In Hollywood history, there’s been a number of famous filmmaking siblings -- the Warner brothers, Coen brothers, the Wachowskis, and the Safdies, to name a few. But there’s another highly regarded, though lesser known team, the twin brothers George and Mike Kuchar.
Between them, the Kuchars have made hundreds of films, starting with 8mm in the early 1960s, then 16mm when they had enough money to upgrade their equipment, and progressing to video in the 80s and 90s.
Their work, always subversive, spontaneous, and fiercely DIY, has influenced generations of independent and experimental filmmakers, such as John Waters, Todd Solonz, Atom Egoyan, and David Lynch.
If you’re a Kuchar Brothers fan, or if you’ve never seen their work, next week in Portland is your chance to view a sampling of their films on the big screen. The Kuchar Brothers Festival kicks off at the Clinton Street Theater on Monday, December 4th with the documentary “It Came From Kuchar” and closes on Saturday the 9th with the double feature “Death Quest of the Ju-Ju Cults” and “Corruption of the Damned”.
To preview the festival, we’re fortunate to have Clinton Street programmer and co-owner Susan Tomorrow here in the studio with us.
- KBOO