Les Blank

Les Blank was a renowned independent filmmaker, whose poetic work offers intimate, idiosyncratic glimpses into the lives, culture, and music of passionate people at the periphery of American society. Topics have included Cajun, Mexican, Polish, Hawaiian, and Serbian-American music and food traditions, Afro-Cuban drummers, Texas bluesmen, Appalachian fiddlers, flower children, garlic, and gap-toothed women. Blank was perhaps best known for his feature-length "Burden of Dreams" (1982),...See more

Les Blank was a renowned independent filmmaker, whose poetic work offers intimate, idiosyncratic glimpses into the lives, culture, and music of passionate people at the periphery of American society. Topics have included Cajun, Mexican, Polish, Hawaiian, and Serbian-American music and food traditions, Afro-Cuban drummers, Texas bluesmen, Appalachian fiddlers, flower children, garlic, and gap-toothed women. Blank was perhaps best known for his feature-length "Burden of Dreams" (1982), documenting the chaotic production of Werner Herzog's 1982 film "Fitzcarraldo" in the jungles of South America. Honored with a Criterion DVD edition and winner of the British Academy Award, Ebert called the film "one of the most remarkable documentaries ever made about the making of a movie." See less