Les Blank

A documentary on the chaotic production of Werner Herzog's epic 'Fitzcarraldo' , showing how the film managed to get made despite problems that would have floored a less obsessively driven director (imdb)

A film exactly described by its title. German film director Herzog had made a bet with fledgling director Errol Morris that, if Morris made a film, Herzog would eat his shoe. Morris went on to film 'Gates of Heaven', so Herzog kept his promise. While eating the boiled shoe, Herzog carries on a dialogue with the film premier audience on film, art, and life. (imdb)

A documentary about the music of the Mexican community on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border, particularly of migrant farmers. It includes material about the roots of the music, but devotes principal attention to the music as a form of social protest against oppression and racism. (imdb)

A documentary on the history of garlic. Blank interviews chefs, garlic lovers, and historians about the their love of the 'stinking rose.' (imdb)

This Documentary just about Gap Toothed Women! (myself)

A portrayal of the lives and music of French speaking Louisiana Cajuns.

A portrait of black Creole life in the Louisiana Delta, accompanied by the hot sounds of Zydeco music. (imdb)

A lyrical recreation of Lightnin' Hopkins' decision at age eight to stop chopping cotton and start singing for a living. (LesBlank.com)

A deeply moving tribute to the Texas songster, Mance Lipscomb, considered by many to be the greatest guitarist of all time. (imdb)

Documentary following Tommy Jarrel - the great North Carolina fiddlist.

Oakland bluesman Sonny Rhodes sings "Cigarette Blues": a musical warning that compares cigarette smoking with playing with a loaded gun. (KG)

Documentation of 1967 Los Angeles Easter Sunday Love-In. (imdb)

Les Blank's first student film, starring Gail Blank, Pieter Van Deusen, and Les himself. An hommage to Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal, the film that inspired Blank to become a filmmaker. (KG)

A portrait of the great Texas bluesman, 'Lightnin' Hopkins. The film includes interviews and a performance by Hopkins. (imdb)

A surrealistic (and often hilarious) look at a large-scale chicken farm that produces 156 million chickens a year! Lots of chicken songs.

Documentary about noted Zydeco artist Clifton Chenier. Based out of New Orleans, Chenier was the self-crowned "King" of Zydeco (a New Orleans musical hybrid containing elements of blues, folk and Tex-Mex music). Included are interviews with Chenier himself as well as relatives and friends, and scenic shots of the New Orleans area Chenier calls home, all of which is edited together by Les Blank. (imdb)

A look at the spirit of New Orleans. First a funeral: Allen Toussaint explains that you arrive slow and cut up afterwards. Then it's food, with a lesson in eating crayfish at Frankie and ... (imdb)

A portrait of the life, culture and food surrounding the lovers of Polka music. The title is taken from an old Polka standard. Stars of the Polka world are highlighted. (imdb)

Accordionist Marc Savoy and his family and friends show us how to make goo courtbouillon, gumbo, étouffée, boudin, and other Cajun and Creole delights. (Criterion)

Les Blank's first feature-length documentary captures music and other events at Leon Russell's Oklahoma recording studio during a three-year period (1972-1974). (imdb)

A film-portrait of the Afro-Cuban master drummer, Francisco Aguabella. Born in Cuba, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1957 where he made outstanding contributions to Latin popular music while maintaining his roots in traditional Afro-Cuban religious drumming. Film explores Aguabella's role both as a sacred drummer and a figure of historical influence in Latin Jazz, Pop and Fusion.

A history of music from southwest Louisiana.

Del mero corazón is a lyrical journey through the heart of Chicano culture as reflected in the love songs of the Tex-Mex Norteña music tradition. (docsdf.org)

The long-awaited sequel to Sprout Wings and Fly (Les Blank's first film about this homegrown Appalachian fiddler and raconteur) is a gentle celebration of mountain living, a once-thriving American way of life. This portrait showcases Tommy's unpretentious folk wisdom and reminiscences. The soundtrack features his singing and fiddling, spiced with a visit to the Smithsonian to test-drive an authentic Stradivarius violin. (lesblank.com)

80-year-old Julie Lyon, sister of Old Time fiddler Tommy Jarrell, lights up this gem of a film as she spins tales of her Appalachian childhood in North Carolina -- and her first romance. (lesblank.com)

Filmmaker Gary Keys' 1986 film of Dizzy and company live in California. (imdb)

This documentary from Les Blank follows the indomitable Gerald "The Maestro" Gaxiola, who turned to a life of prolific art making after years as an aircraft mechanic, traveling salesman, and body builder. (imdb)

During the 1990s, David Lee Hoffman searched throughout China for the finest teas. He's a California importer who, as a youth, lived in Asia for years and took tea with the Dali Lama. Hoffman's mission is to find and bring to the U.S. the best hand picked and hand processed tea. This search takes him directly to farms and engages him with Chinese scientists, business people, and government officials: Hoffman wants tea grown organically without a factory, high-yield mentality. (imdb)

While they waited to get approval to film American bombers in Thailand in 1967, Les Blank and Skip Gerson bided their time poetically capturing the surrounding people and their culture. They never got approval, but this is what remains of their expedition.

One of Les Blank's student films while at USC School of Cinematic Arts. And Fredom Came?! is a story about the frustrations of early married life, featuring Gail Blank and David Lawrence. Cinematography by Getachew Abbai. Black & White, 10 minutes, 1962. (imdb)

One of Les Blank's student films while attending USC School of Cinematic Arts. Strike! This bizarre short features Gail Blank, Bul Bul Bedi, and Harry Sauberli. Black & White, 5 minutes, 1960.

Hopkins made up this song and performed it for Les Blank after deciding to make the documentary The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins. (imdb)

This short film by Les Blank with Skip Gerson features the charismatic legendary blues icon Lightnin' Hopkins sing a beautiful song about a stuttering boy who learns that he can communicate through singing. Also features Billy Bizor on harmonica. (lesblank.com)

A follow-up to Blank's "The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists". Les Blank continued filming the Maestro after the original film was completed.

Enchanting portrait of Marc and Ann Savoy, Cajun musicians who are dedicated to the preservation and continuance of Cajun culture.

This little known Les Blank gem is a portrait of the Serbian-American communities of California and Chicago.

The film follows one of the world's top rock-and-roll bands of the 80's and a crew of fifty technicians to the Bahamas for the making of a music video for their number one hit single, "Stuck With You" for their album, "FORE!" (imdb)

In the year 2000, Les Blank, along with co-filmmaker Gina Leibrecht, visited Richard Leacock (1921-2011) at his farm in Normandy, France and recorded conversations with him about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking!

This gentle portrait of Auntie Irmgard Farden Aluli, one of Hawaii's best loved composers, focuses on Hawaiian women's contributions to family structure, art, music and dance. (imdb)

Documentary about a couple of American tourists on a two-week European tour. (imdb)