The spirit of the old west lives on in South Central Los Angeles, and filmmaker Marquette Williams captures all of the energy and enthusiasm of an urban subculture that may take some folks by surprise. Urban Cowboy isn’t just a movie starring John Travolta; just outside of Compton, it’s a true reality. Most people associate horse riding and rodeos with country ranches and wide-open plains, but four young cowboys from the inner city are out to shatter preconceptions about what it really means to be a roughrider. Twenty-three year old Lil Ron, eighteen year old Yah-Ya, eighteen year old Mike, and eighteen year old Jazmine are a learning what it takes to win on the rodeo circuit, and Lil Ron has his eyes locked on the Rookie of the Year award. Follow these four young pioneers as they set out to find that perfect balance between inner-city toughness and wild-west determination.
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The definitive, adrenaline-soaked story of the birth and boom of the most extreme sport on the planet: Freestyle Motocross.
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Why are we still able, today, to view images that were captured over 125 years ago? As we enter the digital age, audiovisual heritage seems to be a sure and obvious fact. However, much of cinema and our filmed history has been lost forever. Archivists, technicians and filmmakers from different parts of the world explain what audiovisual preservation is and why it is necessary. The documentary is a tribute to all these professionals and their important work.
When Nirvana burst onto the scene in 1991, the music they played spoke directly to an angry and disenfranchised generation. As grunge took over MTV and radio, the music industry was transformed overnight. But just three years later, the drug-related deaths of several musicians, capped by the suicide of Kurt Cobain, closed the books on an all too brief era. Hit So Hard follows the rise to fame (and the near-fatal fall from it) of Patty Schemel, drummer for Courtney Love’s seminal rock band, Hole. Given a Hi-8 video camera just before Hole’s infamous Live Through This world tour, Patty captured stunningly intimate footage of the scene that has never been seen… until now. Not just an all-access backstage pass to the music that shaped a generation, Hit So Hard is a harrowing tale of overnight success, the cost of addiction, and ultimately, recovery and redemption.
Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.
A legendary Village Voice photojournalist recounts the stories behind iconic images taken over the course of a five-decade career. A visual chronicle of New York City and a window into the heyday of alternative print media.
Documentary about Down’s syndrome and the ethics of pregnancy screening, fronted by Sally Phillips. This film explores the science and thinking around the proposed new screening test for Down’s syndrome and its possible availability on the NHS. Driven by the experience of raising her son Olly, who has Down’s syndrome, Sally explores some of the ethical implications of our national screening policy. By talking to experts in the Down’s syndrome community, the world’s top scientists and including people with Down’s syndrome in the debate, Sally investigates a thorny subject that begs questions relevant to us all: what sort of world do we want to live in and who do we want in it?
Beginning with Space Invaders in 1978, arcade games began to appear everywhere. By 1982, there were 13,000 dedicated arcade locations across North America. It was the Golden Age of Arcade Games, generating $3.2 billion dollars in 1983. By 1985, revenue had fallen 97%. Atari declared bankruptcy. Arcades closed. Most of the old games were converted or destroyed. A few were packed into warehouses where they remained, largely forgotten, for at least another decade. This is the story of arcade video games, and the generation who grew up in the arcades attempting to collect and preserve their fondest memories.
In Netflix’s first-ever crowd work special, Matt Rife gets up close and personal with an unpredictable Charlotte audience to riff on all things dreams.
From Adolphe Sax’s workshop to the legendary times of jazz and bebop, conquering the classical music stages, forbidden by Nazis and Communists and banned by the Pope: in its 170-year history the saxophone has always been the most seductive as well as the most feared musical instrument. Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Larry Weinstein illuminates and mythologizes the story of the saxophone, its most legendary players and its allegedly longstanding curse about saxophonists falling prey to the instrument’s dark powers.
Finding Amelia follows Ric Gillespie and his team as they travel to Nikumaroro, a remote Pacific island 350 miles from Amelia’s last known location. This is where they believe Amelia landed her plane, lived, and died as a castaway.
The Joffrey Ballet: Mavericks of American Dance, narrated by Mandy Patinkin, tells the full story of this groundbreaking company, from their founding in 1956 to the present.