Hillbilly Philosopher Marfa Submission, uh, Description

The Hillbilly Philosopher is an animated short about a young

southerner, Floyd, who has spent his entire life entrenched in the

routines, misinformation and anti-progress attitudes of a fictional

town called Rodenberg, TX. At the beginning of the story, quirky and

comical (albeit sometimes crass) moments that reveal brief insight

into the lives of many of the townspeople paint the sociological

landscape of this world. Floyd’s daily drudgery in working a customer

service job at a wheelbarrow rental store, ‘Wesley-Roundabouts,’ and

the playfully dysfunctional occupation of his best friend, Butts,

teaching art to young children, show us both a funny and surreal

situation.

After visiting Butts at work to give him both a mashed potato sandwich

from his pants and a shiny, parking-lot lighter–which forces Butts to

cry uncontrollably due the overwhelming kindness of the

gesture–Floyd’s life soon changes during a stroll away from the

school and down the county railroad tracks.

Floyd temporarily stops on a tall railroad bridge to have a brief

panic attack as he notices two men kissing in the woods. He had

assumed they must hold the status of ‘best friends’ in one another’s

eyes, merely there in the meadow to romp playfully doing ‘best friend

activities;’ however, the erotic display of their inner-most fantasies

towards one another shocks Floyd’s system into what can only be

described by medical doctors as ‘hillbilly madness.’

As the madness grips his nervous system, causing discomfort similar to

that of a suppository, Floyd fails to notice the revenge-seeking

family of rabid possums and giant train plummeting down the railroad

tracks towards him in an unforgiving but efficient manner. Upon

noticing, Floyd yelps, experiences a type of ‘reverse fart’ and then

runs as fast as he can towards the safety of a nearby grassy knoll.

Many talented possums are shoved to their doom off of the sides of the

perilous tracks behind Floyd, only to ethereally emerge as vibrant

green possum angels–fluttering upward to salvation. Let us say a

prayer for them.

Upon awakening safely with his face and mouth in dirt, Floyd

notices something very existential: a teeny tiny worm. Then, he

notices something even more existential; namely, that he almost just

died. His mind becomes flooded with Kantian questions, such as: What

can I know? What should I do? What is life? What is death? And should

we put blow-up dolls in lawn chairs?

Floyd walks back into the town in which he has spent the majority of

his existence, but things seem different to him somehow. He wonders if

there is more to life than he had initially come to believe for, uh,

his whole life. Floyd goes home and sits on his couch until the sun

sets and the moon emerges, pensively contemplating. Floyd’s roommate

and former elementary school gym coach yells at him (while lifting a

barbell) for having a light on because it makes it ‘so frickin’ hot’

in the house. The coach then inquires as to why Floyd is not watching

television and therefore appearing to act like a total idiot. Floyd

attempts to explain the shift that is occurring in his own

neurochemistry, but his efforts are in vain because the coach merely

accuses him of being effeminate. Therefore, Floyd decides to visit the

trailer of Butts, Butts’ boisterous, globular wife and their 9 to 15

children.

Despite Floyd’s best explanatory efforts, Butts insists that he simply

needs a nap and supper while Butts’ wife, Diamond, is too enthralled

with television food-commercials and locating her burlap sack to even

notice that Floyd has entered their home. It is at this moment that

Floyd realizes he must go to the most terrifying place in town for

answers: the local library (spelled ‘libary’ in Rodenberg).

Due to both a rather loose and enthusiastic interpretation and

enforcement of the United States Patriot Act, Floyd’s philosophical

inquiries are observed meticulously while at the library by Big

Brother–which is simply a man in a control room who is literally

Floyd’s older brother. It is clear that Floyd must travel elsewhere to

seek both the questions and answers he is after. However, Floyd would

prefer not to ‘go it alone,’ so he propositions his best friend,

Butts, to accompany him on his journey.

Butts desires to join Floyd on this trip and Diamond is easily sold on

the idea because (1) she does not care and (2) she is obsessed with

watching a show about how nobody should be allowed to say anything in

any context during the time in which Butts is explaining the idea of

his leaving.

So, the two hillbilly philosophers begin their road trip with such

excitement that they cannot help but slap spoons against their knees,

let a kicked possum drive for a spell, repeatedly smack slabs of raw

meat against local trees and even wreck their truck into a beautiful

above-ground pool. It’s a delight!

Justin Buschardt and Jonathan Hubbell wrote and illustrated this short

film to be a pilot, with hopes that it will

one day be picked up by a network as a series. They have several

seasons of episodes written, including one in the first season solely

about Marfa–backgrounds already painted and all! Both Jonathan and

Justin love West Texas, especially Marfa. They visit the area

frequently and Justin even proposed to his girlfriend in the summer of

2014 while staying at El Cosmico as she was unsuspectingly walking to

an outdoor shower.

She said “no”, of course.

Just kidding: she said “maybe”.

Okay, fine. She said “yes”.

Anyway, the two creatives would be honored to be a part of this

festival and delighted to have yet another excuse to visit the lovely,

unique area of the world known as Marfa.

Thank you so much for your time.