Mike Kuchar in Person

Mike Kuchar's first 16mm film, the sci-fi extravaganza Sins of the Fleshapoids, is set far in the future, when highly evolved robots take care of the daily chores while their masters lead lives of pleasure. But when two robots fall in love, it's not just their circuits that go haywire. Starring George Kuchar as an evil prince and Bob Cowan as a love-seeking robot, Sins helped launch American underground cinema. Mike's obsession with Hollywood artifice is lavishly on display in his vividly colorful costumes and sets. Mike calls it “my most dearest dedication to commercial American movies-or, to put it another way, it is a joke that cost me a thousand dollars.” It is also one of John Waters's favorite films: “Sins of the Fleshapoids really shows what an underground movie was . . . (George and Mike) were the first to do vulgarity in an almost opera style.”

• With Bob Cowan, George Kuchar, Donna Kerness, Maren Thomas. (56 mins, Color, 16mm, From PFA Collection)

Preceded by short:
Night of the Bomb (George and Mike Kuchar, U.S., 1962). A cautionary tale. (18 mins, sound on CD, Color, 8mm-to-16mm blowup, Preserved by Anthology Film Archives with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation)