From garlic to gap-toothed women, no subject was too esoteric to capture the imagination of Les Blank, an uncompromisingly independent spirit who, for nearly fifty years, disappeared with his camera into subcultures rarely seen on-screen. Seemingly off-the-cuff yet poetically constructed, Blank’s films are humane, sometimes wry, always engaging tributes to music, food, and all sorts of regionally specific delights. Whether documenting the art of a legendary Texas bluesman (THE BLUES ACCORDIN’ TO LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS), the richness of Cajun culture (SPEND IT ALL), or the quixotic exploits of his friend Werner Herzog (BURDEN OF DREAMS), Blank had a boundless zest for life and people that shines through every frame of his affectionate, joy-filled work.