Samara! Samara! Samara!

Jubilation in Kupferberg camp as Kickstarter campaign hits its cash target to allow the documentary Tul! Tuli! Tuli! to proceed

A BIOGRAPHICAL documentary celebrating the life and achievements of Tuli Kupferberg can move forward after a successful Kickstarter bid to raise funds to move the project into the production phase.

His daughter Samara, working in collaboration with the Franco-Italian director David Liver, was interviewed about their plans by Rock and the Beat Generation only last week.

Samara Kupferberg confirmed then, in our conversation, that they were only a few thousand dollars short of the cash target.

She told me that Tuli! Tuli! Tuli!, the new film portrait of her father, would combine material from his large archive but also newly-sourced footage.

Pictured: Samara Kupferberg

She reported to Facebook in recent days: ‘WE DID IT!!!!! Get out those champagne glasses and have some Kupferberg Gold to celebrate reaching our Kickstarter goal. Tuli is thanking all of you for making this happen!’

Although Tuli Kupferberg, legendary poet and part of the wider Beat circle but also a key member of the Fugs, a group who famously combined rock and folk, poetry and politics, in their 1960s heyday, died in 2010 aged 86, he has retained a strong following.

The Fugs have also continued well into the twenty-first-century with Kupferberg’s principal collaborator Ed Sanders still to the fore.

However, the biodoc will focus on Tuli’s output: his verse, his biting satire, his humour, his friendships and fierce commitment to politics.

And, just possibly, Samara’s chat with this newsletter might have contributed something to the film fund. Our exchange was the most visited post to date on this still new website.

Note: See the full interview with Samara Kupferberg, published by R&BG on November 3rd, 2021