Watch Rare Footage of Writer Charles Bukowski in 'You Never Had It'

Matteo Borgandt’s You Never Had It showcases rare, rediscovered footage of writer Charles Bukowski’s night of wine and cigarettes at the peak of his success in 1981. The movie opens in virtual cinemas on August 7th, coinciding with what would’ve been Bukowski’s 100th birthday.

You Never Had It – An Evening With Bukowski features producer and Italian journalist Silvia Bizio during an intimate evening interviewing irreverent writer and poet Charles Bukowski in January 1981 at his home in San Pedro, California, at the peak of his literary success. The vintage footage, which was thought to be long lost, was found in Bizio’s garage 20 years after Bukowski’s passing and is an extraordinary time capsule. The film also features a present-day Bizio reminiscing about her cherished life-changing encounter with the author.

During that fateful evening, the two and others, including Bukowski’s soon-to-be wife Linda Lee Beighle, smoked cigarettes and drank wine over a languorous evening that unfolded with intimate conversations probing sex, literature, childhood, and humanity. The interview was shot on U-matic videotapes, which have been digitized and edited along with new Super8 footage shot in Downtown Los Angeles set against poems read aloud by Bukowski himself. A rare look at the man behind the words, the title of the film takes inspiration from the final line of Bukowski’s poem, “Those Sons of Bitches” from the collection “Mockingbird Wish Me Luck” (1972).

Film is screening in New York at New Plaza Cinema Screening Series and Los Angeles with Laemmle Theaters. Additional cities include Albuquerque, Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Boston, Cleveland, Columbus, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, and more to come!