George, Ever Curious

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• John Waters
• Linda Martinez
• San Francisco Art Institute

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George Kuchar’s most admirable trait is his refusal to live in the past. An underground movie pioneer in New York in the 1950s and ‘60s who inspired bad-taste icon John Waters (among others), the 2010 SF Weekly Best of San Francisco winner remains an endlessly creative filmmaker and visual artist. Take "The Frankenstein Cycle", four garish and weirdly funny no-budget short narratives Kuchar made with his adventurous students at the San Francisco Art Institute. Ostensibly intended to provide collaborative preproduction and on-the-set experience, they stand as entertainingly lascivious examples of his Hollywood-meets-Tenderloin sensibility. The featured player in "The Frankenstein Cycle," incidentally, isn’t a student but uninhibited septuagenarian and certified San Francisco character Linda Martinez, once upon a time a mermaid in the fish tank at Bimbo's 365 Club. The weekend tribute continues Saturday with Jennifer M. Kroot’s 2009 documentary, It Came from Kuchar, backed with two prime Kuchar shorts; Sunday sees a quartet of diary films unveiled that depict the director’s travels and “travails” in 2010. The much-loved Kuchar, who has lived within walking distance of the theater for more than two decades, dispenses his self-deprecating wit and wisdom at all three shows.
Fri., Jan. 28, 7 p.m., 2011