Brick by Brick(1982)

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road(en)

The worlds of glitz, glam, and pop-rock fused immortally on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, born of the formidable partnership of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. This 1973 double album may well have been the peak of their collaboration. Ranging from perennial favorites like "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and the Jets," and the title track to more ambitious compositions like "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and everything in between, Goodbye is unmatched in its depth and scope. This entry in the Classic Albums series of DVDs documents the often tumultuous writing and recording sessions for that masterpiece through vintage clips of the musicians in the studio and new interviews with Elton, Bernie, producer Gus Dudgeon, and the band members. We may never know how the John-Taupin team achieved their magic, but this release offers a both a peek at the process and a few reasons why the album endures today.

The Golden Spurtle(en)

In a quaint Scottish village in the Highlands, contenders from around the globe gather to compete for the title of World Porridge Champion armed only with oats, salt and water. As the ailing Porridge Chieftain's tenure ends, he embarks on a mission to find a successor. Amidst intense rivalries and the charm of eccentric locals, this documentary delves into the legacy of the village and unveils a captivating culinary spectacle.

Janma Janma(ne)

Janma Janma is a Nepali film that delves into love, dreams, and the cycle of life. The story follows Amar and Praya, a couple deeply in love. Praya is haunted by recurring dreams of someone trying to kill her, which leave her anxious and fearful. Amar, along with her parents, reassures her that the dreams aren’t real and encourages her to move forward. Praya eventually finds a new beginning, embracing a fresh life. However, she discovers that her old friends didn’t get the same chance at renewal. She shares this realization with Amar, urging him to cherish love and life. The story concludes with Amar reflecting on her words, highlighting the fleeting yet profound beauty of existence. Janma Janma is directed by Sital Nepal and written by Yubraj Lama. It weaves an emotional narrative of second chances, dreams, and the power of love to overcome life’s uncertainties.

Area of Conflict(en)

Human traffickers wipe out a young girl's family and village. She then seeks revenge on those responsible, eventually becoming first the hunted then turning into the hunters with the mercenary hired to eliminate her.

Highly Dangerous(en)

A US newsman and a British entomologist spy on germ-warfare research in a mythical country.

Within Sand(ar)

When "Snam" gets ambushed by a group of thieves, he finds himself lost in the Saudi desert. While his pregnant wife, Halla, faces the men of the tribe to ensure his return, he finds himself being followed by a lone wolf.

The Peasants(az)

A historical revolutionary film depicting the struggle of peasants and the Baku proletariat against landowners and Musavatists in 1919.

Unfaithfully Yours(en)

Before he left for a brief European visit, symphony conductor Sir Alfred De Carter casually asked his staid brother-in-law August to look out for his young wife, Daphne, during his absence. August has hired a private detective to keep tabs on her. But when the private eye's report suggests Daphne might have been canoodling with his secretary, Sir Alfred begins to imagine how he might take his revenge.

The United Monster Talent Agency(en)

A short comedy spoof about Universal Monsters and their everyday unconventional work done at their very own talent agency for their movies.

Barrier(pl)

A dream-like meditation on post-industrial life in Communist Poland.

The Idiot(fr)

Nastassia Philippovna finds herself juggling the affections of four men over the course of a single evening. One is her benefactor, the bourgeois Totsky. Another is the opportunistic Ganya, whom Totsky has promised 75,000 rubles if he will marry Nastassia. Rogozhin offers Nastassia 100,000 rubles for her hand. And the “idiot,” Prince Myshkin, loves Nastassia madly and vows to “save” her.

Fighter(da)

Aïcha, a high-school student, is a passionate kung fu fighter. Her Turkish parents expect her to get good grades so she can get into medical school, like her brother Ali. But school doesn´t inspire her. Defying her family, Aïcha starts secretly training at a professional, co-ed kung fu club. A boy, Emil, helps Aïcha train for the club championship and they fall in love. But the rules of life are not as simple as the rules of kung fu, and Aïcha is forced to decide who she is and what she wants.

Mills from the Zaanstreek(xx)

Windmills along the River Zaan.

Mother's Field(ky)

In a remote Kyrgyz village, a mother navigates daily life as her family is drawn into the upheaval of World War II. Left behind to tend the land and hold her household together, she clings to hope amid growing uncertainty. As seasons pass, the quiet weight of absence and memory shapes her world. A deeply personal story of endurance, Mother’s Field captures the emotional cost of war from the perspective of those who wait.

Uli Hoeneß - Der Patriarch(de)

Dangerous Charm(bg)

He is well educated, charming, and gallant - a dream for each lonely lady. In reality he is a skillful swindler, who robs naive women. Cheating merchants with guilty consciences are his targets as well. This is the elusive protagonist of the movie. He constantly changes his name, stages his own death, and travels from town to town. His exploits are myriad and his life is an endless adventure. Yet, he remains an amiable swindler, an unrealized actor, whose only goal is make his life more interesting.

Electric Apricot(en)

Electric Apricot is a spoof of jam bands centered around the band, Electric Apricot, in the style of "This Is Spinal Tap"

Toy Machine - Jump Off A Building(en)

Toy Machine's 4th video release, "Jump Off A Building", is the follow up to "Welcome to Hell". It is Toy Machine at it's most creative. Featuring the skateboarding of Brian Anderson, Mike Maldonado, Elissa Steamer, Bam Margera, Ed Templeton, Chris Senn and Kerry Getz.

Valie Export – Das bewaffnete Auge(de)

A look at the extensive work of the Austrian multimedia artist VALIE EXPORT. Her role as a key feminist figure and mediator between the international women’s movement and the artistic avant-garde and pioneer are at the center of the film.

Misidentified(pt)

Paid in Blood(pt)

After surviving the massacre in which the police killed ten landless workers in Pará’s Amazon region, Fernando dos Santos becomes the only survivor to reveal his identity and testify. Still shaken, he recounts how the police murdered his boyfriend and tortured his companions, yet the film portrays him as far more than a victim: a courageous man who left the city’s comfort to chase the dream of owning land, using humor and intelligence to endure the solitude of being a gay man in rural Brazil. Alongside him is José Vargas, an idealistic lawyer defending the survivors and their right to justice. As he faces threats and isolation, the film exposes the human cost of truth, resilience, and the struggle for dignity in a land scarred by violence and inequality.

Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing(en)

Shut Up and Sing is a documentary about the country band from Texas called the Dixie Chicks and how one tiny comment against President Bush dropped their number one hit off the charts and caused fans to hate them, destroy their CD’s, and protest at their concerts. A film about freedom of speech gone out of control and the three girls lives that were forever changed by a small anti-Bush comment

The Battle of The Alamo(en)

Blindsight(en)

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

The Point(en)

This documentary is a portrait of Point St. Charles, one of Montreal’s notoriously bleak neighbourhoods. Many of the residents are English-speaking and of Irish origin; many of them are also on welfare. Considered to be one of the toughest districts in all of Canada, Point St. Charles is poor in terms of community facilities, but still full of rich contrasts and high spirits – that is, most of the time.

The Rape of Recy Taylor(en)

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.

Persecution Blues: the Battle for the Tote!(en)

In 2010, the iconic Tote Hotel – last bastion of Melbourne’s vibrant music counterculture – was forced to close by unfair laws. Filmed over 7 years, “Persecution Blues” depicts the struggle of more than 20,000 fans – and the bands who inspire them – to preserve their history and protect their future, and puts the audience on the front line of an epic-scale culture war.

Deliver Us from Evil(en)

Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.

Mom n' Me(en)

The filmmaker traces the loss of her ancestral language over three generations of her family, and her own desire to recover it.

L’endemà(ca)

Velorama(en)

Documentary looking at a century of cycling. Commissioned to mark the arrival of the 2014 Tour de France in Yorkshire, the film makes full use of stunning British Film Institute footage to transport the audience on a journey from the invention of the modern bike, through the rise of recreational cycling, to gruelling competitive races. Award-winning director Daisy Asquith artfully combines the richly-diverse archive with a hypnotic soundtrack from cult composer Bill Nelson in a joyful, absorbing watch for both cycling and archive fans.

American Teen(en)

A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.

The Devil Came on Horseback(en)

While serving with the African Union, former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle documents the brutal ethnic cleansing occuring in Darfur. Determined that the Western public should know about the atrocities he is witnessing, Steidle contacts New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who publishes some of Steidle's photographic evidence.

Air Guitar Nation(en)

If your bedroom has become too small a stage for your air guitar antics, take inspiration from the competitors featured here as they battle their way from the inaugural U.S. Air Guitar Championship to the world championship in Oulu, Finland. Along the way, filmmaker Alexandra Lipsitz documents the fierce rivalries that develop as would-be rock legends vie for top honors in technical accuracy, stage presence and "airness."

I Remember Me(en)

In 1984-85, people at Lake Tahoe fell ill with flu symptoms, but they didn't get better. Medical literature documents similar outbreaks: in 1934 at LA county hospital, in 1948-49 in Iceland, in 1956 in Punta Gorda, Florida. The malady now has a name, chronic fatigue syndrome, and filmmaker Kim Snyder, who suffered from the disease for several years, tells her story and talks to victims and their families, and to physicians and researchers: is it viral, it is psychosomatic, is it one disease or several (a syndrome) ; what's the CDC doing about it; what's it like to have a disease that's not yet understood? Her inquiry takes her to Punta Gorda and to a high-school graduation.

Annie Oakley(en)

This one hour documentary examines the life of the famed Sharp Shooter and Wild West performer, Annie Oakley from her birth in mid nineteenth century rural Pennsylvania to her death in 1926. Many myths are overturned and the program also features a little known trial when Annie Oakley had to sue The Hearst Newspaper chain all throughout the country for libel when they reported the activities of someone who was impersonating the famed sharpshooter and besmirching her reputation.

Dance In The Desert(lt)

The author Jurga Ivanauskaitė (1961-2007) was considered a pioneer of contemporary Baltic literature well beyond the borders of Lithuania. Her work deals intensively with the tension between religion, sexuality and emancipation. Film documents and interviews serve to reconstruct the life of this independent and willful woman - from her childhood to her artistic breakthrough as a companion of the Lithuanian rock and punk scene, but also depicting her spiritual side, which brought her all the way to India, where she turned to Buddhism. She is shown as fighting for the Dalai Lama and a "free Tibet", shown as a literary mind, but first and foremost she is shown as a woman who stood bravely in the face of inconvenience, pain and inner demons.

Into Madness(en)

Initially airing on HBO's "America Undercover" series, this riveting documentary focuses on three families shattered by the psychiatric disorder of schizophrenia. Subjects "Bob," "Missy" and "Steven" have lived for over a decade with schizophrenia. The film documents the difficult day-to-day existence of both those afflicted with this order and the families searching for answers to their loved ones' suffering. This film also shows the varied and variably successful treatment methods for each of the subjects—one is placed in a group home, one is placed in an institution, and one is cared for at home. The documentary was critically acclaimed for its compassionate treatment of mental illness.