Mark Hogancamp - Welcome to Marwen

[bmattock]

I saw a trailer for a movie that's coming out soon, called "Welcome to Marwen." I was attracted to it primarily because the lead character, played by Steve Carell, uses a vintage Pentax Spotmatic in his photography.

Here's the trailer:

https://youtu.be/W6dy7xQ8NeE

Now, having said that, I did a little digging, because it says "based on a true story," as so many movies do. Well, this one is indeed based on a real story, and in my opinion, it's a gripping one.



https://www.slashfilm.com/welcome-to...-steve-carell/

Mark Hogancamp is a real person. He lives in New York and he was, by various accounts, a raging alcoholic and a cross-dresser, in addition to being a veteran of the US Navy and a husband with family.

He was in a bar where he expected to find his friends waiting for him (but they had already left) when he met up with and conversed with men who turned out to be (yes, actually) neo-Nazi thugs. They beat him savagely and left him for dead. He lost a great deal, including the ability to work and all memory of his prior life. All memories, gone forever.

He had been a talented if untrained artist during his time in the Navy, and he had kept scrapbooks of his artwork, which he cannot not do.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/g...marwencol.html

However, he turned to dolls and doll photography as a way of working out his issues and dealing with his problems, and to support himself when his disability money ran out.

There was a documentary movie made about him:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwencol_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwencol

http://marwencol.com/

He also put out a book - I intend to purchase it.

https://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Marwe...e+to+marwencol

Mark Hogancamp is an amazing person. I am so sorry for what happened to him, so sorry for the evil in the world that thinks what he got was OK.

I just wanted to pass this along. He's a photographer. He's one of us. When the movie comes out, I hope people see it in the right way, and I hope he benefits from it financially so he doesn't have to scrape by. He deserves more than poverty.

[maxmadco]

The documentary made around 2010 was good.

[johannielscom]

Mark Hogencamp. Only in the captions to the photographs online is his name written correctly. Everywhere else, it's written with a instead of e...

That must be the pinnacle of sad, to lose your memories and the correct spelling of your name when your existence is retrieved after all

[bmattock]

Originally Posted by johannielscom

Mark Hogencamp. Only in the captions to the photographs online is his name written correctly. Everywhere else, it's written with a instead of e...

That must be the pinnacle of sad, to lose your memories and the correct spelling of your name when your existence is retrieved after all

I apologize for spelling his name incorrectly. Mods, please delete this thread.

[EarlJam]

There was a nice writeup about Mr Hogancamp on Collectors Weekly, a couple of years ago.

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/art...or-fight-back/

[Phil_F_NM]

I'm in graduate school to become an art therapist and there is a bit of a buzz around this movie. My cohort was invited to a screening next week with some people who were involved in the film speaking afterwards.
I have ideas bouncing around my head about my thesis because of what this artist did to begin healing as well as another artist and veteran I know. I hope the new film does justice to the story and doesn't wash out anything to make it more palatable for the public.

Phil Forrest