Kickstarter

This is a preview for a full length film i have been working on documenting the life of legendary cult/indie D.I.Y. filmmaker George Kuchar. Geroge has made over 500 films since the mid 1950's and is still making films today. If you are not familiar with his films, you may have heard of some of the filmmakers he has directly influenced over the past 56 years including David Lynch, John Waters, and Todd Solondz.

Without the film work of George and his brother Mike Kuchar, Indie film, as we know it, would not exist. George started making films in his younger years using super 8 as his weapon of choice in the mid 1950's with his brother Mike. The films George created were later showcased alongside the works of Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, and Kenneth Anger in the underground film scene of the time. He currently still continues to collaborate on films with students and teach at the san francisco art institute which he has been for the past 39 years

I am trying to get funds to continue to complete this full length film and get it seen in film festivals. My budget includes a fair amount of promotion of the finished feature length film as well as distribution, processing and transferring of 16mm, super 8 film, 35mm, access to archived materials, traveling expenses, as well as the access to filming equipment, rental of lenses, editing equipment, and audio equipment. In addition to these costs, I thought it would only be right that half of the proceeds of the kickstarter contributions to this film will go directly to George Kuchar himself to help fund his current film projects he is currently working on. This has been calculated into the costs of the film budget.

This section of the film includes excerpts from collaborations between George and his 1980's production course classes as well as scenes from his 1983 short film entitled, "cattle mutilations."

"George Kuchar was born in 1942, in Manhattan. He lived in the Bronx since an early age, and started making films in the 1950s, when he and his twin brother Mike received an 8mm camera for their 12th birthday. Their first productions were inspired by the epics they saw on the big screen, and were made at home. George and Mike studied at the Manhattan School of Art and Design, which specialized in training for commercial art. The brothers were pioneers with Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, and Stan Brackage in the exciting New York Underground film scene. After his 1980s transition to the video medium, he remained a master of genre manipulation and subversion. A survey of film themes over the decades reveals recurrent themes of storm chasing in Oklahoma, alien abduction, the seedy side of Hollywood glamour and digestional upsets of epic proportions. If one looks a little closer themes of loneliness and self doubt often appear, but always veiled in campy parody. George has taught film production at The San Franciso Art Institute for over thirty years. In 1992, received the prestigious Maya Deren Award for Independent Film and Video Artists from the American Film Institute. He teaches at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he makes many of his tapes in collaboration with his students. "
quoted description courtesy of video art word (videoartworld.com)

for more information do a google search of George Kuchar. All support is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your interest and/or contributions.

-spencer keeton cunningham
http://spencercunningham.com/