Ry Cooder Group ’88 in Santa Cruz Les Blank (USA, 1988) Slide-guitar great and world music alchemist Ry Cooder handpicked an orchestra of virtuoso musicians for a brief tour, including accordionist Flaco Jiménez, eccentric pianist Van Dyke Parks, drummer Jim Keltner, and singers Bobby King and Terry Evans. One stop was The Catalyst in Santa […]
(Directed Cuban & NY sequences) Harry Belafonte hosts this three-part documentary tracing the history of Latin music from its African and Spanish roots to its Caribbean and Cuban flowering and its continuing popularity in America. Features performance clips from the full spectrum of Latin-influenced performers such as Desi Arnaz, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, The Miami […]
This industrial film is very much of it’s time and should be viewed as such rather than with today’s eyes. It is a piece of Les Blank’s history as a film maker and belongs in his repertoire for that reason alone. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its contents did not reflect […]
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 most of the umpire calls which are humorous. Found as a marked-up […]
Watch Now Filmed during his student years, this bizarre horror film features Gail Blank, Bul Bul Bedi, and Harry Sauberli. Les Blank attended USC School of Cinematic Arts and pursued a Ph.D. in Communications. These student films, made in the years 1960-1962, represent his initial interest in making narrative films. Three of the films feature […]
Les Blank’s first student film, starring Gail Blank, Pieter Van Deusen and Les himself. This short pays homage to Ingmar Bergman’s Seventh Seal, the film that inspired Blank to become a filmmaker. Les Blank attended USC School of Cinematic Arts and pursued a Ph.D. in Communications. These student films, made in the years 1960-1962, represent […]
People who work with their hands talking about the things they fix: musical instruments, planes, race cars, the Goodyear Blimp, and tree surgery. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its contents did not reflect his personal beliefs or those of Les Blank Films now. 197127 minutesColor Directed by Paul BoorstinFilmed by Les […]
Part of a series of films called Operation Success, (Aka Stories of Success) hosted by Bennet Cerf. This one tells, and sells, the concept of consumer credit (and the dangers of American society not having it!) Explanation of the credit system, Credit Bureaus, File Reporters, the history of credit. Associated Credit Bureaus of America, (ACB.) […]
Part of a series of films called Operation Success, (Aka Stories of Success) hosted by Bennet Cerf. A very detailed educational/promotional film about the creation and uses of iron powder, (aka Sponge Iron) in manufacturing. Featuring the Hoegannes Corporation (NJ), and Burgess Norton Manufacturing Company (IL). Pacific Southern Foundries Inc., (CA) Les Blank worked on […]
Part of a series of films called Operation Success, (Aka Stories of Success) hosted by Bennet Cerf. A promotional film about the interstate trucking industry in the United States. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its contents did not reflect his personal beliefs or those of Les Blank Films now. 196627 minutesColorDirected, […]
Part of a series of films called Operation Success, (Aka Stories of Success) hosted by Bennet Cerf. A publicity film for Sue Bee honey, (Aka Sioux Bee.) A short history of honey from Greeks to present explaining how bees and their honey are harnessed commercially. Detailed manufacturing operations and the stages of production from bee […]
Part of a series of films called Operation Success, (Aka Stories of Success) hosted by Bennet Cerf. A publicity film for Shakey’s Pizza telling the history of the company and how they made their restaurants into local gathering places in each town they’re located in. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its […]
Aerospace and aircraft machined parts company in the Western branch of Mech-Tronics company. Informational and promotional film. Extremely precise machined specialized. Early computer applications for manufacturing. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its contents did not reflect his personal beliefs or those of Les Blank Films now. 1966 13 minutes Color Directed, […]
Made for the California Almond Growers Exchange, Sacramento, California. Footage of almond orchards during the seasons with over narration. History of almond crop in California. Manufacturing breakdown of almond uses. Time-lapse and close up camera work by Les Blank. Footage of bees pollenating the orchards. Recipes for pastries, entrees with almonds. Les Blank worked on […]
An instructional film about a religious traditions in Rhodesia. Africa. There are ceremonies and processions, as well as footage of animal sacrifice for religious purposes. Original material and outtakes from “Mbira Dza Vadzimu: Dambatsoko, An Old Cult Center with Muchatera and Ephat Mujuru” – Used with special permission from Daniel Zantzinger – Constant Spring Productions, […]
One of Blank’s industrial films, which follows a Holly Farms “broiler” chicken from factory incubation to the barbecue pit at a county fair. A hilarious, disturbing but, ultimately simply surreal look at a large-scale chicken farm that produces 156 million chickens a year! Film includes lots of chicken songs and music recorded live in the […]
This promotional film is aimed at enlisting women to become “hostesses” and “stylist” home saleswomen for clothing company Beeline. Similar approach to sales of Mary Kay cosmetics and Tupperware. Also shows design and production processes for apparel. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its contents did not reflect his personal beliefs or […]
Footage of natural environments in the USA with folk music background and narration over. The creation of the National Wildlife Federation. Early environmentalist and conservationist concepts and policies. A publicity/information film about this national organization. Includes footage of President John F. Kennedy promoting the organization. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its […]
A story about the frustrations of early married life, featuring Gail Blank and David Lawrence. Cinematography by Getachew Abbai. Les Blank attended USC School of Cinematic Arts and pursued a Ph.D. in Communications. These student films, made in the years 1960-1962, represent his initial interest in making narrative films. Three of the films feature his […]
This hip and slightly weird beauty pageant was part of a show called, OFF RAMP. It was broadcast on Los Angeles television station KCET. It chronicles rehearsals, the selection process, and lots of female bodies wearing 1970s fashions. It’s a real time capsule. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its contents did […]
These two commercials for Almond Joy candy bars show the manufacturing process as well as a little domestic drama cast with one of Les’s own sons. Les Blank worked on this film for hire and its contents did not reflect his personal beliefs or those of Les Blank Films now. 1966 3 minutes Color Directed, […]
In Butch Anthony (working title) Les Blank brings us the life and work of self-taught, visual artist Butch Anthony, who hails from the small town of Seale in Southeastern Alabama. Butch is a rare individual with a unique ability to see the potential in objects that others take for granted. He is considered one of the […]
CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH NOW! This little known Les Blank gem is a portrait of the Serbian-American communities of California and Chicago. At the time of the California Gold Rush, the first Serbian immigrants arrived from the rugged Balkan Peninsula to settle in the New World. Against great obstacles, Serbian religion and identity had survived […]
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. The producer had difficulty getting permission from the Thai government allowing the filmmakers access to the plane. Weeks went by with Les and Skip on payroll, but […]
CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH NOW! This is a microcosmic Les Blank film in which bluesman Sonny Rhodes simultaneously addresses three of the filmmaker’s longstanding obsessions: death, cigarette smoking, and the nature of the blues. Soundtrack features Sonny Rhodes and the Texas Twisters performing at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland, California. Co-directed with Alan Govenor. […]
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 wind chimes, Christopher Tree whirls and weaves his sound tapestry within a pristine forest. Over his long career, Christopher […]
A paraplegic dwarf, a carnival sword-swallower as a child and a tattoo artist since 1928, the late Leonard St. Clair, nicknamed Stoney, is an ebullient little man with the gift of the gab (spoken in the accents of Appalachia) and a fund of bizarre stories about tattooing and other unrelated matters. 198025 minutesColor Directed by […]
Lightnin’ Hopkins sings about playing cards with Les Blank and Skip Gerson – a card game he won which turned critical to the making of the film “The Blues Accordin’ To Lightnin’ Hopkins.” After filming 13 songs, Lightnin’ had told Les and Skip that he was done filming. As a last resort Les asked Lightnin’ […]
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. A film by Les Blank with Skip Gerson 1969Color7 minutes Related Films The Suns Gonna ShineThe […]
CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH NOW! 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!” Blank takes us behind […]
A lyrical recreation of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ decision at age eight to stop chopping cotton and start singing for a living. Folklorist/Ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax called Blank’s stunning and elegiac short on Hopkins’ reminiscences of his youth “one of the three most important films on the South.” A film by Les Blank with Skip Gerson10 Minutes1969 Related […]
CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH NOW! This is Les Blank’s earliest music film, focusing on the renown trumpet player, Dizzy Gillespie, who along with Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Sonny Rollins and others sparked the change from traditional Jazz to “Bebop” in mid 1940s America. The film includes rare images of Gillespie playing on his famous bent […]
Les Blank continued filming the Maestro after the original film “The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists” was completed. Here are the Maestro’s latest creations and more on his uncompromising philosophy of art and life. A film by Les Blank, edited by Gina Leibrecht 30 minutes 2005 ISBN 0-933621-27-2 Home DVD: $29.95 Universities and University […]
What happens when a dedicated husband and father quits his job, adopts the persona of a Western-Movie Singing Cowboy, takes on the entire art establishment (including Christo and Andy Warhol), and refuses to accept money for his art ? Meet Gerry Gaxiola, AKA The Maestro, an ex-wage slave who gave up everything to make art […]
CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH NOW! Set in 17th Century China, this film is considered the first art film in the Chinese language. The Arch (Dong fu ren) focuses on a wealthy widow (Lisa Lu) in the early Qing dynasty on the eve of her crowning achievement, the erection of a triumphal arch in honor of […]
Aguabella, a master of both the bata tradition of drumming, (in the sacred celebrations of the African-derived syncratic sects of Santeria, Abaqua and Yeza), and of the secular conguero tradition. Agubella was born and reared in Cuba, lived in New York and California. He was a figure of great historical influence in Latin jazz, pop […]
CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH NOW! Aloha! 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. An intimate glimpse into the real culture of the islands. A film by Les Blank, Meleanna Meyer, and Chris Simon.38 minutes1991 For licensing […]
CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH NOW! Innocents Abroad takes an amusing look at how Europeans and Americans stereotype each other, and also examines the validity of twentieth-century-style high speed, mass tourism. It is a glimpse into an important industry which is vital to the European economy, but which also takes a very real toll on the […]
CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH NOW! This film documents Les Blank’s year 2000 visit with the legendary co-founder of Direct Cinema, Richard Leacock (1921-2011). At his farm in Normandy, France, Blank, and co-director Gina Leibrecht, recorded conversations with Leacock about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking! In the early sixties, together with Robert […]
After seeing Les Blank’s seminal film, The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins, Leon Russell and Denny Cordell wanted to work with him. Les directed, filmed, and edited, A Poem Is A Naked Person during 1972-74, while he was living at the Russell/Shelter Records recording studio compound on Grand Lake Of The Cherokees in NE Oklahoma. This feature-length film […]
All donations to Les Blank Films are tax deductible.
Les Blank Films Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
© ∞ Les Blank Films. Site built by j.kulp.
