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With as sharp an eye and keen an ear as any documentary filmmaker, Les Blank created indelible portraits of people and events including, memorably, Werner Herzog in Burden of Dreams. Blank also was, along with Alan Lomax and Harry Smith, one of America’s essential musicologists; his filmography (58 works made over 54 years) includes movies about Leon Russell, “Lightnin’” Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb. Among the many treasures still being (re)discovered is the stirring Chulas Fronteras (co-directed with Chris Strachwitz) which captures, with love and presence, the brilliant Tex-Mex musicians Los Alegres de Terán, Flaco Jiménez and Lydia Mendoza. (Telluride Film Festival)
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