Remembering Graham and George

Scene from "It Came From Kuchar" from www.kucharfilm.com.

Bay Area film fans are still reeling from the loss of popular San Francisco Film Society [1] executive director Graham Leggat, who passed away August 25 at age 51 after an 18-month cancer battle. (In a statement [2], SFFS board of directors president Pat McBaine called Leggat's tenure "the best years in the life of the Film Society.")

Today comes another blow, from multiple social media and blog [3] reports, of yesterday's passing of George Kuchar [4], beloved underground filmmaker extraordinaire. By himself and with his twin brother, Mike, George Kuchar — who influenced innumerable young artists while teaching at the San Francisco Art Institute [5] — directed over 200 films, as wild and creative as they were low-budget, and almost always boasting titillating titles: Color Me Shameless (1967), Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966), The Devil's Cleavage (1973). He also wrote the screenplay for 1975 horror-porn-turned-midnight-classic, Thundercrack! [6]

[6]George and Mike Kuchar have been a favorite subject in the Guardian's pages over the years (recent stories here [7], here [8], and here [9]). The uninitiated can get a jump start on celebrating George's glorious legacy by first checking out Jennifer Kroot's 2000 documentary, It Came from Kuchar [10]; a wide selection of Kuchar films can be found at Canyon Cinema [11] and, for those of us without film projectors, on YouTube. (Also recommended: the brothers' Reflections from a Cinematic Cesspool [12], with an intro by John Waters.)

RIP.