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Thorsten Schütte’s film is a sharply edited and energetic celebration of Zappa through his public persona, allowing us to witness his shifting relationship with audiences. Utilizing potent TV interviews and many forgotten performances from his 30-year career, we are immersed into the musician’s world while experiencing two distinct facets of his complex character. At once Zappa was both a charismatic composer who reveled in the joy of performing and, in the next moment, a fiercely intelligent and brutally honest interviewee whose convictions only got stronger as his career ascended.
Ian Hislop and John Eliot Gardiner reveal the story behind Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Described as the ‘greatest ‘great’ piece ever written,’ its opening notes are among the most recognisable in history. But no one really knows what Beethoven was trying to express with this piece. The traditional wisdom is that he is railing against fate and his deafness. But John Eliot believes the music expresses Beethoven’s belief in the French Revolution. This is turbulent music from a turbulent man living in a turbulent age. John Eliot and Ian Hislop bring to life the exciting and dangerous times that shaped Beethoven personally and creatively.
It’s 1959 in a seedy bar in Philadelphia, and Billie Holiday is giving one of her last performances interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music 4 months before her death.
Liza is a young Dutch woman who travels to Venice to meet her Italian father Mauro. Mauro has not seen Liza since she was three years old, when he and Liza’s mother decided to split up. Mauro has traveled the world since as a musician. When Liza is in Venice it turns out there is more in store than just a couple of days in Venice. He takes Liza on a musical voyage along the route of the Orient Express. A trip that will eventually take them to Istanbul.
“Beyond the Supernova” is a tour documentary that offers a glimpse into the mind of the guitarist. Join Satriani while he performs music from Shockwave Supernova through Asia and Europe as he looks back on his career. We learn of the autobiographical concept behind the record and how it plays into determining Joe Satriani’s next creative step. We’ll also go behind the scenes of the Surfing To Shockwave World Tour featuring performances from Joe, Mike Keneally, Bryan Beller and Marco Minnemann, as well as cameo appearances by guitarists Steve Vai and Guthrie Govan.
As a DJ, music journalist and broadcaster, Edith Bowman has always been fascinated by the relationship between sex and music. She meets experts and artists, producers, singers and even her own friends and family to investigate the power of music to provoke sensual responses in the human brain and body.
When we are young, we sometimes feel that the world is stacked against us. This is the case for 16 year-old Steeve Simard (Lévi Doré), who is entering his last year at Gaston-Miron High School in St-Lambert. A cynical intellectual with a critical view of himself and the world, he struggles to establish bonds with his parents and peers. He only has one friend: Virgil (Jonathan St-Armand). In order to evade his loneliness and fill a void in his imagination, he seeks refuge in his books and music. However, an incident with the star of the Spartans football team, will force Steeve to come out of his shell and face his destiny…
The story of a retired music professor, Misha Brankov, who under unusual circumstances discovers his true origins. At the place where once stood a Nazi concentration camp for Jews during World War II, a metal box filled with documents is found. It was buried by an inmate Isaac Weiss in the year 1941. The professor finds out that his real parents, the Weiss’s, gave him away to their friends, the Brankovs, just before they were taken into the camp. Inside the box there is an unfinished musical score, called “When day breaks”, composed by the inmate Isaac Weiss. Searching for the truth about himself and his origins, Misha discovers the little-known truth about Judenlager Semlin camp, one of the worst Nazi execution sites in the heart of contemporary Belgrade. At the same time, the professor’s obsession is to complete the composition, started by his father, and to perform it on the site of the former camp… which he, after many vicissitudes, finally succeeds.
Moving to Brighton in an attempt to fulfill her dreams of becoming a musician, Rose befriends an amiable homeless man and a charming young bartender.
This spectacular live concert sees Toto celebrating their 35th Anniversary at the Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland during their 2013 World Tour. The show epitomises the combination of craft, heart and drive that has been Toto s trademark throughout their career in a set packed with hits and classic album tracks. The individual band members have played on many of the best known and most successful records in history but when they come together as Toto they create music that is uniquely special. This is Toto at their very best.
A documentary about the Famous Jeff Healey Club which opened in downtown Toronto, Canada in 2001 until its closure in 2008. The movie tells the story of the Jeff Healey club ,the A- list musicians who played there from around the world and of course the amazing talent that Jeff had as a Blind Musician who never let his disability stop him from doing what he loved most -Music. With interviews with Cristie Healey, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Ronnie Hawkins and others and with rare live performance footage from the club with Jeff Healey, The Jeff Healey Blues Band, Ian Gillan, Jimmy Bowskill, Watermelon Slim and many more.
Guilty pleasure or genius, misfits or mavericks, noble or naff – how do we really feel about the Bee Gees? Are the brothers Gibb a cacophony of falsettos or songwriting maestros, the soundtrack to every office party or masters of melancholy and existential rage? Are they comedy or Tragedy? How deep is our love and how deep are the Bee Gees? With a back catalogue that includes hits like How Do You Mend a Broken Heart, Massachusetts, Islands in the Stream, Stayin’ Alive, Chain Reaction, How Deep Is Your Love, Gotta Get a Message to You, Words, To Love Somebody and Night Fever, the Bee Gees are second only to the Beatles in the 20th-century songwriting pantheon, but while their pop success spans several decades, there are different Bee Gees in different eras. Is there a central glue that unites the brothers and their music and, if so, what is it? The Joy of the Bee Gees features a rare interview with the last remaining Bee Gee brother, Barry Gibb, many of those musicians and industry …
The Dave Clark Five started the rock n roll British invasion that changed the world, having already knocked The Beatles out of the #1 position in the UK. Watch newly-filmed interviews with Tom Hanks, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick and many more, as they share their memories of how the music of the 60s and the cultural revolution of 1964 changed their lives forever. Bonus disc includes 2 hours of extra interview scenes and rare archival footage, including never-before-seen star performances and alternate performances from The DC5 ! Featuring 4 hours of star-studded performances in total!
An independent documentary film about the phenomenal resurgence of the modular synthesizer — exploring the passions, obsessions and dreams of people who have dedicated part of their lives to this esoteric electronic music machine. Inventors, musicians, and enthusiasts are interviewed about their relationship with the modular synthesizer — for many, it’s an all-consuming passion.
Did you ever think you knew someone, only to find out everything you believed was dead wrong? Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill), Clifton Powell (Norbit), Tamika Scott (Meet the Browns), Angell Conwell (Soul Plane) and R&B singer Sam Salter star in this compelling musical comedy/drama about a naive young woman who’s duped by her smooth-talking new boss. Performed in front of a live audience, There’s a Stranger in My House will win you over with love, laughter, truth and song!
The suspenseful chronicle of how the prodigious Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman helped save Europe’s premiere Jewish musicians from obliteration by the Nazis during World War II. In three years, he transformed from a world renowned violinist to a humanitarian racing against time.
A romantic coming of age comedy following musician Nate and the effect his two sisters have on his life as they share a home together in Manchester
Chelsea on the Rocks celebrates the personalities and artistic voices that have emerged from New York’s legendary Chelsea Hotel. Once considered an untouchable, impenetrable tower for writers, artists, musicians and mavericks, it has been recently claimed as a boutique hotel venture for a management company that shows disregard for its formidable history. –Cannes Film Festival
It’s the last Friday before Christmas in New York City and a massive storm is brewing. Small-town business woman Cara Hill is meeting with her banker while country music star Heath Sawyer is playing Madison Square Garden. When the flight to Tulsa they’re both booked on is canceled, this unlikely pair of strangers winds up traveling together.
BEAUTIFUL NOISE is an in-depth exploration of a music movement in the late twentieth century, a fascinating period when some innovative musicians mixed guitar noise into conventional pop song structures while maintaining a philosophy of letting the music speak for itself. Although many of the people interviewed are notoriously press shy they have opened up about their music and experiences from over 20 years ago, how they defied the rules and became sonic innovators that have inspired so many.
With a young daughter, two baby mamas, and his own mama breathing down his neck, Ronald “R.C.” Carr has got more ladies in his life than he can handle! He’s one hit song away from fame and fortune as a music producer, but he can’t seem to find the rhythm that makes him a good, reliable father. Between his love interests scheming to get him to settle down and his unresolved issues with his own father, R.C. has got some growing up to do. It’ll take finding the right harmony of love and forgiveness to be a real man and a true father.
Audrey is a typical music student at a large Midwestern college, interested in pursuing a career in classical music. Her apparent “normalcy,” however, makes her something of a misfit in her family, made up as it is by a group of outrageous performers. Audrey’s parents were funk/ R& B stars in the 1970s, while her brother currently reigns supreme on the hip hop and fashion scene, and her precocious little sister is a streetsmart MC in the manner of Lil’ Kim. Audrey finds this family tree a little embarrassing, and is somewhat disdainful of the ego and trappings of pop culture entertainment, so she hides her clan from her new boyfriend. This unfortunately becomes a bit difficult to maintain when the family shows up for a visit. The campus will never be the same again!
“My new feature length documentary Breadcrumb Trail is about Slint and the Louisville music culture they emerged from. It includes footage going back to the early 1990s that I shot when repeatedly driving up from Athens, GA to Louisville to try to chase rumors of what they guys were up to. Over the years I tracked down more stories about them, then began filming interviews with each of the band members and their contemporaries. We also unearthed some unseen/uncirculated footage from their few live performances as well as the writing and arranging of Spiderland.”
Lachlan MacAldonich is a self-described “lazy Scotsman” and former guitar player for a once-popular 1990s rock band. No longer famous, he now lives a comfortably numb existence working on an organic farm outside Los Angeles. He drinks himself into a stupor every night and retires to his shabby apartment to record his podcast, recounting the tragic deaths of great musicians. After a particularly heavy night of drowning his sorrows at a local watering hole, he is arrested for driving under the influence. This snag, coupled with a long-ago conviction for a drug offense, means Lachlan faces possible deportation. His only hope of remaining stateside is proving that his absence would cause extreme hardship for a spouse or relative – forcing him to confront relationships he thought were buried forever.
This is the story of a musician who is led on a wild goose chase by an elusive woman, who he believes to be the love of his life, only to end up walking into a mystical forest on the trail of a lady hiding behind a white fox mask.
In small town Tennessee, a ne’er-do-well man (Knoxville) wrestling for control over his fading golf club is reunited with his estranged daughter, a 14-year-old musical prodigy.
Pete is a good guy who used to be cool. Once living his dream in the music industry, he now toils away in the pricing department of a failing supermarket chain to provide for his loving wife and young son. When Pete’s new boss, Susan, takes over the department, her high-energy enthusiasm and unconventional ideas start to shake things up. She aims to reinvent the company while grooming Pete for the executive fast track. Making more money now than he ever hoped to in the music industry, Pete begins to wonder if this new career is just what he needs to become the man he’s always wanted to be.
Al Capone – The quintessential self-made American man, ruthless killer, or both? To this day we are fascinated with this celebrity gangster. Americans love a bad boy; a tragic anti-hero. Al Capone is one of the originals, one of the most notorious bootleggers and gangsters of the twentieth century, believed to have personally murdered dozens of people and ordered the killing of hundreds of others. But that’s only one side of this complicated man. He was also a hugely popular public figure, dynamic and charismatic; he opened one of the nation’s first soup kitchens, and was a devoted patron and guardian of jazz, giving African American musicians opportunities that they would otherwise never have had. So what made him a crime boss instead of a powerful politician?
Julia is a hard-working girl with two jobs and a boyfriend, Istvan, who is a rock musician and always in trouble. When cocaine dealers threaten to kill him over a debt, she tries to help him come up with the money. This starts an unfortunate chain of events at her daytime job at the hotel, and brings her and the hotel manager, O’Ryan, closer together, or so it seems. Then, in his unrequited love for Julia, O’Ryan goes a step too far, way too far, and from there, things get very ugly!
As the Palaces Burn is a feature-length documentary that originally sought to follow Lamb of God and their fans throughout the world, to demonstrate how music ties us together when we can’t find any other common bond. However, during the filming process in 2012, the story abruptly took a dramatic turn when lead singer Randy Blythe was arrested on charges of manslaughter and blamed for the death of one of their young fans in the Czech Republic. What followed was a heart-wrenching courtroom drama that left fans, friends, and curious onlookers around the world on the edge of their seats.
Young man in the prison is obsessed with a singer who is to perform in a new musical its director is currently auditioning for. He escapes and through complex and often very funny series of events ends up being the main star of the musical, only to be discovered by the police the day before the premiere…OK, enough spoilers! The story keeps going on… Lots of great dialogs, awesome music and singing, and ever-twisting story (plus, the parallels between the play’s script and the real story) makes this one of the most enjoyable Czech movies I’ve seen in years (and I’ve seen many)! Definitely check it out if you like comedy, drama, musicals, and theater.
Through an oral history format of in-depth interviews and archival footage, RIOT ON THE DANCE FLOOR bring to life the gritty story of City Gardens, one of New Jersey’s most infamous clubs and its larger than life promoter, Randy Now. Featuring the stark and iconic photography of Thrasher Magazine’s Ken Salerno, the film chronicles the rise of several different music scenes in a venue for underground music that traversed the entertainment spectrum; from the comedy of Henny Youngman to Nine Inch Nails, New Order to Nirvana. It is the story of musical champions, underdogs and how hoards of misfit kids found an unlikely home and above all, the freedom and liberation of having complete creative control. – IFF Boston
Antoine is a musician. The forties, he suddenly decides to end his career. After a few days of wandering, he gets a job as a janitor. Mathilde lives in the old building in the east of Paris where he takes office. This is a young retiree, generous and involved, who divides his time between his associational activities and the life of the condominium. One night, she discovers a disturbing crack on the wall of his living room. Gradually, his anxiety grew to turn into panic and if the building collapsed … Slowly, Antoine befriends the woman he feared to see slip into madness. Between slips and concerns, both form an awkward tandem, humorous and solidarity which will, perhaps, through this bad patch.
Emerging from the Detroit music scene of the 1970s in a flurry of long hair and sequins, Alice Cooper restored hard rock with a sense of showmanship, while simultaneously striking fear into the hearts of Middle America with the chicken-slaughtering, dead-baby-eating theatrics that would cement his identity as a glam metal icon. Meticulously crafted from rare archival footage, Super Duper Alice Cooper tells the story of the man behind the makeup, Vincent Furnier, the son of a preacher, who got caught in the grip of his own monster.
The film follows aspiring singer-songwriter Jed King (Alan Powell) as he struggles to catch a break and escape the long shadow of his father, a country music legend. After reluctantly accepting a gig at a local vineyard harvest festival, Jed is love-struck by the vineyard owner’s daughter, Rose (Ali Faulkner), and a romance quickly blooms. Soon after their wedding, Jed writes Rose “The Song,” which becomes a breakout hit. Thrust into a life of stardom and a world of temptation in the form of fellow performer Shelby Bale (Caitlin Nicol-Thomas), Jed’s life and marriage begin to fall apart.
The West Jefferson Mall is closed down and set to be demolished. The department store was the site of a grizzly murder/suicide years before and now… it’s the perfect location for a wild Halloween party. Two floors, fifty thousand square feet, loud music, booze, sexy Halloween costumes, and one uninvited guest. It’s one hell of a night and by morning the only survivor, a woman with psychic abilities, is pitted in a cat and mouse game with the killer, running from room to room and using her powers to retrace the final steps of the other guests.
From a mind unlike any other, Biophilia Live chronicles the multidimensional concert centered on the eighth studio album of avant-garde Icelandic artist Björk. Nick Fenton and Peter Strickland, unique voices in their own right, film Björk live in performance and punctuate her music with evocative animation and science and nature footage. The infinitely creative journey presents a culmination of work that represents one of the most original musical endeavors of a generation.
Fatu’s father has returned home to Guinea-Bissau from Portugal to attend her wedding. The young woman teaches at the university and her future husband is a well-known musician. Their wedding is supposed to take place in Tabatô, a village where everyone makes music. On the way there, it becomes apparent that the father is seriously traumatised by his experiences as a soldier in the colonial war decades earlier.
Nineteen year old Orla from Country Antrim wins ‘Follow a Star’ on the Irish national TV station. Her prize is a quest – to find C&W star Jed Wood, give him a kiss, and report on her adventure on the following week’s show. Ray Timmons, a middle aged documentary cameraman, is the only person available to document her on her quest. Together they travel to New York, meet up with a jaded sound recordist, Mike, and set about chasing down Jed – arriving at film sets, recording studios, everywhere Jed is due to be. Their progress is followed by a couple of DJs on a local radio station. During the week the chase continues, their relationship changes, and they learn a lot about each other and bout pursuing their own dreams, before they return to face the music back home. Written by Anonymous (IMDB.com)
