Combining rare original archive footage, home movies and authored by 40 intimate interviews with friends and celebrity fans this feature length film charts Nat "King" Cole's battle with racist 50’s America to become a superstar. An intimate portrait, it’s filled with music and accompanied the release of the album of the same name.
This semi-film within a film opens in the office of producer George Jessel, who never saw a camera he couldn't get in front of, who is holding a story conference to determine the screen treatment for the life of Eva Tanguay, and Jessel is unhappy with what the writers present him.He tells them to look up Eddie McCoy, Eva's one-time partner, for the real inside story on the lusty and vital Eva. Eddie's version is that he discovered her working as a waitress in an Indianapolis restaurant in 1912, wherein singer Larry Woods and his partner Charles Bennett get into a fight over her and both land in the hospital, and McCoy convinces the manager to put Eva on as a single to fill their spot. She flopped, but McCoy arranges for Bennett to be her accompanist, and she went out of his life. The writers look up Bennett, now head of a music publishing company, who says McCoy's story is phony, and it was Flo Zigfeld who discovered Eva for his Follies.
Electro-Pythagorus is an intimate and subjective portrait of the late Martin Bartlett, the Canadian electronic music pioneer who studied with Pauline Oliveros, David Tudor, John Cage, and Pandit Pran Nath. His contribution as an interdisciplinary composer, educator, and founding member of Western Front, though undoubtedly extensive, is in danger of being erased from cultural memory since his death from AIDS in 1993. Navigating an array of archival materials including letters, correspondences, notebooks, personal photos, and a huge body of unreleased music and field recordings held at the archives of Simon Fraser University, Electro-Pythagoras is a journey through the evolution of Bartlett’s musical time and space, softly guided by Luke Fowler’s insightful camera and montage—creating an experimental portrait that defies one-dimensionality.
A look at the work, life and eventual death of singer-songwriter Chris Whitley, whose many albums (on both major and indy labels) received universally good reviews, earning him a fan base among top tier musicians and journalists; though never bringing sustained mainstream success.
Documentarian Jose Sanchez-Montes turns his attention towards the late Cuban musician Ignacio Villa, known throughout the world as Bola de Nieve (Snowball), with this 2003 biographical documentary entitled simply Bola de Nieve. A master pianist, Bola de Nieve was a mainstay through the middle portion of the 20th century, with his music almost omnipresent in South America cinema throughout those formative decades. With Bola de Nieve's famous statement "I'm a sad person, but my songs sound happy" in mind, Sanchez-Montes also looks at the influence of the musician's African heritage and homosexuality upon Bola de Nieve's unique musical style.
A pair of beautiful eyes, shot in high-definition cinemascope, gazing out at the listener and reacting emotionally to the music...for the entire 75 minutes of the album.
A portrait of French filmmaker Michel Gondry, creator, for three decades, of an imperfect, astonishing, fascinating, damaged and poetic work.
The history of American popular music runs parallel with the history of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, with each male descendant possessing different musical abilities.
A story about the unorthodox life of the groundbreaking Swedish journalist and author Ester Blenda Nordström (1891-1948). In a very restrictive time for women she travelled the world, always returning to her secret love, Carin, in Stockholm.
A chronicle of the personal life and public career of the celebrated artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel.
Dubbed New York's "Queen of the Night," proto–club kid Susanne Bartsch has been throwing unforgettable parties for over 30 years and is still going strong.
This is a lonely New Year's Eve for Hank Williams as he spends it en route to a huge New Years Day concert in Ohio. Hank Williams died that night on the road. A fictional biography is shown in flashback.
Dr. Tony Flagg's friend Steven has problems in the relationship with his fiancée Amanda, so he persuades her to visit Tony. After some minor misunderstandings, she falls in love with him. When he tries to use hypnosis to strengthen her feelings for Steven, things get complicated.
I Heard a Voice is the first live DVD from AFI that was released on December 12, 2006. The concert was filmed at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California on Friday, September 15, 2006. Part of the Decemberunderground Tour, the crowd was the largest AFI had ever headlined with over 13,000 people in attendance. The title of this DVD is lifted from a line of poetry in the decemberunderground CD booklet. Underneath the song 37mm, it says: "The power went out. I turned on the radio. The power went out. I turned on the radio. The power went out. I turned on the radio....I heard a voice." The moth on the case is also from the decemberunderground booklet.
A young refugee travels from Russia to America in search of her lost father and falls in love with a gypsy horseman.
Winwood and Clapton crossed musical paths in 1969 with the formation of Blind Faith, a group that pioneered the fusion of rock and blues into tremendous studio and stage success. Despite critical and popular acclaim, the band was short-lived with only one album and a brief 1969 tour that debuted July 12 at Madison Square Garden and ended August 24 in Hawaii. Since then, Winwood and Clapton have remained friends but have only performed together a few times over the years for an occasional song at a charity event. The 2008 Madison Square Garden shows were the first full Winwood-Clapton concerts in almost 40 years.
The origin story of one of Italy's greatest rock stars, Gianna Nannini, who chased her dream despite obstacles from her family and the music industry.
A portrait of a hard rocking band known for their substance-fueled live performances on their evolutionary journey to become one of the greatest cult rock bands of our time.