Beginning in the early 1980s, hundreds of tiles carrying this cryptic message were found embedded in the asphalt of city streets as far apart as New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Santiago, and Buenos Aires. Street art? A prank? A message from space?
Filmmaker Jon Foy recounts how young artist Justin Duerr became fascinated with the strange plaques and, with two other “Toynbee tile” enthusiasts, Steve Weinik and Colin Smith, spent years trying to discover what they meant and who made them. The unlikely investigators uncovered increasingly bizarre clues: a newspaper article, a David Mamet play, a Jupiter colonization organization, and a Toynbee message that “hijacked” local news broadcasts.
That the origins of a street tile can be so captivating is testament to both Duerr’s passion and Foy’s filmmaking. Artfully constructed, Resurrect Dead thrusts us into the black hole of this fantastic mystery but also reflects on Duerr himself, and the personal connection he develops with finding an answer. —Sundance Film Festival
Welly welly, this was an ASTOUNDING documentary -- an ode to creation, drive and mystery that doubles as a kind of love letter to South Philly townies... UNFORGETTABLE !!
Finally had some answears, but my questions are not quite saciated. Great little film and great mistery that will probably never be 100% solved.
Don't say truth is stranger than fiction. Just don't, please don't. Don't say this film is about one's man obsessive quest to find out the truth. This film is about the passion that drives people to both create and discover mystery. And we were always told that if we only stared at the ground while we walked, we would miss the world passing us by..