OUT OF THE WOODS: Life and Death in Dirty Dave's Homeless Camp

MICHAEL E. ARTH, 2020 United States presidential candidate (http://www.michaelearth.org), policy analyst,  urban designer, and advocate for the homeless,  filmed this 93-minute feature documentary from 2008 to 2012. Filmed as it happened with minimal editing, "Out of the Woods" is a dark comedy with a serious message and a realizable solution. "Dirty Dave" Grimsley is a pint-sized blend of Randle McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and George Clooney's Ulysses Everett McGill in "O Brother Where Art Thou." Also known as "Dammit Man" and Tom Sawyer because of his profane hucksterism, Dave is a hard-drinking leprechaun with the gift of gab, a heart of gold and not a pot to piss in. He runs a homeless camp while waiting for local authorities in Volusia County, FL to donate public land for Tiger Bay Village, a community of services for adults who fall through the cracks.

"I'm a small potato but I'm hard to peel," Dave brags after being set upon my machete-wielding thugs suspected of killing transients. His girlfriend Allyson is a former beauty queen who was a nurse before substance abuse and outdoor living took its toll. With grim humor, laughter and tears, Vodka Scott, Two-Beer Billy, Dino the Dinosaur, Hopalong and their friends will take you to a place have never been, even though it already exists in the woods near you. For more information go to http://www.villagesforthehomeless.org.