Fugs Film!

Chuck Smith / United States / 2025 / Czech Premiere / 84 min.

synopsis

The Fugs, dubbed the “Rolling Stones of the underground”, were a New York band from the first wave of the 1960s counterculture and underground scene. In the work of Ed Sanders and his bandmates, profound poetry collides with contempt for social conventions and an urge to break taboos. The Fugs were the living embodiment of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll – so much so that an FBI file described them as “the filthiest and most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly imagine”. Director Chuck Smith crafts their portrait as more than an explosively dynamic, layered chapter in pop culture: the film is also a pointed commentary on today’s autocracy and the possibilities of cultural resistance, civil disobedience and performative poetry that torpedoes the system.

biography

Chuck Smith is a filmmaker, TV producer, and writer who has produced documentaries and series for National Geographic, Discovery, CBS, and many others. His films include “Barbara Rubin & the Exploding NY Underground” (2019) and “Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle” (1999). The Bess film was turned into a book and published in 2013 by PowerHouse Books.