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Logline

Delusions of Grandeur is an intimate portrait of artist Dustin Yellin as he pursues impossible-scale projects—most notably a plan to lift a decommissioned oil tanker into the sky.

Synopsis

Delusions of Grandeur is a character-driven portrait of Dustin Yellin, a New York artist known for his intricate glass sculptures and as the founder of Pioneer Works, a thriving cultural center in Brooklyn. A born hustler and an institution-builder who lives in a constant state of creative overreach, Dustin dreams not just of artworks, but of monuments, civic spaces, and utopian gestures large enough to tilt reality.

At the center of the film is Dustin’s obsession with “The Bridge,” a quixotic plan to lift a decommissioned oil tanker upright as a public sculpture. The project is fueled by his friendship with filmmaker Werner Herzog, whose legendary tale of dragging a steamship over a mountain in Fitzcarraldo becomes a guiding myth. Herzog acts as mentor and provocateur, encouraging Dustin to pursue the tanker while questioning his artistic motivations for doing so.

As Dustin chases funding, engineers, and political backing, earlier brushes with breakdown resurface as Dustin approaches exhaustion. All of this collides with mounting pressures at home: a partner asking for presence, the arrival of fatherhood, and the growing realization that monumental dreams leave little room for ordinary life.

While the oil tanker is in a state of limbo, the film ultimately returns to Pioneer Works, the living institution that stands as both proof and counterweight to Dustin’s grandiosity. Through public art, science programming, and the creation of New York City’s first public observatory, his once-impossible visions manifest as shared civic space. Delusions of Grandeur closes on an unresolved tension: the tanker may never rise, yet the drive that built it continues to generate culture, community, and meaning. The film becomes a meditation on the thin line between delusion and creation.

Meet the Filmmakers

Curtis Whitear — Director
Curtis Whitear is a documentary filmmaker and editor from Utah, now based in New York City. Most recently he was the editor and co-writer of Inheritance, a feature documentary which was shot over eleven years in rural Ohio dealing with addiction and generational poverty in America. The film has been covered in The New York Times, and premiered at Slamdance where it won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary. It is now showing at festivals around the world. He is currently working on a feature documentary following the artist Dustin Yellin’s dream to repurpose a supertanker as the world’s largest sculpture. Curtis is also the creator of Childhood Delusions Film Festival, a film festival for adults who made movies as children, which has been featured in The New Yorker and elsewhere.

Nicholas Bruckman — Producer
Nicholas Bruckman is an Emmy®-nominated director and founder of People’s Television, a NYC- and DC-based creative studio producing award-winning independent films and storytelling campaigns for leading global brands. His feature documentary Not Going Quietly won the Audience and Jury Awards at SXSW and was released to critical acclaim in theaters and on Hulu. His follow-up, Minted: The Rise (and Fall?) of the NFT, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released on Netflix in over 100 countries in 2025. Most recently, his docuseries The Price of Milk – which uncovers the hidden story behind the iconic “Got Milk?” campaign – premiered at Tribeca and will be released in 2026. Through People’s TV, Nick leads a team producing films and brand campaigns for clients including Google, Meta, and TED, as well as startups, foundations, and nonprofits.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.