“If you know the Fugs, you’re going to love Chuck Smith’s brand new documentary “Fugs Film!” And even if you don’t, but you have an interest in 1960s culture, you’ll need to see this film”. – Bob Krasner, AMNY

Formed in New York’s bohemian Lower East Side in 1964, the Fugs were poet musicians who didn’t just reflect their time, they nurtured it. Using musical satire to explore boundaries of free speech and antagonize the establishment, they ignited an idea that was soon taken up by groups such as The Mothers of Invention (Freak Out!), Country Joe and the Fish (“It Feels Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag”), and the MC5 (the pre-punk house band of the White Panthers). Founded by Ed Sanders, a principal figure of the ‘60s counter culture and proprietor of the Peace Eye Bookstore in the East Village (a community gathering place where he was arrested for obscenity), along with fellow poet and artist Tuli Kupferberg, who was immortalized in Allen Ginsberg’s HOWL as the person “who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and walked away unknown and forgotten,” and drummer Ken Weaver, the Fugs connected a folkie ethos to rock and roll and sound collage, and at times tapped the zeitgeist with popular hits like “Slum Goddess” and “Supergirl.” The story of the Fugs is the story of a wildly unusual time and place that is still resonating.

Trigger Warning: Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act we know that in 1969 a music executive stated in a letter given to the FBI, that the Fugs were “the filthiest and most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly conceive.” Bring an open mind and draw your own conclusions. Despite their DIY spirit and sometimes outrageous lyrics, the Fugs released numerous records on major labels of the day such as Folkways, Atlantic, and Reprise.

The director, Chuck Smith, and the co-producer, Myles Aronowitz, will speak after the film.

“Before there was punk, there were the Fugs: antagonistic, hilarious, and radically political to the bone.” – Pitchfork

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: “FUGS FILM!” (2026), “Barbara Rubin & the Exploding NY Underground” (2019) and “Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle” (1999). The Forrest Bess film was turned into a book and published in 2013 by PowerHouse Books. Mr. Smith’s other independent films and interviews can be found on his YouTube Channel “ChuckSmithNYC” and on Vimeo.

Myles Aronowitz is a filmmaker, visual artist, and longtime unit still photographer whose career bridges the worlds of cinema and fine art. For more than 40 years, he worked behind the scenes on over 100 feature films and television series, creating iconic images used in a wide range of movie posters and publicity campaigns. His portraits of actors, artists, poets, musicians, and writers have also been published worldwide. As the son of a legendary 1960s music columnist, Myles was introduced to the arts at an early age, and grew up among the great poets, musicians, artists, and filmmakers his father chronicled in the press. In recent years, Myles has focused increasingly on his own filmmaking and visual projects that combine photography, drawing, and music, which often emerge through collaborations with other artists and musicians to explore themes of creativity, nature, and storytelling.