UCLA Film & Television Archive: Mondo Hollywood

Mr. Wister, the Time Twister
France, 1956

Written and designed in Paris while pursuing his doctorate in social psychology at the Sorbonne, Robert Carl Cohen’s charming but poignant animation fantasy tells the story of a man and his dog who, harried by the speed and noise of the modern age, escape to prehistoric times to try and find peace.

Digital video, color, 7 min. Director: Robert Carl Cohen.

Director’s cut!

Mondo Hollywood
U.S., 1967

From health food guru Gypsy Boots and psychedelic researcher Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass) to the right-wing John Birch Society and a visiting Princess Margaret, Mondo Hollywood is an individualistic vision of those involved in the wildly fertile cultural and political landscape of Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. Behind the camera, Robert Carl Cohen never passes judgment, presenting a kaleidoscopic parade from Hollywood Boulevard to UCLA, from the Hollywood Hills to South Central, with an ethnographer's eye for local customs and traditions, just as the post-World War II behavioral norms seemed to be coming undone and anything felt possible.

DCP, color, 120 min. Director: Robert Carl Cohen. Screenwriter: Robert Carl Cohen.