In this interview, conducted in September 2013, filmmaker Werner Herzog—whose movie FITZCARRALDO is the subject of Les Blank’s documentary BURDEN OF DREAMS—discusses his admiration for SPEND IT ALL.

Directed by Les Blank • 1965 • United States

Les Blank’s first music film captures legendary trumpet virtuoso Dizzy Gillespie playing his trademark bent horn and expounding on his ideas about music.

Directed by Les Blank • 1976 • United States

Les Blank offers a vivid immersion into the Texas-Mexican borderlands as seen and heard through the art of the Norteño musicians whose songs reflect a deep-rooted cultural pride and a history of social struggle. Featuring acclaimed artists like Los Al...

Directed by Les Blank, Maureen Gosling, and Guillermo Hernandez • 1979 • United States

The love songs of the Tex-Mex Norteño music tradition offer insight into the richness of Chicano culture.

Directed by Les Blank • 1986 • Canada

Go behind the scenes with the ’80s rock hitmakers as they head to the Bahamas to film a music video for their number one single “Stuck with You.”

Directed by Les Blank • 1987 • United States

A deep dive into the Serbian-American communities of California and Chicago, this typically affectionate documentary from Les Blank explores the historical forces that first brought Serbian settlers to the New World, where they forged a lasting sense ...

Directed by Les Blank and Chris Strachwitz • 1989 • United States

Les Blank returned time again to the world of Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole communities, and this exuberant documentary may be his definitive account of the history of Cajun and Zydeco music. Tracing the origins of the style and it...

Directed by Les Blank, Vikram Jayanti, and Chris Simon • 1991 • United States

Les Blank’s wit and warmth shine through this droll portrait of a busload of American tourists on a whirlwind tour of Europe that takes them to twenty-two cities in ten countries over the course of two weeks. Wryly tou...

Directed by Les Blank • 1991 • United States

Les Blank revisits one of his favorite subjects—the vitality of Cajun culture—in this engaging portrait of Marc and Ann Savoy, artists who carry on Cajun traditions through music, storytelling, and food.

Directed by Gina Leibrecht and Les Blank • 2006 • United States

Join noted tea guru and importer David Lee Hoffman as he scours China for the finest teas in the world. Following Hoffman as he travels to local tea farms deep in the Chinese countryside, extols the virtues of organic farming and th...

Directed by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht • 2014 • United States

One of the pioneers of Direct Cinema, filmmaker Richard Leacock helped revolutionize the art of documentary filmmaking using handheld cameras and microphones to create a sense of vérité, fly-on-the-wall immediacy. In this portrait o...

Directed by Les Blank • 2015 • United States

One of Les Blank’s earliest independent films is an impressionistic travelogue—featuring beautiful color cinematography—of a 1967 trip to Thailand, shot largely in and around Bangkok. The film was put aside and completed after Blank’s death by his col...

Directed by Les Blank • 1968 • United States

Hippies and flower children dance and create rituals at the historic Los Angeles “Love-In” of Easter Sunday, 1967.

Directed by Les Blank • 1968 • United States

Les Blank creates a vivid portrait of bluesman Lightin’ Hopkins through a vital collection of musical performances and oral histories.

Directed by Les Blank • 1971 • United States

Ethnographer of the offbeat and hyper-regional Les Blank offers a rich, fragrant look at the vitality of the Cajun lifestyle, paying special attention to the food, music (including legendary figures like the Balfa Brothers, Marc Savoy, and Nathan Absh...

Directed by Les Blank • 1971 • United States

A deeply moving tribute to the Texas songster, Mance Lipscomb, considered by many to be the greatest guitarist of all time.

Directed by Les Blank • 1973 • United States

A portrait of black Creole life in the Louisiana Delta.

Directed by Les Blank • 1973 • United States

A companion piece to DRY WOOD that was filmed simultaneously, this is an energetic portrait of the Grammy-winning Creole musician Clifton Chenier, a.k.a. the King of Zydeco. HOT PEPPER brings viewers into the Louisiana juke joints where Chenier plays ...

Directed by Les Blank • 1974 • United States

Les Blank considered this free-form feature documentary about beloved singer-songwriter Leon Russell, filmed between 1972 and 1974, to be one of his greatest accomplishments. Yet it has not been released until now. Hired by Russell to film him at his ...

Directed by Les Blank • 1978 • United States

his 1978 documentary is Les Blank’s celebration of the spirit and social traditions of New Orleans, featuring Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations as well as musical performances by Allen Toussaint, Kid Thomas Valentine, Professor Longhair, a...

Directed by Les Blank • 1980 • United States

In this love letter to “the stinking rose,” documentarian Les Blank interviews garlic fanatics of all stripes, from cooks to members of garlic appreciation societies.

Directed by Les Blank • 1982 • United States

For nearly five years, acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog desperately tried to complete one of the most ambitious and difficult films of his career, FITZCARRALDO, the story of one man’s attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. ...

Directed by Les Blank • 1983 • United States

Fiddling legend Tommy Jarrell shares his gifts with a new generation.

Directed by Les Blank • 1984 • United States

The life, culture and food of the polka culture in America today.