A salute to American originals- George and Mike Kuchar
Sins of the Fleshapoids?
(user comments: All time worst,worse that Plan 9 from Outer Space–sic)
What,you ask(?)Who are these twin brothers,filmmakers, that are so independent you can’t even find their stuff on video? So influential they foreshadowed an army of underground filmmakers including John Waters, Andy Warhol and David Lynch? How is it so with films from the 60’s titled:The Mammal Palace, I Was a Teenage Rumpot,Hold Me While I’m Naked and Color Me Shameless that they are still virtually unknown? It seems a veritable outrage that the general public can not taste the beauty of their cinematic visions.
(Bring back the Kuchars!)
Lucky enough, I had the chance to catch some of their films at a marathon screening some years ago at the American Museum of the Moving Image. I was blown away by their outrageousness (as good as any John Waters offering!),and bizarre resourcefulness considering most of their earlier films were shot in 8mm and 16 mm on the roofs and streets of the Bronx. Casting themselves and fellow acquaintances as stars, they have left behind a still growing legacy of experimental and avant films. My favorite fact is they are totally into cost effectiveness. Still.
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Read an insightful interview featuring both Kuchar’s…on their techniques,their philosophies and musings about their stars.
(From: Essential Cinema:Journal of Independent Film)
(a quick excerpt below,here’s the full entertainment)
George: People are desperate to show their pictures. And there ain’t that many showcases anymore. They don’t know what to do. Horrible.
Mike: What about festivals?
George: You have to pay to get your film rejected.
Mike: I could never understand paying sixteen or twenty dollars to get rejected, can you?
George: It’s humiliating.
Mike: I never ever did that. I know some people who pay to enter their film and they say, ‘Sorry, we don’t want it.’.
Marc: Have you ever taken a film class?
Mike: No.
George: No, you buy those little books.
Marc: You teach film class.
George: Oh yeah, I’ve been teaching twenty-one years. I’m teaching film class with a video camera now. [laughter].
Marc: Is that ethical?
George: You know what it is, it’s like the name of the class now is, AC/DC Psychotronic Teleplays and we use anything that moves. We grab all the cameras they have. Still cameras are welcome, even if students bring in Polaroid’s.
An extensive history: The Day The Bronx Invaded Earth.
(From:Bright Lights Film Journal)
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A peep from the underground- John Waters’ introduction to their book:REFLECTIONS FROM A CINEMATIC CESSPOOL