The ventriloquists who gather in Fort Mitchell, Ky., every year for the Vent Haven convention are one big, weird family.
The event is the cultural epicenter for professional ventriloquists or “vents” as they’re known. It’s an odd society, where everyone and their dummies jockey for similar hard-to-land jobs. Yet when they come together for this annual expo, the tone is anything but competitive.
Nurturing and supporting peers is a necessity when you all face the same career obstacles and personal demons that come with this often maligned and misunderstood line of work.
“That’s one of the things we love about it,” said filmmaker Mark Goffman, whose documentary, “Dumbstruck” follows five vents. “They call the convention a family reunion. They feel like there’s a lot of room for success, and any success in the art form is a win.”
It could be said the profession is being reborn now. Two of the top entertainers in the country, Terry Fator and Jeff Dunham, play with puppets for money – for lots of money – in front of live audiences.
Whether they’re booked at The Mirage, on a Comedy Central special, or in a virtually empty room at a senior center where half the audience is asleep, vents all share the stigmas that come with this Vaudevillian craft. Each knows how it feels to be the cause of eye rolls and to have your family all but give up on you.
Goffman and his wife and the film’s producer, Lindsay, got wind of Vent Haven through Lindsay’s mom. Her toast at the couple’s wedding through a sock puppet had everyone intrigued. And when she shared video taken at Vent Haven, the Goffmans knew they had fertile ground for their first feature film.
As an Emory grad, and with interest from the Center for Puppetry Arts, Mark Goffman chose Atlanta for the world premiere of “Dumbstruck.”
Q: During the course of filming, one of the five ventriloquists, Terry Fator, got signed to a $100 million contract in Las Vegas – did you have any idea so much would happen on your watch?
A: We started out not wanting to choose anyone famous. We wanted to find out what the working ventriloquists were like. We were shooting Terry and we were there for every one of his successes, which were meteoric. It was the course of a year we were filming. We feel like we captured the most unusual year in this incredibly unusual art form.
Q: What were you hoping to learn?
A: We wanted to see what their support system was like because we knew there wasn’t a whole lot of money in this. We found very quickly, with Kimberly [Yeager] in Mansfield that her mom wanted to be supportive but felt this was something she should’ve grown out of by now and given her some real grandchildren instead of puppets.
We wanted to find out what it’s like to be in Mansfield or Corsicana, Texas, making a career out of doing this art form you really love, but which we had no exposure to in Los Angeles.
Q: You say you were influenced by Christopher Guest-style mockumentaries. At any point did you feel like this would be a send-up?
A: Both Lindsay and I have an enormous amount of respect for the vents, for the community, and for anyone pursuing their dream who is out of the ordinary. We moved to Hollywood and took a lot of chances and we feel like that’s the American dream. Since it was inspired by my mother in law who goes to these conventions every year, we approached it with a respect and love and we wanted them to tell their stories. They’re funny enough; you don’t have to make fun of them.
BOX:
Movie preview
“Dumbstruck”
Written and Directed by Mark Goffman, Produced by Lindsay Goffman.
April 15-17 at Midtown Art Cinema. Q & A with Mark and Lindsay Goffman follow 7:15 p.m. screenings April 15 and 16. An Axtell ventriloquist puppet will be raffled off during April 15 event. Several other screenings shown throughout the run. 1 hour, 24 minutes. PG for brief suggestive humor.
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