Showing posts with label Les Blank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Les Blank. Show all posts

Monday, December 6, 2010

Sworn to the Drum: A Tribute to Francisco Aguabella (1995)

Director:
Les Blank

"At the start of his documentary on master Afro-Cuban drummer and composer Francisco Aguabella, Les Blank throws us right into the heat and passion of a 1985 Aguabella gig at Cesar’s Latin Palace in San Francisco. The drum comes alive under Aguabella’s hands, spinning rhythms that are thrilling, hypnotic—that speak directly to the soul.


For Aguabella, who migrated to the U.S. in 1957, drumming is an integral part of his santería religion—he’s a master of the batá, a special ceremonial drum. So while he’s played with pop musicians from Peggy Lee to Paul Simon, drumming for him remains a sacred passion. Blank’s film explores Aguabella’s drumming styles and religion and features interviews with associates such as Katherine Dunham and Israel “Cachao” López. But it’s the music that speaks the most freely—and Blank’s film has plenty of it."


Download :
http://www.mediafire.com/?07exp7tw46xhwa6
http://www.mediafire.com/?m1rugheml82ir4f

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Running Around Like A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off (1960)

Director:
Les Blank

Les Blankov prvenac iz 1960. godine, studentski film rađen pod očiglednim uticajem Ingmara Bergmana, posle koga je mladi Blank definitivno shvatio da su dokumentarci ipak mnogo jači rad od ovih igranih filmova, a pokazalo se tokom godina da je bio i te kako u pravu, jer Blank je sigurno najplodniji svetski autor kada su dokumentaraci u pitanju, jedino je Herzog uspeo da ga kolko tolko isprati. Dakle, živa legenda, pravi 'true till death' fanatik u onom, "mom" smislu.


"Les Blank's first student film, starring Les Blank, Gail Blank and Pieter Van Deusen. With hommáge to Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, the film that inspired Blank to become a filmmaker."


Relevant excerpt from an interview @ GreenCine:

Q: I guess that there is no better place to start than the beginning. What was the influence of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal on your student film, Running Around Like a Chicken with its Head Cut Off?

A: Bergman’s Seventh Seal was the film that finally ignited my desire to be a filmmaker. Before that, I liked films but I’d never imagined there was a possibility that I would go into filmmaking. When I saw his film and experienced what I experienced emotionally, I figured that this was it. I had to head in this direction. I didn’t know what steps to take but I would work that out later. The scene where the knight taps the figure on the shoulder, he turns around and it turns out that it’s a corpse -- it made a big impression on me. That’s what I was getting at when I have a similar situation in my film.

Q: Did you first see The Seventh Seal when you were in college or when you were living in Florida?

A: I’d gone to college in New Orleans for four years and got a degree in English. Then I came to Berkeley to go to graduate school in English, thinking that I would keep struggling to be a writer even though, at that point, everything I submitted got rejected. If I failed at that, I thought that I could always teach English. But I was having trouble with my emotions. My first marriage had broken up, I couldn’t concentrate and I dropped out. I just bummed around trying to get work but no one would hire me. After I saw that film, I went to visit the theater department professor who I enjoyed when I was in my last year of school there. He told me that there was a new program in the theater department that offered a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting. All you had to do was write a play instead of a thesis and I saw this as a stepping-stone into film because I would be able to write stage plays and work with actors. It seemed more interesting than flying planes and going to war. It was between the Korean and Vietnam war. So I did that and, after two years there, I got recommended to go to the USC film school. I got a graduate fellowship there for two years.


Download :
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JEFFLAI8

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Dizzy Gillespie (1965)

Director:
Les Blank

"Rare images of immortal bebop jazzman Dizzy Gillespie as he talks about his beginnings and music theories and blows a lot of hot music on his famous bent horn."




Download :
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YNKJD58T

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Chicken Real (1970)

Director:
Les Blank

Dokumentarac o procesu proizvodnje piletine na američkom jugu, a sve to uz zvuke genijalnog blue grassa. Ko voli Les Blanka, obavezno. (23 min)


"An industrial short made for the world's second-largest poultry producer, Chicken Real incorporates some subversive satire in its promotion of the modern assembly-line approach to mass-manufacturing food. Music recorded by Les Blank in North Carolina, of a local group playing all the chicken songs they knew."


Download :
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W32MBSR8

Friday, October 1, 2010

God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance (1968)

Director:
Les Blank

Ako ste gledali bilo koji dokumentarac u kome se pominju hipici provereno ste videli i kadrove iz ovog Les Blankovog klasika. U ovom dokumentarcu nema ni naracije niti bilo kakvog dijaloga, znači samo hipi zezanje, ljubav, cveće, duvka, muzika i naravno ples, i moram da priznam da im zavidim, zavidim im što su rođeni u pravo vreme i što su takvo nešto imali prilike da iskuse, i sve bi' dao da se zamenimo, pa makar i na samo par meseci. Dakle, samo LOVE, PEACE & ONENESS. Yeah! (20 min)


"Hippies and flower children dance and create rituals at the historic Los Angeles 'Love-In' of Easter Sunday, 1967. This '60s classic documents a once-in a lifetime phenomenon, preserving all the fashions, energy and idealism of the first 'alternative lifestyles.'"


Download :
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4RX4B2EW

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Cigarette Blues (1985)

Directors:
Les Blank
Alan Govenar

Još jedan genijalan Les Blankov shorty, i zaista je čudo šta sve čovek može da nabudži u 5 minuta dokumentarca, dakle realni blues o cigaretama. Samo za prave fanove (pušače?) i naravno ljubitelje bluesa, jer ipak Sonny Rhodes nije bilo ko, zar ne? (5 min)


"A microcosmic Les Blank film in which Oakland bluesman Sonny Rhodes simultaneously addresses three of the filmmaker's long-standing obsessions: death, cigarette smoking and the nature of the blues."




Monday, July 19, 2010

Always for Pleasure (1978)

Director:
Les Blank


Mardi Gras, crnački ulični festival koji se održava svake godine u New Orleansu već preko 300 godina, dakle eto ga Les Blank i u svetskoj prestonici vudua. Naravno, ja ovakvo nešto ne bi postavio ni u ludilu na blog, jer me zaista ne zanimaju tako ti festivali gde se đuska i loče, ali pošto se radi o Les Blanku nikako nisam mogao da odolim, jer on ume da i od tako jedne skoro pa totalno nezanimljive teme napravi skroz odlično zezanje, a gde je Blank tu je naravno i izvorni bluz. Uz film ide i bonus materijal od 25 minuta gde ćete moći da čujete i dosta dobrog bluza pa i svu ostalu muziku koja se valjala festivalom tih dana. Dakle za hardkor fanove Les Blanka ovo je naravno must see, a što se tiče ostatka sveta, pa u principu ovakvo nešto može i da se preskoči, jer ipak ovo je na prvom mestu umetnički film sa velikim U, tako da baš i nije namenjen širem auditorijumu, pa se stoga osećam dužnim da vam preporučim jedan Les Blankov film koji zaista kida na svim nivoima, i koji OBAVEZNO morate pogledati. Radi se o genijalnom Burden of Dreams (1982), jer to je po meni jedan od najjačih dokumentarnih filmova ikada snimljenih, i to bez imalo zajebancije, i stoga ga nikako ne bi ga valjalo propustiti. Eto, reko sam. (57 min)

IMDB
"A look at the spirit of New Orleans. First a funeral: Allen Toussaint explains that you arrive slow and cut up afterwards. Then it's food, with a lesson in eating crayfish at Frankie and Johnny's. Next, a St. Patrick's Day party: New Orleans celebrates holidays on the streets. Then it's preparation for Mardi gras, with roots in slave days, when slaves gathered on Sundays to prepare for the one holiday they could celebrate. The Wild Tchoupitoulas society makes Indian costumes to honor the help Indians gave slaves. At Mardi gras, we're with this society parading, singing, and partying. We end with the annual parade for St. Joseph, the saint of the people. More music, dance and ritual."



DOWNLOAD :
http://depositfiles.com/files/xjze4vgk9

Sunday, April 11, 2010

My Old Fiddle: A Visit with Tommy Jarrell in the Blue Ridge (1995)

Director:
Les Blank

"The long-awaited sequel to Sprout Wings and Fly (Les Blank's first film about this homegrown Appalachian fiddler and raconteur) is a gentle celebration of mountain living, a once-thriving American way of life. This portrait showcases Tommy's unpretentious folk wisdom and reminiscences. The soundtrack features his singing and fiddling, spiced with a visit to the Smithsonian to test-drive an authentic Stradivarius violin." (17 min)

IMDB

Download :
http://rapidshare.com/files/324964181/blank.my.old.fiddle.1994.avi

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Julie: Old Time Tales of the Blue Ridge (1991)

Director:
Les Blank

"Julie Jarrell Lyons was born in 1903 in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. In her most enchanting and delightful way, Julie tells tales of childhood and her first romance. She sings songs, plays harmonica and embodies all the sweetness and endurance of mountain women who have had to struggle to maintain a family through hard times." (12 min)


IMDB

Download :
http://rapidshare.com/files/324962451/blank.julie.1991.avi
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