Beginning with The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins in 1969, Les Blank has become known for his films about indigenous southern music and various other topics. He has received numerous major awards including the British Academy Award for Burden of Dreams, about Werner Herzog and the making of Fitzcarraldo, top prizes at the Melbourne Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival for In Heaven There is No Beer?, and the Maya Deren Award for lifetime achievement as an independent filmmaker. Retrospectives of Blank's work have been held at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the National Film Theatre, London, and the Cinematheque Francaise. His filmmaking company, Flower Films, is based in El Cerrito, California
Les Blank, along with music writer Peter Guralnick, appeared on Screening Room in January 1973 to discuss his recent work and screen The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins, also footage from what later comprised Dry Wood and Hot Pepper.
Screening Room was a 1970s Boston television series that for almost ten years offered independent filmmakers a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station. The series was developed and hosted by filmmaker Robert Gardner (Dead Birds, Forest of Bliss), who was Chairman of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies and Director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard for many years.
This unique program dealt even-handedly with animation, documentary, and experimental film, welcoming such artists as Jan Lenica, John and Faith Hubley, Emile DeAntonio, Jean Rouch, Ricky Leacock, Jonas Mekas, Bruce Baillie, Yvonne Rainer and Michael Snow. Frequently, guests such as Octavio Paz, Stanley Cavell, and Rudolph Arnheim appeared as well.
Nearly 100 programs were produced during the years Screening Room was broadcast. Recently, The Museum of TV and Radio in New York City offered to copy the two-inch master tapes that had been given to the Film Study Center.
