Les Blank: Always for Pleasure

Les Blank's poetic documentation of 1967's Los Angeles Easter Sunday Love-In.  Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2002.

Les Blank

Skip Gerson

God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance

Lightnin' Hopkins

Billy Bizor

Mance Lipscomb

Ruth Ames

A musical portrait of Texas bluesman 'Lightnin' Hopkins. The film includes interviews and a performance by Hopkins.  Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2002.

The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins

Elnora Lipscomb

Hattie Franklin

Alfred Franklin

A musical portrait of Texas blues songster Mance Lipscomb.

A Well Spent Life

Marc Savoy

Nathan Abshire

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.

Spend It All

Werner Herzog on Les Blank’s Spend It All

Spend It All (1971)

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.

Maureen Gosling

Dry Wood

Clifton Chenier

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.

Hot Pepper

Alice Waters

Werner Herzog

Harrod Blank

Michael Goodwin

Christopher Pray

A zesty paean of praise to the greater glories of garlic. This lip-smacking foray into the history, consumption, cultivation and culinary/curative powers of the stinking rose features chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, and a flavorful musical soundtrack.  Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.

Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers

Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers (TRAILER)

Alice Waters on Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers

Tommy Jarrell

Set in the North Carolina Appalachians, Sprout Wings and Fly honors the fiddle playing of 82-year-old Tommy Jarrell of Toast, NC. Tommy was quirky, gregarious and generous, and this film shows him at his best, in fine fiddling form.

Alice Gerrard

Cece Conway

Sprout Wings and Fly

Sprout Wings and Fly (1983)

A joyous romp through the dance, food, music, friendship, and even religion of the Polka. The explosive energy and high spirits of the polka subculture are rendered with warmth and dedication to scholarship in this journey through Polish-American celebrations. Polka stars like Jimmy Sturr, Eddie Blazonzyck and Walt Solek are featured.

In Heaven There Is No Beer?

Paul Prudhomme

Les Blank marries his passion for spicy, down home food and his love for Cajuns and Creoles in this mouth-watering, exploration of the cooking, and other enthusiasms, of French-speaking Louisiana. Features tangy music, and food by Marc Savoy, Paul Prudhomme, and other greats.

Yum, Yum, Yum! A Taste of the Cajun and Creole Cooking of Louisiana

Yum, Yum, Yum! (1990)

When you think of Latin percussion, think of Francisco Aguabella. Perhaps the finest Afro-Cuban master percussionist still living, he has become synonymous with his instrument — one of the highest compliments a musician can receive. Indeed, what Carlos Santana is to the guitar, Aguabella is to the conga drum.

Sworn to the Drum: A Tribute to Francisco Aguabella

Gerald Gaxiola

Alice Gaxiola

Peter Mollica

Peter William Brown

Nadine Starbuck

Kent Cabral

Charlie Frizzell

Dennis Hartelius

Rowan LeCompte

Casey Lewis

What happens when a dedicated husband and father quits his job, adopts the persona of a Western-Movie Singing Cowboy, takes on the entire art establishment (including Christo and Andy Warhol), and refuses to accept money for his art ? Meet Gerry Gaxiola, AKA The Maestro, an ex-wage slave who gave up everything to make art for art's sake. The Maestro's story could inspire a whole new generation of Van Goghs.

The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists