What begins as a documentary following the final tour of a dying magician—”The Amazing Johnathan”—becomes an unexpected and increasingly bizarre journey as the filmmaker struggles to separate truth from illusion.
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Wall Writers promises unprecedented access to the early years of American graffiti. Interviews with TAKI 183 and CORNBREAD, along with other legendary artists, illuminated a time when a new form of wall writing emerged from dilapidated city neighborhoods.
During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war.
As one-half of the Grammy award-winning duo “Deep Dish”, Iranian-American Ali Shirazinia (aka ‘Dubfire’) has established himself as one of the world’s most successful DJs and producers. But the road to success was not an easy one. With candid interviews from family, childhood friends, industry peers, and fellow artists, this film takes an intimate and honest look inside the nuanced world of dance music. This is an aspirational story about pursuing your passion, daring to dream big, and the challenges that come with success. It is an insider’s look at what its like to be an electronic music artist from Above Ground Level.
A documentary of game sound from the Victorian arcades through to today, with a special focus on video game sound, but also including mechanical games and pinball. Beep is a feature film, but also a series of webisodes and DVD extras, a book, and a collection of resources found on the Beep website.
David Byrne is a visual artist as well as a musician, and ever since his early days as a member of Talking Heads, he’s wanted his concerts to be more than just a static performance. In 1984, Byrne and filmmaker Jonathan Demme redefined the boundaries of the concert film with the Talking Heads documentary STOP MAKING SENSE, and more than 25 years later Byrne has teamed up with David Hillman to create RIDE, RISE, ROAR, which documents Byrne’s 2008-2009 concert tour, in which he performs new material written in collaboration with Brian Eno as well as favorites from his solo career as well as his tenure in Talking Heads. Using costumes and inventive choreography, Byrne and his musicians and dancers give his music a stage presentation as exciting as the music.
THE DWARVENAUT gives viewers a glimpse into the unique mind of Brooklyn-based artist and entrepreneur Stefan Pokorny. Director Josh Bishop weaves memories of Stefan’s tumultuous childhood with his current struggles and triumphs to paint a mesmerizing portrait. An art prodigy obsessed from a young age with Dungeons & Dragons, Stefan navigates absurd adventures—from Wisconsin to Venice to Bushwick—on a quest to bring his most personal project to life through an ambitious multimillion dollar Kickstarter campaign. Part philosopher, part jester, he preaches the virtues of fantasy gaming as a vehicle for uniting the human race on his whimsical, bizarre life’s journey.
Musician Jon Batiste attempts to compose a symphony as his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, undergoes cancer treatment.
Pensioners, lawyers, married couples and teenagers are all customers at the Angel Love Hotel in Osaka Japan. With unprecedented access into one of the most private and anonymous spaces in Japanese society, this film follows the love hotel’s struggling manager and staff as the try to keep their hotel running, as well as revealing the intimate and private lives of the customers who visit.
A woman walks into a New York gallery with a cache of unknown masterworks. Thus begins a story of art world greed, willfulness and a high-stakes con.
Back to Berlin is the first biker flick-meets-holocaust feature documentary. Eleven motor bikers have a mission to take the Maccabiah torch from Israel to the site of the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics, for the first Jewish Olympic Games on German soil. They will retrace the heroic journeys of the original 1930s’ Maccabiah riders and discover how they or their families survived the Holocaust.
The Fruit Hunters explores the little known subculture and history of rare fruit hunters who travel the globe in an obsessive search for the exotic, in this stylish and sometimes erotic documentary.