Cult of the Kuchars

6/10/11 to 6/25/11

Cult underground filmmaking twins George and Mike Kuchar will join us in person for screenings of films and videos made together and individually from the 1950s to the present. As part of our ongoing Afterimage series, critic Gene Youngblood will join the Kuchars in conversation following a screening of a selection of their early 8mm films and will introduce a program of George's video diaries.

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Past Films

  • Sins of the Fleshapoids

    Friday, June 10 7:00 PM
    Mike Kuchar (U.S., 1965). Mike Kuchar in Person. Two robot “fleshapoids” ditch their human masters for their own carnal pleasures in Kuchar's first 16mm epic, which kick-started the American underground and DIY cult cinema. “Really shows what an underground movie was…(Kuchar) was the first to do vulgarity in an almost opera style” (John Waters). With short Night of the Bomb. (74 mins)
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  • The Devil's Cleavage

    Saturday, June 11 6:00 PM
    George Kuchar (U.S., 1973). George Kuchar in Person. A pent-up wife heads for Oklahoma for some heaving carnal misadventures in Kuchar's high-cholesterol, anti-budget tribute to the classic American melodramas of Sirk, Preminger, and Minnelli. Features cameos by Art Spiegelman and Curt McDowell. (108 mins)
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  • George Kuchar Selects: Burlesk King

    Saturday, June 11 8:35 PM
    Mel Chionglo (Philippines, 1999). Young men and women earn their income-and their pleasures-as “adult entertainers” in this heaving Filipino melodrama. “This candy colored and body greased soap opera of male strippers, street hookers, family values, and a bit of urban crime makes one also want to hit the streets” (George Kuchar).
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  • Beyond Melodrama: Short Films by George and Mike Kuchar

    Wednesday, June 15 7:00 PM
    George and Mike Kuchar in Person. This bawdy compilation of Kuchar tributes to Hollywood includes the classic Hold Me While I'm Naked, the lurid Pagan Rhapsody, the tasty The Secret of Wendel Samson, and more. (146 mins)
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  • Artist Friends: Videos by George and Mike Kuchar

    Sunday, June 19 4:30 PM
    George and Mike Kuchar in Person. Journeying from the Isis Oasis to New York City, the Kuchars depict friends and colleagues in this sampling of their video portraits, including the poet Marc Arthur in Opal Essence, punk rocker Kembra Pfahler in Blue Banshee, filmmakers David Sherman and Rebecca Barten in Oasis of the Pharaohs, and even their own mother in George's classic confessional Cult of the Cubicles. (89 mins)
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  • Mike Kuchar Selects: Empty Canvas

    Sunday, June 19 6:50 PM
    Damiano Damiani (Italy, 1963). A tortured young painter falls into an affair with a radiant beauty, but must overcome not only his inability to love, but also his possessive mother, played by Bette Davis, in this Italian melodrama based on the novel by Alberto Moravia. With shorts Tryst and Dumped. (135 mins)
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  • 8mm Films by George and Mike Kuchar

    Thursday, June 23 7:00 PM
    George and Mike Kuchar in Conversation with Gene Youngblood. Hot from the heaving streets of their hometown, the luscious, lurid, and maniacal 8mm homemade epics of the teenage Kuchar brothers filtered Hollywood through a Bronx sieve, and inspired an American underground. Program includes The Naked and the Nude, Anita Needs Me, and more. (85 mins)
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  • “Secession from the Broadcast: The Internet and the Crisis of Social Control”

    Saturday, June 25 3:30 PM
    Lecture by Gene Youngblood. Alternative media scholar (and Kuchar expert) Gene Youngblood discusses media democracy, activism, and the Internet.
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  • Weather Diary 1

    Saturday, June 25 6:00 PM
    Introduced by Gene Youngblood. George Kuchar in Person. One man and one dog spend a month in a trailer park/motel in Oklahoma, hoping for tornadoes, but taking more pleasure in the everyday. "The tape ultimately addresses all the big questions-death, origin and family, religion-as well as the small discomforts of the body, only to reverse their order of importance” (Framework). With short Award. (101 mins)
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