Mike Kuchar has been making films since the early 1950s, beginning on 8mm and moving into 16mm in the 60’s. He and his brother, George, were hugely influential in the underground film scene, both in New York and San Francisco. They pioneered low-budget, super campy, and preposterously unique films that have gone on to influence filmmakers such as John Waters, David Lynch, and Andy Warhol.

When PRISM index visited Mike in San Francisco we were truly delighted and beguiled by the world of the Kuchar’s. Mike greeted us at the front door, we walked up the twisting staircase, and all the way to the top of their tight San Francisco apartment. The musk of old ephemera, toys, and a black and white cat hit us, along with the standard apology for the clutter and condition of the place. The apartment was actually quite clean, but functioned with an ordered chaos. The mantle place was filled with action figures and old bizarre ceramic pieces, while their wall adorned a mounted T-Rex head. The brothers have lived with each other for some years and their pack-rat tendencies and obsessions have done a good job of filling the place up In Mike’s bedroom, large illustrations of homosexual Tarzan’s and shipmates fill his walls. Mike was an illustrator for a gay magazine in his youth, as it seemed the only job he could find and get paid for. We sat down on his bed and began to watch some of his videos. His recent films range from introspective, multi-layered expositions on life, love, pixies, to talky schlock films. When he put on “A Widow’s Web,” we knew it would be a perfect fit for our compilation. “It’s got it all,” Mike said. The synopsis runs, “A Mother and Daughter, both dressed in “shocking pink”, clash over Men and Money in this schlock drama that has an ending guaranteed to “shock” even those without pink dresses!”

Mike and George Kuchar were the co-recipients of the “Vanguard Director Award” at the 11th CineVegas Film Festival, 2009, and the 2009 “Frameline Award” at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.

“A Widow’s Web” appears in the PRISM index #1 DVD compilation. 14 min. RT – 1997

Video Data Bank entry

Track
(11) Mike Kuchar – A Widow’s Web (RT: 10 min)