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Poetic and moving, Argentina explores the heart of traditional Argentine folklore and its stunning musical heritage - from traditional styles such as the Zamba of "La Felipe Varela" through to modern dance - as choreographed by critically-acclaimed Carlos Saura.
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Two young men shoot themselves in a churchyard. Ray Belknap dies; James Vance - severely disfigured - survives. Their parents take heavy-metal icons Judas Priest to court, claiming the band "mesmerized" their sons.
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A music-fueled journey through folk and traditional arts in America. At a time when the existence of the NEA is under threat, Alan Govenar's documentary focuses on one of its least known and most enduring programs: the National Heritage Fellowship.
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"Someone who glows so brightly is not going to grow old," Fellini once prophesied about Irene Staub, aka Lady Shiva, one of the greatest of all Swiss divas. This enchanting new documentary reveals Lady Shiva's remarkable life in the fast lane in 1960s-80s Zürich.
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Mad Hot Ballroom meets Paris is Burning in this entertaining documentary set in the swinging world of same-sex competitive ballroom dancing.
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The new documentary How They Got Over celebrates the spirit of gospel performers and how they helped usher in a musical revolution that changed the world forever.
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I Dream of Wires tracks the rise, fall and rebirth of the machine that shaped electronic music: the modular synthesizer. The film explores the synthesizer's remarkable history and the resurgence of high end synthesizers being use by a new generation.
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This new documentary from Tim Wolff (The Sons of Tennessee Williams) is a musical tribute to the legendary South Pacific recording artist and transgender activist Moses Moshanty Tau and the LGBTQI community of Papua New Guinea.
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Deprived of his sight at an early age, Wolfgang Fasser established a physical therapy retreat for disabled children where they use music and noise to communicate with others and gain control of their own bodies.
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What's it like to dedicate your life to work that won't be completed in your lifetime? Fifteen years ago, filmmaker David Licata focused on four remarkable projects and the people behind them in an effort to answer this universal question.
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Mademoiselle Paradis is the true story of Maria Paradis, a gifted pianist and friend of Mozart who lost her eyesight as a child but regains it as a young adult. But this miracle comes at a price.
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A snowboard accident leaves 18 year-old Forrest Allen unable to speak or walk. Tom Sweitzer, an eccentric music therapist, is determined to help Forrest. This is a story of the power of music to heal and transform lives.
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For more than a century, Black artists, authors and musicians have traveled to Paris to liberate themselves from the racism of the United States. What made these artistic innovators choose France? And to what extent was (and is) France truly colorblind?
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Olancho is the story of a group of musicians who perform for the powerful drug cartels in Honduras. Their songs glorify the traffickers who have destroyed their country, but in a world where the cartels wield the most power, do the musicians have any other choice?
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Among the most acclaimed choreographers in American history, Paul Taylor reinvented the roles of music and movement in dance for nearly 60 years. This rare, in-depth look into his creative process was the last film made with him before his death in 2018.
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Directed by Academy Award Winner Kirk Simon, The Pulitzer at 100 celebrates the centenary of this revered national award for literary excellence in journalism and the arts. Featuring interviews with Toni Morrison, Michael Chabon, Tony Kushner, Wynton Marsalis and more.
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Filmed with vérité intimacy over the course of nearly a decade, Quest is the moving portrait of the Rainey family living in North Philadelphia. Epic in scope, Quest is a vivid illumination of race and class in America, and a testament to love, healing and hope.
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The documentary follows a classically trained composer as he adapts a dime novel masterpiece into a grand opera - bringing America's cowboy culture and the sprawling beauty of the West into the realm of Puccini and Verdi.
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Kevin MacLeod is the world's most-heard living composer - who nobody's heard of. Royalty Free brings to life this remarkable musician, who allows anyone to use his music for no charge, from Hollywood studios down to grandmas making cat videos.
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Nominated for an Academy Award and featuring Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman, this inspiring documentary follows divorced mother Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras as she creates her own violin program in three East Harlem schools.
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One of Europe's most popular pilgrimages, the Camino de Santiago attracts wayfarers of all stripes to walk its ancient paths in search of meaning. One such pilgrim an American cellist who walks the Camino with his instrument, performing for fellow pilgrims along the way.
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Filmed over 7 years, Talent Has Hunger is an inspiring film about the power of music to consume, enhance, and propel lives. It focuses on master cello teacher Paul Katz and the challenges of guiding gifted young people through the struggles of mastering the instrument.
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For nearly 40 years, Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks have brought the joyful syncopation of the 1920s and '30s to life with their virtuosity, vintage musical instruments, and more than 60,000 period band arrangements.
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This documentary reveals the extraordinary life of Sidiki Conde, who lost the use of his legs to polio at age fourteen. Today, he balances his career as a performing artist with the almost insurmountable obstacles of life in New York City.
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Bolero, The- One of the most honored films of its time and winner of an Academy Award, The Bolero captures the essence of an orchestra as Zubin Mehta conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a stellar performance of Ravel's classic.
Chely Wright: Wish Me Away- Chely Wright: Wish Me Away is the story of Chely Wright, the first country music star to come out as gay. Over three years, the filmmakers were given extraordinary access to Chely's struggle and her unfolding plan to come out publicly.
Cool and Crazy- Meet a group of men who find purpose, companionship and even fame as members of a male choir in Berlevag, Norway.
End of Time, The- Peter Mettler’s enthralling new film combines elements of documentary, essay, and experimental cinema to create a tour de force that challenges our conception of time - and perhaps the very fabric of our existence.
Erroll Garner: No One Can Hear You Read- In a triumphant career that lasted forty years Erroll Garner pushed the playability of the piano to its limits, developed an international reputation, and made an indelible mark on the jazz world.
Googoosh: Iran's Daughter- This documentary tells the story of Iranian pop phenomenon Googoosh, and also of the political and cultural context which pushed her to the heights of success in the 60’s and 70’s, only to silence her completely after Iran’s Islamic revolution of 1979.
High Fidelity- From the filmmaking team that brought us the Academy Award-winning From Mao To Mozart: Isaac Stern in China comes this spirited and humorous documentary about the world-famous Guarneri String Quartet.
Homemade Hillbilly Jam- This enjoyable documentary captures the rich and wonderful sounds of “hillbilly” music by following three families of modern-day hillbillies back to the roots of their music-making heritage.
I'll Sing For You- In the sixties, the people of Mali awoke each morning to the sound of Boubacar "KarKar" Traoré's voice on the radio, singing of independence. But KarKar, like his native country, fell on hard times. Also featuring Ali Farka Toure.
Master Qi and the Monkey King-
This film explores the life and work of the preeminent master of Chinese Opera living in the United States, Qi Shu Fang.
Mercedes Sosa: The Voice of Latin America- In the 1960s, prior to her fame and international acclaim, Mercedes Sosa defied expectations by drafting, together with four other young musicians, the "Manifesto del Nuevo Cancionero" ("The New Songbook Manifesto").
Meredith Monk: Inner Voice- This documentary, which follows composer/ singer/ director/ choreographer Meredith Monk as she creates a new piece entitled Songs of Ascension, illuminates the artist at work, while also revealing her compelling personal history.
On the Rumba River-In 1948, Antoine ‘Wendo’ Kolosoy's first album made him the superstar of Congolese Rumba. But as Congo suffered under the dictator Mobutu, he was reduced to beggarhood. In the late 1990s, older and wiser, Wendo made his comeback.
Orchestra of Exiles - Orchestra of Exiles reveals the dramatic story of Bronislaw Huberman, the celebrated Polish violinist who rescued some of the world's greatest musicians from Nazi Germany and then created one of the world's greatest orchestras, the Palestine Philharmonic (which would become the Israeli Philharmonic).
Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider- Filmed in Morocco and featuring exclusive interviews with cultural icons such as Allen Ginsberg, Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider explores the esoteric life of the man who wrote the The Sheltering Sky, one of the most provocative and influential novels of the 20th century.
Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune- Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune is a timely and relevant tribute to an unlikely American hero. Interview and performance footage of Ochs is illuminated by the ruminations of Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Sean Penn, Peter Yarrow, Christopher Hitchens and others.
Pleasures of Being Out of Step, The- Nat Hentoff is one of the enduring voices of the last 65 years, a writer who championed jazz as an art form and who also led the rise of 'alternative' journalism in America.
Sacred Stage- The Mariinsky theater (also known as the Kirov) of St. Petersburg has somehow maintained its artistic excellence through war, revolution and the collapse of Communism.
Speak the Music- Robert Mann has been a vital force in the world of music for more than seventy years. As founder and first violinist of the Julliard String Quartet, and as a soloist, composer, teacher, and conductor, Mann has brought a sense of adventure to chamber music performance, master classes, and orchestral performances worldwide.
Tickle in the Heart, A- A Tickle in the Heart captures the story of the Epstein Brothers - Max, Willie and Julius - klezmer legends on a joyous (and hilarious) international tour.
Wagner & Me- English actor and raconteur Stephen Fry explores his passion for history’s most controversial composer. Can he salvage Richard Wagner’s music from its association with Hitler?
Wagner's Jews- Richard Wagner was notoriously anti-Semitic, and his writings on the Jews were later embraced by Hitler and the Nazis. But many of Wagner's closest associates were Jews-- young musicians who became personally devoted to him, and provided crucial help to his career.
Wetlands Preserved- This insightful and entertaining documentary tracks the history of Wetlands, the first-ever activist nightclub, a place that was as devoted to environmental and political issues as it was to great music.
When the Drum Is Beating- In Haiti, there is one band that has seen it all: Septentrional. For six decades this 20 piece band has made passionate music - a fusion of Cuban big band and Haitian voodoo beats - through dictatorships, natural disasters, coup d'états, and chaos, navigating the ups and downs, the glory and the tragedy that is Haiti's history.
Without the King- Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival, this acclaimed film tells an astonishing story of Africa’s last absolute monarchy, the Kingdom of Swaziland.
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