Before MTV and the age of television, there were Soundies. First appearing in 1941, these three minute black-and-white films featured artists of the Big Band, Jazz and Swing era, like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, The Mills Brothers, Les Paul, Cab Calloway, and Fats Waller. The Soundies helped launch the careers of Doris Day, Nat King Cole, Liberace, and Dorothy Dandridge, among others. Viewed for a dime through a special machine called a Panoram, a movie jukebox, these forerunners to the music video could be seen in nightclubs, roadhouses, restaurants and other public venues across the U.S. These classic films remain as glorious time capsules of music, social history, popular culture, and tell the story of a crossroads in our country, when the uncertainties of war, race relations, and emerging technologies combined to write one of the most influential chapters in our nation¹s history.
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Margarita Mamun, an elite Russian rhythmic gymnast, is struggling to become an Olympic champion. It is the most important year of her career and her last chance to achieve the ultimate goal, the gold Olympic medal. The film creates a captivating portrait of a young woman who is desperately trying to handle her own ambitions and meet the expectations of the official Russian training system.
On the Pacific island of Guadalcanal in 1942, the famed 1st Marine Division — the oldest, largest and most decorated division of the U.S. Marine Corps — defeated Japanese forces in a turning point of WWII. This film documents the experiences of 1st Marine Division veterans who took part in the historic fight.
From acclaimed director Michael Apted (The Up Series, Masters of Sex, The World is Not Enough) comes a revealing look at the art of filmmaking and photography. A journey of glass, the documentary explores the relationship between the artisans who create camera lenses and the masters of light who use these lenses to capture their beloved art form. Bending the Light features never-before-seen footage from inside a premier Japanese lens factory, intimate interviews with lens engineers, and a peek into the world of award-winning photographers and cinematographers Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC, Greg Gorman, Simon Bruty, Laura El-Tantawy, and Richard Barnes.
Character actor Tom Lenk (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing) has long dreamed of performing in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world’s largest theater arts festival. Nerdgasm follows Tom’s journey through all things nerdy as he prepares to fulfill his aspirations and struggles with his inner demons along the way.
The story of lion trophy hunters in Africa. KING OF BEASTS offers a close-up on the world of the controversial ‘sport” of lion hunting.
A single mother of two from small town Canada looks for her missing father in Mexico and ends up taking on one of the most corrupt justice systems in the world.
The rise and fall of prominent New York sports radio personality Craig Carton. Through a series of candid interviews with Carton, the film reveals how the radio host’s secret insatiable gambling addiction, financed by an illicit ticket-broking business, brought his career to a sudden halt when he was arrested by FBI agents and charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and securities fraud in 2017.
A feature documentary which captures Katharine Hepburn’s spirit and determination, exploring her story using her own words, through a combination of hours of previously hidden and intimate audio tapes, video and photographic archive.
A gifted singer, struggling with addiction on the streets of Skid Row, sets out on a journey to transform his life.
Led by archaeologist Ciprian Ardlean, this groundbreaking special unearths fresh archaeology that is transforming the understanding of when and who the earliest humans traveled to the Americas.
The radical honesty of the books by young adult fiction pioneer Judy Blume changed the way millions of readers understood themselves, their sexuality, and what it meant to grow up, but also led to critical battles against book banning and censorship.
Film telling the untold story of John Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine, exploring the creative collaboration between Lennon and Yoko Ono and featuring interviews and never-seen-before footage.
