Movies: Les Blank Films

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)....

The definitive film on the history of the toe-tapping, foot-stomping music of French Southwest Louisiana. Includes many Cajun and Zydeco greats, featuring Michael Doucet and Beausoleil, Clifton Chenier, Marc and Ann Savoy, D.L. Menard, and many other...

A charming valentine to women born with a space between their teeth, ranging from lighthearted whimsy to a deeper look at issues like self-esteem and societal attitudes toward standards of beauty. Interviews were conducted with over one hundred women...

Huey Lewis And The News: BEFORE! 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!” ...

An independent feature, 12 years in the making, by Pieter Van Deusen in the mill towns and on the moorlands of northern England. Tom, a playwright whose wife has locked him out of the house, now lives in his garden shed. He has been trying to finish ...

This softball umpire training film was one of Les Blank's early industrial films made in 1962 prior to his independent filmmaking career. He made over 20 industrial films which helped him hone his skills as a filmmaker. Les recorded his own voice for...

This film, photographed and edited by Les Blank, produced and directed by Pieter Van Deusen, documents a spontaneously improvised concert by musician Christopher Tree. With his one-man orchestra, including 40 Tibetan temple gongs, flutes, tympani and...

An obsessively-made documentary, filmed over 16 years, exploring the creative life and adventures of the eccentric artist and entrepreneur Harrod Blank. From his youth growing up in the woods with chickens and working as a camera assistant for his fa...

The voyage section of Homer's classic tale is retold by the voice of a muse, actor Julie Harris, who recalls the essence of the adventure. A remarkable visual experience that captures the mythic quality of the ancient story....

A lyrical journey through the heart of Chicano culture as reflected in the love songs of the Tex-Mex Norteña music tradition. Performers include, Little Joe & La Familia, Leo Garza, Chavela Ortiz, Andres Berlanga, Ricardo Mejia, Conjunto Tamaulipas, ...

In 1967 Les Blank and Skip Gerson were hired to work in Thailand on a documentary about the B52 Bomber and its use in bombing campaigns over Vietnam....

Set in Huehuetla, Puebla, a Totonac Indian community in East Central Mexico, this documentary contrasts two systems of education. The public school system uses patriotic symbols to "integrate" Indian pupils into the national culture while teaching th...

A heartwarming portrait of an Idaho hermit, Richard “Dugout Dick” Zimmerman, who lived in caves that he dug on the banks of the Salmon River. It was the hope of finding precious metals that kept him digging and mining, but ultimately it was his simpl...

LITTLE WILLIE EASTON takes the stage of the street and a House of God church south of Miami with his talking, gospel, steel guitar, and performs in a musical style he pioneered in the 1920s that reached its pinnacle in a stirring tribute to the late ...

Every Year in New Orleans, Louisiana the Mardi Gras Indian tribes gather on the Sunday closest to St. Joseph’s Day to celebrate their pride and joy. Influenced by his father Les Blank, son Harrod Blank joins the parade with his camera. This is a trib...

An intimate look at black cowboys as they gather for a rodeo and dance on the 40 acre Circle 6 Ranch in Raywood, Texas....

A peek into the creativity of Jaber al Mahjoub, a street artist, originally from Tunisia and now living in Paris, France. Encouraged at an early age by the French artist Jean Dubuffet, Jaber calls himself the "Happy Idiot," obsessively making paintin...

A reflexive, first-person narrative by Captain Don Leslie, a sideshow sword-swallower, human blockhead, tattooed man, and fire eater. Recounting everything from childhood feelings of being an "oddball" to his injuries as a sword-swallower, Captain D...