PAH-FEST Awards & Contests
George Kuchar
Recipient of the 2006 "Keeping the Torch Lit" Award
“George Kuchar has been a very influential teacher of mine. He’s a real hands-on filmmaker who teaches by example. I learned from him to never give up and to persevere, even if a budget was cut down to 20 bucks. Everyone is a star with George. He’ll pull a bag lady off the street and treat her like Marilyn Monroe.”
-Christopher Coppola
George Kuchar has been making films since the 1950s when he and his twin brother, Mike, received an 8mm camera for their 12th birthday. The madness started immediately. The brothers went on into the 1960s to be pioneers along with Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, and Stan Brackage in the exciting New York Underground film scene. Some of their best-known, dazzlingly ambitious no-budget films include I Was a Teenage Rumpot and Wet Destruction of the Atlantic Empire. George collaborated with Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and Bill Griffith on underground comics in the 1970s. George created a portrait of H.P. Lovecraft for Arcade Comics. His drawing style has been called “vulgar humanism au natural” by author Jack Stevenson.
George has taught film production at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) for over thirty years. He has mentored and inspired numerous famous filmmakers including John Waters, Todd Solondz, Atom Egoyan, and Christopher Coppola. George is obviously a principal puppeteer behind mainstream film. He’s an amazing artist of our time, and film’s best kept secret.