Les Blank
Les Blank | |
|---|---|
 Blank at 43rdKVIFFin 2008 | |
| Born | Leslie Harrod Blank Jr. November 27, 1935 |
| Died | April 7, 2013(aged 77) Berkeley Hills,California |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Tulane University University of Southern California |
| Occupation | Documentary filmmaker |
Les Blank(November 27, 1935 – April 7, 2013) was an Americandocumentaryfilmmaker best known for his portraits ofAmerican traditional musicians.[1]
Life and career
[edit]Leslie Harrod Blank Jr. was born November 27, 1935, in Tampa, Florida.[2][3]He attendedPhillips Academy,andTulane UniversityinNew Orleans,where he received a B.A. degree in English.[4]He also briefly attendedUniversity of California, Berkeley.[2][5]In the early 1960s, Blank studied filmmaking at theUniversity of Southern Californiaand received hismaster's degree.[5][6]
Following his university education, he worked for a production company called Operation Success, making films that he would later describe as "insipid films that promote business and industry." In 1967 he founded his own production company, Flower Films, with the release ofGod Respects Us When We Work, but Loves Us When We Dance,a short colorful document of Los Angeles'Elysian ParkLove-in.DuringMardi Grasin late February 1968, Blank,Barry Feinsteinand others were in New Orleans as part of the original “underground filmmakers”[7]crew ofEasy Riderwhich produced the acid trip segment of that movie, but was replaced afterwards by a more experienced crew. This was followed byThe Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins(1968) andThe Sun's Gonna Shine(1968) aboutHoustonblues musicianLightnin' Hopkins.He never went back to work makingindustrial filmsand all of his films were independently produced, often with the assistance of grants from cultural agencies, both governmental and non-governmental.
Most of his films focused on American traditional music forms, including (among others)blues,Appalachian,Cajun,Creole,Tex-Mex,polka,tamburitza,andHawaiianmusic. Many of these films represent the only filmed documents of musicians who are now deceased.
Blank's films focusing on musical subjects often spent much of their running time focusing not on the music itself but on the music's cultural context, portraying the surroundings from which these American roots musics come.
Other notable films on non-musical subjects includea film about garlicand another aboutgap-toothedwomen, as well as two films about German film directorWerner Herzog:Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe(1980) andBurden of Dreams(1982), the latter about the filming of Herzog'sFitzcarraldo.The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists(1994) andSworn to the Drum: A Tribute to Francisco Aguabella(1995) were Blank's last two films using 16mm film. He later worked in digital video. One of his last films,All in This Tea,which was co-directed with his creative partner Gina Leibrecht, was a profile of the westernMarin County-basedteaimporter and adventurerDavid Lee Hoffman.In 2014, his last filmHow to Smell a Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock in Normandywas completed shortly after his death by Gina Leibrecht, and was a portrait of the co-founder of Direct Cinema,Richard Leacock.In 2007 Blank was awarded the prestigious Edward MacDowell Medal in the Arts.
Les's son,Harrod Blank,has also become a documentary filmmaker.
Blank lived in theBerkeley Hillsand for more than 30 years he was a resident ofBerkeley,which celebrated Les Blank Day on Jan 22, 2013.[8][3]His company,Flower Films,was based inEl Cerrito, Contra Costa County, California.[8]
Blank died ofbladder cancerat his Berkeley Hills home on April 7, 2013.[9]The nonprofit Les Blank Films continues to release Blank's work.[10]
Legacy
[edit]Blank was the first documentary filmmaker to earn theEdward MacDowell Medalin 2007, a national honor given to one artist a year.[3]He was awarded in 1990 theAmerican Film Institute'sMaya Deren Awardfor outstanding lifetime achievement as an independent filmmaker.[11]In 2011, theInternational Documentary Associationhonored Blank with a career achievement award.[12]
Two months prior to Blank's death, theHot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festivalannounced that Blank had been accepted to receive its 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award along with a retrospective of his work at the festival, which took place from April 25 to May 5, 2013.[13]
Archive
[edit]The moving image collection of Les Blank is held at the Academy Film Archive.[14]The Academy Film Archive has preserved numerous Les Blank films includingA Well Spent Life,Always for Pleasure,andWerner Herzog Eats His Shoe.[15]
Filmography
[edit]- 1960 -Running Around Like a Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
- 1960–1985 -Six Short Films of Les Blank
- 1961, -Strike!
- 1962 -And Freedom Came?!
- 1965 -Dizzy Gillespie
- 1967 -Christopher Tree
- 1968 -The Blues Accordin' toLightnin' Hopkins
- 1968 -God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance
- 1969 -The Arch
- 1969 -The Sun's Gonna Shine
- 1970 -Chicken Real
- 1971 -Spend It All
- 1971 -A Well Spent Life
- 1973 -Dry Wood
- 1973 -Hot Pepper
- 1974 -A Poem Is a Naked Person
- 1976 -Chulas Fronteras≠
- 1978 -More Fess
- 1978 -Always for Pleasure
- 1979 -Del Mero Corazon
- 1980 -Poto and Cabengo(cinematographer)
- 1980 -Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
- 1980 -Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers≠
- 1982 -Burden of Dreams
- 1983 -Sprout Wings and Fly
- 1984 -In Heaven There Is No Beer?
- 1985 -Battle of the Guitars[14]
- 1985 -Cigarette Blues
- 1986 -Huey Lewis and the News:Be-Fore!
- 1987 -Gap-Toothed Women[16]
- 1987 -Ziveli! Medicine for the Heart
- 1988 -A Blank Buffet
- 1988 -Ry Cooderand the Moula Banda Rhythm Aces
- 1989 -The Best of Blank
- 1989 -J'ai Été Au Bal / I Went to the Dance
- 1990 -Yum, Yum, Yum! A Taste ofCajunand Creole Cooking
- 1991 -Innocents Abroad
- 1991 -Julie: Old Time Tales of the Blue Ridge
- 1991 -Marc & Ann
- 1991 -Puamana
- 1994 -The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists
- 1994 -My Old Fiddle: A Visit withTommy Jarrellin the Blue Ridge
- 1994 -Roots of Rhythm(cinematographer)
- 1995 -Sworn to the Drum: A Tribute to Francisco Aguabella
- 2005 -The Maestro Rides Again
- 2007 -All in This Tea(co-directed with Gina Leibrecht)
- 2014 -How to Smell a Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock in Normandy(co-directed with Gina Leibrecht)
- 1974/2015 -A Poem Is A Naked Person
- 1967/2015 -Thailand Moment
- 2015 -Les Blank's Student Films
≠National Film Registryinductee (former 1993; latter 2004)
References
[edit]- ^Les Blank: Always for Pleasure (1968)|The Criterion Collection
- ^abWeber, Bruce (2013-04-07)."Les Blank, Filmmaker of America's Periphery, Dies at 77".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-09-10.
- ^abc"The Making of Les Blank Day".KQED Arts.January 22, 2013.Retrieved2019-09-10.
- ^Russell, Tony (2013-04-12)."Les Blank obituary".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved2019-09-10.
- ^ab"A Well Spent Life: Les Blank, In Memoriam".bampfa.org.2 May 2013.Retrieved2019-09-10.
- ^Notable Alumni, USC School of Cinematic ArtsArchivedAugust 26, 2009, at theWayback Machine.
- ^"Critic's Notebook: Why 'Easy Rider' Still Matters 45 Years Later".21 February 2013.
- ^abTaylor, Tracey (2013-01-22)."Berkeley documentary filmmaker Les Blank to be honored".Berkeleyside.Retrieved2019-09-10.
- ^Whiting, Sam (April 7, 2013)."Documentary filmmaker Les Blank, 77, dies".San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^"Les Blank: Director, Producer, and Cinematographer".
- ^Traub, Barbara Fischman (2006).Desert to Dream: A Decade of Burning Man Photography.Immedium. p.157.ISBN978-1597020039.
- ^Taylor Segrest,"2011 Career Achievement Award--Visionary Wayfarer: Les Blank"Archived2015-04-02 at theWayback Machine,Documentary Magazine,Winter 2012.
- ^Benzine, Adam (5 February 2013)."Hot Docs to honour Blank".Playback.Brunico Communications.Retrieved8 April2013.
- ^ab"Les Blank Collection".Academy Film Archive.
- ^"Preserved Projects".Academy Film Archive.
- ^Canby, Vincent (1987-09-16)."Film: 'Gap-Toothed Women,' 'Miss... or Myth?'".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-09-09.
External links
[edit]- Flower Films/Les Blank official site
- Les BlankatIMDb
- "Food Filmmaker Les Blank Puts The Scent In Cinema" by Ann Hornaday,Washington Post,9 March 2005
- Courtney Fathom Sellinterviews Les BlankArchived2017-11-07 at theWayback Machine,SouthCoastToday,May 7, 2008
- Tames, David."A Conversation with Les Blank".The Independent.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-06-22.Retrieved2007-10-05.(interview with Les Blank)
- Les Blank’s Cinéma Vitalitéan essay by Andrew Horton at theCriterion Collection
