Les Blank

Les Blank
Blank at 43rd KVIFF in 2008
Born	November 27, 1935 Tampa, Florida
Died	April 7, 2013(2013-04-07) (aged 77) Berkeley Hills
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Tulane University University of Southern California
Occupation	Documentary filmmaker

Les Blank (November 27, 1935 – April 7, 2013) was an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians.

Blank attended Phillips Academy Andover, and Tulane University in New Orleans, where he received a B.A. in English literature and a Master of Fine Arts in theater. He also studied communications at the University of Southern California. Following his university education, he worked for a production company called Operation Success, making films that he would later describe as "insipid films that promote business and industry." He founded his own production company, Flower Films, in 1967 with the release of God Respects Us When We Work, but Loves Us When We Dance, a short colorful document of Los Angeles' Elysian Park Love-in. This was followed by The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (1968) and The Sun's Gonna Shine (1968) about Houston blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins. He never went back to work making industrial films and all of his films were independently produced, often with the assistance of grants from cultural agencies, both governmental and non-governmental.

Most of his films focused on American traditional music forms, including (among others) blues, Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, Tex-Mex, polka, tamburitza, and Hawaiian music. Many of these films represent the only filmed documents of musicians who are now deceased.