker Penny Lane injects her audacious tale with humor and empathy. We’re reminded that our love of (and need for) compelling narratives is exactly what makes us so endlessly susceptible to being conned. But don’t be fooled here; Penny Lane is the real deal.
Screens with Emperor of Time
This is the story of the first motion pictures ever photographed, as told by the son of Eadweard Muybridge.