A Video Christmas with George & Karen
Many of us have friends we visit with every year at the holidays. In the annual holiday videos recorded by cult and avant-garde film star George Kuchar, he always visits with friends. Fellow artist and charming character Karen Redgreen frequently makes it into the holiday video offerings. She also appears in many of George’s other video diaries and occasionally turns up in his narrative pictures. Both San Francisco artists who make videos and love cats, they are hilarious in their own unique ways, and Karen is my favorite of George’s many video stars. For this year’s holiday visit with Kuchar, let’s take an hour to appreciate Karen and our own quirky friends. – Liz Coffey, Film Conservator
PROGRAM
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Holidaze
Directed by George Kuchar.
US, 1994, digital video, color, 11 min.
Copy source: Video Data Bank
The season sweeps through in a blur of glitches, gulps and sweetened goo, as chimes wring out the old and ring in the new. – George Kuchar
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Holiday Xmas Video of 1991
Directed by George Kuchar.
US, 1991, digital video, color, 21 min.
Copy source: Video Data Bank
From the barking of seals at the San Francisco waterfront to the unexpected juxtapositions of racist and naughty cartoons with friendly faces, to the subtitles given Danish friends, George’s video is rife with questionable choices, yet we must take the good with the bad, and there is plenty of good to go around in this video celebration of Christmas twenty-five years ago. Karen pops in to wish everyone Happy Holidays.
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Dingleberry Jingles
Directed by George Kuchar.
US, 1994, digital video, color, 21 min.
Copy source: Video Data Bank
Christmas is here again in this diary of glittering gifts, furry friends, underground movie making, and grotesque greetings. A veneer of good cheer coats the surface like thin ice, so proceed with caution! – GK
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Murmurs of the Hearth
Directed by George Kuchar.
US, 2001, digital video, color, 12 min.
Copy source: Video Data Bank
Another holiday season rolls into the Northern California coast along with the breakers that roil and foam in mimicry of a "white Christmas." Men, women and felines frolic and fret amid the tinkle of holiday revelers as the short days fade into a melancholy medley of digestive sounds and crackling firewood. Music to the ears and candy to the eyes makes this annual holiday tape a tradition to treasure in this world of terror and tarnish. Come splash in the buoyant pleasures of pacific vistas and sample the crummy crust of California fruitcakes. And by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR too! – GK
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Fill Thy Crack With Whiteness
Directed by George Kuchar.
US, 1989, digital video, color, 11 min.
Copy source: Video Data Bank
A music-filled tour of Christmas good cheer overtakes this gastronomically oriented excursion through the winter season of discontent and yuletime yearnings craving ignition. – GK
