Documentary Features
Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern
Tireless, uncompromising, and one of the last living legends of his generation, Bruce Dern is an actor whose fearlessness and radical lack of vanity took him places other actors simply wouldn't go. A devoted long-distance runner, Dern has always understood endurance is a discipline. Dern ran through his acting golden age, through the lean years, and kept going until the work caught up with him again. Dernsie is an intimate portrait from director Mike Mendez, drawn from over fifty hours of conversations, never-before-seen photographs, and deeply personal video letters from those closest to Dern.
A Q&A with director Mike Mendez immediately follows the screening.
Southeast premiere
DIRECTOR
Mike Mendez
PRODUCERS
Thomas Verrette
Ben Epstein
CAST
Bruce Dern
Laura Dern
Walton Goggins
Quentin Tarantino
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Award-winning director Mike Mendez thrived in genre storytelling, pushing boundaries and finding wit and wonder in the macabre through his films like Killers, The Convent, The Gravedancers, Big Ass Spider!, Tales of Halloween, and Satanic Hispanics. His latest film, Dernsie, expands his filmmaking journey into more intimate territory, marking a shift in his work that blends his lifelong love of genre with a deep commitment to character and legacy.