April 1973. Henry Darger - a retired maintenance man from Chicago - cancels the rent for his flat. He allows himself to be admitted to the retirement home. Shortly thereafter he dies. When asked what should be done with his furniture and things: "Throw it all away. Too late now. "
When homeowners Kiyoko and Nathan Lerner want to empty the apartment - they come across a life's work whose value is impossible to imagine. Scattered in cupboards, on tables, the ground is more than 30,000 pages filled with front and back sides, accompanied by some 300 paintings. Darger's epic: In the realms of the Unreal. He has worked on it for 60 years.
Henry's life was one of misery, abuse and loneliness. At a young age he made a decision: if the real world did not serve him - he would come up with one that did. He delved into his imagination and locked himself in it. Not about art or literature; but to save themselves.
Based on Darger's diaries, Thomas Janssens writes a new text for top actors Lynn Van Royen and Peter De Graef about what a person does to stay unnoticed.