New film tells extraordinary story of the King of Brighton’s eccentrics.
A new British independent documentary, The Man Whose Mind Exploded, which was played at the British Film Industry’s recent Flare Festival of LGBT cinema, explores the extraordinary past and never-ending now of Drako Oho Zarharzar: philosopher, muse to Salvador Dali, drug dealer to the Rolling Stones, and King of Brighton’s eccentrics.
The film follows Toby Amies’ unusual relationship with Drako Oho Zarharzar – one of Brighton’s living landmarks – known for his bald head, waxed moustache, and habit of cycling around Kemptown in a cape.
However, in his earlier life, he was a stunningly beautiful and sexually adventurous young man – who posed for Dali, danced at the Folies Bergère, dealt drugs to the Rolling Stones, was an early pioneer in extreme body modification and collaborated with his friend Derek Jarman, most notably in The Garden.
Drako suffered serious brain damage in a car accident in the 90s, leaving him unable to form new memories. The film covers his last days in a tiny council flat in Kemptown: now in his seventies, he can remember being discovered by Dali, but not where he went yesterday.
As Amies visits Drako over the course of several years, the line between biographer and carer becomes blurred, resulting in an intimate record of a painful, touching and frequently hilarious relationship.
Toby Amies, director and co-producer, who made much of the film in his garden shed, said: “I started off telling the story an extraordinary man who’d lived an extraordinary life. But it became a story about how someone copes when their memory doesn’t work, and what that does to their identity.
“It’s also about my friendship with Drako, and what it’s like to try to look after someone who isn’t looking after themselves – and there are a lot of people who can identify with that.”
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