Not an artist, but lives artistically. When filmmaker Brian Buss first encountered the work of builder and self-described non-artist Les Sunde, he wanted to know what moved Les to do what he did. For seven years he watched as Les built a world on his tiny Bellvue, Colorado property from unusual scrap materials. A piano rises from the floor. A merry-go-round spins on a rooftop and he showers in a phone booth. There is a family of robots, a machine that collects laughter, and a machine that makes lightening.
There were no blueprints, no formal training, and rarely a clear plan. Projects appeared, disappeared, or evolved over time. Les worked at his own pace, guided not by expertise but by curiosity and what he calls being "just brave enough" to try.
Little Brave is his battlecry.
For Les, building and putting things together is how he does the day. Every day.
His relationships have been all over the map. He's not proud of that. He gave it his best. Can he love another as much as he loves his work?
Years and years of building are interrupted by a letter from the county.
Several structures on his property are unpermitted. Suddenly, the freedom he has spent decades cultivating is under threat. Building is a way of being. Asking him to stop building is like asking him to die.
In a world that often values conformity over creativity, his story reveals a larger question at the heart of the film: What does it mean to live freely? And what happens when the very thing that gives life meaning is threatened?
Told through seven years of observation, conversation, and friendship, Les is More is a gift from Les and Brian, to you. If even one person happens to see something a little wider, then it was worth their while.
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