Puamana

Puamana

1991 · 37 min · ★ 7.0 · Documentary

This aloha-filled portrait of Auntie Irmgard Farden Aluli, one of Hawaii's best loved composers, gently focuses on Hawai'ian women's contributions to the family structure, art, music and dance. An intimate glimpse into the real culture of the islands.

Directed by Les Blank

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Puamana

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

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Innocents Abroad

Innocents Abroad · 1991

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MovieDocumentary

A warmly amusing look at a bus-full of American tourists on a whirlwind tour of Europe. The eclectic soundtrack includes Mozart, Bob Dylan, Sandy Denny, Jonathan Richman, others.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse · 1991

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

MovieDocumentary

A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.

Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo · 1982

MovieDramaAdventure

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.

Burden of Dreams

Burden of Dreams · 1982

Burden of Dreams

MovieDocumentary

The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.

The Arch

The Arch · 1969

A widow upholds feudal virtue by suppressing her love for a cavalry captain in favor of her daughter.

Gap-Toothed Women

Gap-Toothed Women · 1987

Gap-Toothed Women

MovieDocumentary

A charming valentine to women born with a space between their teeth, ranging from lighthearted whimsy to a deeper look at issues like self-esteem and societal attitudes toward standards of beauty. Interviews were conducted with over one hundred women, including model Lauren Hutton and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie · 1964

Dizzy Gillespie

This is Les Blank’s earliest music film, focusing on the renown trumpet player, Dizzy Gillespie, who along with Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Sonny Rollins and others sparked the change from traditional Jazz to “Bebop” in mid-1940s America. The film includes rare images of Gillespie playing on his famous bent horn and talking about his beginnings, as well as his theories about music.

Spend It All

Spend It All · 1972

MovieDocumentaryMusic

Another short documentary of "Real Food, Roots Music, and People Full of Passion for what they do!", Spend It All is Les Blank's spirited look at the French-speaking Cajun community of southwest Louisiana. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe · 1988

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MovieDocumentaryComedy

Directors Werner Herzog and Errol Morris make a bet which results in Herzog living up to his promise that he would eat his shoe if Errol Morris ever completed the film Gates of Heaven.

POV

SeriesDocumentary

Since its 1988 premiere, this critically acclaimed documentary series has presented hundreds of films that put a human face on contemporary social issues by relating a compelling story in an intimate fashion. "POV" has won virtually every major film and broadcasting award available, including 38 Emmys, 22 Peabody Awards and three Oscars.

Chulas Fronteras

Chulas Fronteras · 1976

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MovieDocumentaryMusic

A complex, insightful look at the Chicano experience as mirrored in the lives and music of the most acclaimed Norteño musicians of the Texas-Mexican border, including Flaco Jimenez and Lydia Mendoza. Video includes bonus feature, Del Mero Corazon.

Hot Pepper

Hot Pepper · 1973

MovieDocumentaryMusic

A musical portrait of Zydeco King Clifton Chenier, who combines the pulsating rhythms of Cajun dance music and black R&B with African overtones, belting out his irresistible music in the sweaty juke joints of South Louisiana.

Poto and Cabengo

Poto and Cabengo · 1980

Poto and Cabengo

MovieDocumentary

Documentary by Jean-Pierre Gorin about twin girls who spontaneously developed their own unique language as children.

A Well Spent Life

A Well Spent Life · 1971

A Well Spent Life

MovieDocumentaryMusic

A musical portrait of Texas blues songster Mance Lipscomb.

Dry Wood

Dry Wood · 1973

MovieDocumentary

Featuring the stories and music of seminal Cajun musicians "Bois Sec" Ardoin and Canray Fontenot, Dry Wood is a short, vibrant documentary portrait of life, food, music and festivity in the Louisiana Delta from the singular Les Blank. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.

Hole in the Soul

Hole in the Soul · 1994

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MovieDocumentary

A self-portrait documentary of Dusan Makavejev who travels to former Yugoslavia, and charts the changes of the society which parallels to his own life.

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