George Kuchar
George Kuchar (August 31, 1942 – September 6, 2011) and his twin brother Mike began making films as teenagers in the 1950s, with 8mm film being their weapon of choice. After shocking their local amateur filmmaking club with their over-the-top stories of lust and angst, they became stars of the NYC underground scene in the 1960s, befriending the likes of Jonas Mekas and Jack Smith. Always working with the constraints of minuscule budgets and nonprofessional actors, the Kuchar’s inspiration comes from classic Hollywood melodrama. Their cheaply made pictures, rather than being held back by lack of funds, blossomed in the shackles of poverty; the garish colors of the cheap makeup and sets were perfectly complemented by the bold color range afforded by Kodachrome reversal stock. The wild (and sometimes the inverse of wild) acting, use of stock music, lack of synch sound, hyperbolic narration, and primitive special effects all combined to make tiny gems unlike anything seen before or since. The Kuchars are cited as major influences by such filmmakers as John Waters, Todd Solondz, and David Lynch.
Bongwater
as Homeless ManDavid is an artist and a pothead. He's fallen in love with the beautiful and sexy Serena, and...
Movie pageMetropolitan Monologues
as HimselfThe New York City summer is fueled by the sultry emanations of hot air that tumble off the...
Movie pageHe Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
as Self (archive footage)A film collage tracing the story of the lives, loves, and deaths within the artistic community...
Movie pageHold Me While I'm Naked
as uncreditedPresented as loosely autobiographical, Hold Me While I’m Naked centres on the tribulations of an...
Movie pageDivine Trash
as SelfThe life and times of Baltimore film maker and midnight movie pioneer, John Waters.
Movie page365 Day Project
as uncreditedThis exhibition focuses on Jonas Mekas’ 365 Day Project, a succession of films and videos in...
Movie pageThe Craven Sluck
as MortonA desperate, married woman meets a mysterious man who she blatantly desires. Through some twists...
Movie pageJack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
as SelfIn this entrancing documentary on performance artist, photographer and underground filmmaker...
Movie pageTrue Blue and Dreamy
as uncredited"A surreal meditation on a cigarette billboard using a very strange ballerina as an allegory for...
Movie pageScreamplay
as MartinA talented writer, Edgar Allen, arrives in Hollywood with big dreams but is quickly pulled into...
Movie pageLaw of Desire
as uncreditedThe story of Trelita, a Chicana sex worker with an abusive boss and a dead boyfriend (who she...
Movie pageCoven of the Heathenites
as SelfA summer sojourn is fleshed out for maximum solar exposure in this video travelogue of sun, sea...
Movie pageThe Mongreloid
as HimselfA man, his dog, and the regions they inhabited, each leaving his own distinctive mark on the...
Movie pageIt Came from Kuchar
as SelfIt Came from Kuchar is the definitive, feature documentary about the legendary, underground...
Movie pageSins of the Fleshapoids
as Prince GianbenoOne million years in the future, the human survivors of a nuclear war are served by robots...
Movie pageUnderground New York
as SelfA rare behind-the-scenes view of the exploding New York “underground” in the late sixities, a...
Movie pageDingleberry Jingles
as SelfIn Dingleberry Jingles, George discusses all things Christmas with his cat, attends a wedding,...
Movie pageTaboo: The Single and the LP
as uncreditedBlend of documentary and domestic melodrama featuring a series of sexually charged vignettes...
Movie pageSparkle's Tavern
as Mr. PupikSiblings hide their ownership of a bordello from their mother. When she is visited by a man who...
Movie pageSecrets of the Shadow World
as HimselfThis three-part mini-series explores the mysterious and the mundane in a splash of digital...
Movie page500 Millibars to Ecstasy
as HimselfThe dark and sloppy side of touring college towns with your work. An internal expose of external...
Movie pageGastronomic Getaway
as uncreditedWrites Kuchar, "The magnificent Mono Lake becomes the centerpiece for this car trip through...
Movie pageGalaxie
as HimselfIn March and April of 1966, Markopoulos created this filmic portrait of writers and artists from...
Movie pageOh Hi Anne
as HimselfAn epic tale of love and loss. Made using voicemails the Kuchar brothers left on her home...
Movie pageBig Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton
as SelfA chronicle of the iconoclastic life of gay poet, filmmaker, and spiritual visionary James...
Movie pageConfessions
as uncreditedCurt McDowell has a confession for his parents. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.
Movie pageThe Hairy Horror
as HimselfA chance encounter with a sober student reveals the mystery of a woodland wonder that has left a...
Movie pageMaggots and Men
as uncreditedA utopian re-visioning of the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921, featuring film history's first cast of...
Movie pageBoggy Depot
as DamonTwo men hypnotize their roommate and attempt to force him to fall in love.
Movie pageBill's Hat
as uncredited"The whole film are non-art portraits of people in which they do what they want with this hat –...
Movie pageThe Inmate
as HimselfThe splendor of a mountain lake is clouded by the musings of a brain in memory mode. The head...
Movie pageThe Butchered Beefcake
as uncreditedThis video diary visits two sites that exhibited Kuchars visual works this past year,...
Movie pageSwamp
as Uncle GeorgeSwamp uses the soap opera format to play with the structure and expectations of the family...
Movie pageScarlet Droppings
as HimselfTaped in Normal, Illinois, during the height of autumn, a snapshot of a young girl triggers a...
Movie pageNudes: A Sketchbook
as uncreditedA series of vignettes illustrating sexual fantasies.
Movie pagePoint 'n Shoot
as HimselfA lavish home is visited, shutters click, bottoms are exposed, water splashes and a welcome...
Movie pagePeed Into the Wind
as uncredited“PEED INTO THE WIND smears across the screen like one of those dirty underground comic books....
Movie pageWeather Diary 1
as HimselfGeorge Kuchar travels to Oklahoma in search of tornadoes, spends most of his time watching TV...
Movie pageKiss of the Veggie Vixen
as SelfA portrait of Marion Eaton, film and stage actress, etched with a green thumb and a brown nose.
Movie pageWeather Diary 3
as uncreditedSet in and around a Reno motel, the tape records George's growing friendship with a young...
Movie pageSupercell
as HimselfClouds abound in this short meditation on vaporous masses that flow across the borders of our...
Movie pageA Night with Gilda Peck
as uncreditedA vehicle for the talented Mrs. Kathleen Hohalek, as the tenant of the Pyramid Penthouse, with...
Movie pageDomain of the Pixel Pixies
as HimselfSort of a portrait of the videomaker Anne McQuire, who surfaces midway from this waterlogged...
Movie page3 Stories About Evil
as uncreditedA very black mix of comedy about relationships, the media, children's beauty pageants, sex...
Movie pageBurnout
as HimselfA metropolis awash in electrical overdrive crashes in the heat of summer and sends a Bronxite...
Movie pageChigger Country
as uncreditedPastures filled with the bounty of a meateater's fantasy fill the screen with bellows of bovine...
Movie pageVideo Album 5: The Thursday People
as uncreditedThe comings and goings of the late underground filmmaker, Curt McDowell—and the people and...
Movie pageThe Warming of the Hell House
as SelfA trip across the bay to Concord yields a harvest of non-fruit-like beings who celebrate a...
Movie pageUrchins of Ungawa
as uncreditedIn a garden of roses and memorabilia from darkest Africa, a man and woman ponder the joy of...
Movie pageElectrocute Your Stars
as uncreditedIn this dream portrait, George Kuchar travels through snow confetti, strobe flashes and...
Movie pageRocky Interlude
as HimselfA trip to a barren landscape of jagged peaks and deep crevasses becomes a playground for an...
Movie pageRiver Windows
as uncredited"A film counterpointing the hard reality of the present with the fantastic actuality or...
Movie pageCalorie Cottage
as uncreditedEncompassing both Thanksgiving, Christmas and the exploding New Year's Eve celebrations, this...
Movie pageGeorge Kuchar: The Comedy of the Underground
as HimselfA documentary portrait of filmmaker George Kuchar conducting a tour of his apartment where he...
Movie pageRainy Season
as uncreditedThanksgiving in California is the setting in which the viewer experiences "the depression...
Movie pageMeet The Kuchar Brothers
as uncreditedProvides a rare glimpse into the world of George and Mike Kuchar, underground filmmaking...
Movie pageBeaver Fever
as HunkA short comedy by Curt McDowell. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.
Movie pageAward
as HimselfA behind-the-scenes look at the man behind the trophy and the poisons that taint an otherwise...
Movie pageDelectable Destinations
as uncreditedThis time, the call of the west sends Kuchar packing to Oregon, California and Arizona. You too...
Movie pageFoto Spread
as SelfA photographer comes to my home to take pictures and gets a lensful. His mouth and his shutter...
Movie pageArizona Byways
as SelfA cactus-strewn desert becomes the backdrop for this series of filmic stopovers. Great natural...
Movie pageEat My Makeup!
as uncreditedWith George Kuchar, Marie Losier, Jason Livingston, Paul Shepard. Five winsome damsels picnic on...
Movie pageGoing Nowhere
as HimselfWrites Kuchar: "It was my 50th birthday this year (1992) and my friend's birthday, so I explored...
Movie pageXmas 1986
as Himself"In Xmas 1986, George Kuchar’s mother Stella has come to stay with him for the holidays. After a...
Movie pageA Passage to Wetness
as uncreditedAn island. A mountain. A City of Angels who scoop up the pellets dropped by other winged creatures.
Movie pageTummy Ache Times
as uncreditedIt's the season of joy once again and this video depicts the tasty and the troublesome in big,...
Movie pageMigration of the Blubberoids
as uncredited"The whiteness of winter cannot bury the blubbery things that splash and frolic among the frozen...
Movie pageVintage Visits
as uncreditedAnother edition to Kuchars weather diary series, this particular one has more social intercourse...
Movie pageThe Shadow Glass
as uncreditedThe Shadow Glass is roughly based on Ewers' 'Student of Prague'. It concerns a young man who,...
Movie pagePortrait of Ramona
as uncreditedThis movie was made mostly in Brooklyn during some very hot and empty evenings. Since the...
Movie pagePictures at an Exhibitionist’s
as uncreditedA wide-ranging look at pictures I collect on my walls and in my head. A look at pictures I...
Movie pageThe Nutrient Express
as uncreditedA trip to Winnipeg introduces the viewer to moments of Canadian cuisine and to the easily...
Movie pagePortrait of Genie
as HimselfAn ex-student of mine opens up in the privacy of her home and shows me her etchings...
Movie pageAndy Warhol's Unfinished Symphony
as uncreditedA clarification of the '60s and its plastic society; taking archetypes of the American landscape...
Movie pageSherman Acres
as IraA drama in six episodes involving psychological breakdowns, marital showdowns, and messy...
Movie pageSong of the Whoopee Wind
as HimselfA California Christmas season ushers in an array of holiday visuals designed to feed the hunger...
Movie pageVault of Vapors
as uncreditedOne of Kuchars weather diary series out in Oklahoma. The tone is wistful, the surroundings wispy...
Movie pageWebtide
as HimselfOnce again a seaside serenade of sloshing oils and simmering scallops fills the crannies of Cape...
Movie pageCellar Sinema
as uncreditedA descent into the blackness of the projected image and the curators who flick the switches and...
Movie pageThat Woman
as Barbara WaltersThat Woman uses as source material the original Barbara Walters interview with Monica Lewinsky,...
Movie pageUncle Evil
as HimselfThe young and the innocent at the mercy of a palpable presence oozing menace and scarlet-stained...
Movie pageWater Sports
as HimselfA trip to the Marin headlands at the Golden Gate of San Francisco Bay headlines this video...
Movie pageFill Thy Crack with Whiteness
as uncreditedA music-filled tour of Christmas good cheer overtakes this gastronomically oriented excursion...
Movie pageCult of the Cubicles
as HimselfWrites Kuchar: "It's New York in the summer and I set out to track down some high school friends...
Movie pageThe Kingdom By The Sea
as HimselfThe spirit of poets permeates the space/time occupied by an assortment of dinner engagements...
Movie pageSnap 'n Snatch
as HimselfA sort-of music video that focuses on and under young women and men engaged in focusing video...
Movie pageSeason of Sorrow
as HimselfIce falls from the sky as tears plip-plop onto wall-to-wall carpeting. No degree of renovation...
Movie pageXmas 1987 New Years
as HimselfA sweet and savory journey in the company of George traveling from Christmas to New Years,...
Movie pageTropical Vulture
as DeanTropical Vulture is a cross-generational project which highlights the artistic influences...
Movie pageThundercrack!
as Bing / MedusaAn eccentric and alcoholic widow hosts a motley assortment of travelers - four men, three women...
Movie page