Lakeland, Florida; The Polk Theatre presents “Automorphosis” with Producer/Director Harrod Blank as part of the Southern Arts Federation’s Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers on Friday, September 18 at 7:30 PM.  Following a screening of his documentary, “Automorphosis,” Blank will engage the audience in a discussion about the film and his work as a filmmaker.  David DeBorde, Award winning film maker and Film Professor at Southeastern University will facilitate a Q&A for the audience with Mr. Blank following the movie. Tickets are available $6 at the door.

“Automorphosis” has been featured at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ashland Independent Film Festival, Independent Film Festival Boston, Newport Beach Film Festival, WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, Santa Cruz Film Festival, Maui Film Festival, among many others. “Automorphosis” received the Audience Award for Best Documentary at SF DocFest and the Bronze Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival. http://www.southarts.org/site/c.guIYLaMRJxE/b.5243111/k.9C43/Circuit_3__H_Blank.htm

What if you could morph your car into a mobile work of art and drive it down the road for all to see? What would it look like?  What would the world think of you? How would you be changed? “Automorphosis” looks into the minds and hearts of a delightful collection of eccentrics, visionaries, and just plain folks who have transformed their autos into artworks. On a humorous and touching journey, we discover what drives the creative process for these unconventional characters. And in the end, we find that an art car has the power to change us—to alter our view of our increasingly homogeneous world.

When Harrod Blank first realized that his ’65 VW Beetle could be treated as a canvas, the result was titled “Oh My God!” Painted like a beach ball with a bumper of plastic fruit and rubber chickens, a chalkboard on back, and a TV on the roof, the car was the catalyst for his remarkable career creating and documenting art cars. In August of 2005, Blank embarked upon the making of a visionary center for the arts in Douglas , Arizona on the border of Mexico called Rancho Del Arte. In addition to “Automorphosis,” Blank has produced “Burning Man: the Movie,” a documentary film ten years in the making about the radical arts festival, and two shorter art car documentaries, “Wild Wheels” and “Drivin’ the Dream.”

The 2009-2010 Southern Circuit is a program of the Southern Arts Federation. Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from the Southern Arts Federation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and local partner organizations. Special support for Southern Circuit was provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences