Cinema Arts Program: Hobo Graffiti

Cinema Arts Program: Hobo Graffiti McBean Theater, 2:00 p.m. Who is Bozo Texino? (2007, 58 min.), by Bill Daniel, chronicles the search for the source of a mythic piece of railroad graffiti—a character with an infinity-shaped hat and the scrawled moniker ?Bozo Texino.? Daniel's gritty black-and-white film uncovers a secret society and its underground universe of hobo and railworker graffiti, and includes interviews with legendary boxcar artists Coaltrain, Herby, Colossus of Roads, and The Rambler. Shooting over a 16-year period, Daniel rode freights across the West with a Super-8 camera and a 16mm Bolex to discover the roots of a largely unknown folkloric tradition. Taking inspiration from Beat artists Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac, the film is both cultural documentary and stylized fable on wanderlust and outsider identity.