Screening:
Friday, April 28, 4:30 PM, Charles 3

Long before the tenets of Dogme '95 made shooting on video fashionable, the Kuchar Brothers had been breaking new ground, working almost exclusively on video since the mid-'80s. With nearly 30 years of filmmaking experience, the Kuchars embraced the new medium-combining their savvy skill as filmmakers with a limitless curiosity to explore the new possibilities afforded by the instantaneous and inexpensive medium of video. This program includes:

Blue Banshee
(Mike Kuchar, 1994, 17 min.) Punk rocker, Kembra Pfahler (the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black) commissioned Mike to direct a music video that would showcase her loud band. Deciding that the raucous songs she was producing would spoil the lush mood of his camerawork, Kuchar dumps the contemporary noise in favor of a classical sound more in tune to his visual style.

Chigger Country
(George Kuchar, 1999, 30 min.) An offshoot of his weather diary series, George shot this video on a 20,000 acre cattle ranch in south central Oklahoma. "I spent two weeks with the critters and their barbecued brethern."-G.K.

Grip of the Gorgon
(Mike Kuchar, 2000, 12 min.) The title of this video tale, along with the hideous wig worn by an actress in it, suggests that three characters from ancient mythology have been reincarnated to midtown Manhattan and are up to their old tricks-by attempting to turn men hard as 'stone.'

Precious Products
(George Kuchar, 1987, 15 min.) Made as a Christmas special but also incorporates a series George was doing on people's homes when they weren't there, this video was edited entirely in camera, and everything, including musical interludes, was done on the spot.

Snap 'N' Snatch
(George Kuchar, 1989, 5 min.) A short piece edited in the camera where the original sound was discarded for musical overlays.

Snapshots
(George Kuchar, 2000, 5 min.) Pictures that were snapped in the digital camera's photo mode became the jumping off point for this point and shoot theme which features the upcoming stage performance of a friend of George's.

The Stranger in Apartment 9F
(Mike Kuchar, 1998, 20 min.) A teleplay about unhappy souls looking for "Mr. Right" in all the wrong places; in this case the halls to doors inside an apartment complex that lead to dead ends.

Tidbit:
"He may yet grow up to be a dirty old man, but as of now he's still got the obstreperous innocence of an un-housebroken pup."
- J. Hoberman (Village Voice)

Bios:
See "Brothers Kuchar Films"