Andrea Chenier(1981)

Verdi La Traviata(en)

This set has Edita Gruberova singing in top form, all her scooping cast aside, which one finds in abundance in her Lucia under Richard Bonynge. Here, however, she makes ravishing use of those bits of tone that only she can produce: those instances of coloratura and dramatic legato with little asides and small florishes of style that suggest her intelligent approach and her high degree of musical involvement in this role. She does this in her I Puritani and her Anna Bolena, less so in Roberto Deveraux and Maria Stuarda(both sets). Listen to Addio del passato and the Sempre Libra...ravishing, yes, but there are again those nuances learned from Callas that she makes her own. A very singualr perform,ance, and extremely moving with its detail and cry for pity throughout..from the start even. Neil Schicoff is excellent, not an unworthy Alfredo at all! His is a great lyric tenor voice that should have been in the top line.

The Way to the Heart(en)

Ava, an award-winning chef at a big-city restaurant, has lost her spark. Her boss sends her out to find herself to save her menu and her job. She returns home and finds little to inspire her, but when she reunites with her childhood friend Logan, Ava has to get her head out of the clouds and her foot out of her mouth to rediscover her passion for food.

Six Weeks to Twelve Years(en)

After the death of their abusive father, two estranged twin brothers must reunite and sell off his property.

The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers(ru)

The action takes place in 1920 during the Civil War. Crimea on the eve of complete liberation from the White Guards. Returning from patrol, the four brave “elusive” knocked down an airplane. In the field bag of the captured pilot, they find a secret report, which speaks of the existence of defensive fortifications around the coastal city, which the Reds have yet to take. Young heroes get the task to get a map of fortifications and go to the city...

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Alvin's Christmas Carol(en)

In this story inspired by the timeless classic, A Christmas Carol, Alvin finds himself center stage as a Scroogelike little chipmunk. Ghostly visits from Dave, Theodore and Simon as the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future help him understand the true meaning of the Holiday.

Jeevan Sangharsha(en)

A poet gets dejected with the materialistic society around him. The only person he gets some sympathy from is a washed out working girl who gives him shelter. Rejected by publishers, he gains fame when his death is reported by a newspaper.

Desire Street(en)

A family (mother, daughter and son) tries to survive their loneliness and obsessions by going through different sexual experiences and relationships with a new neighbour, a prostitute.

Ultraman Hayata: The Lost Films(en)

This DVD set have all The Ultraman pre-release lost films, recorded in 8mm, and release officialy in 2005 with a photobook.

Janma Bhoomi(ne)

Janma Bhoomi is a compelling Nepali film that celebrates culture, family, and the triumph of good over greed. Arjun and Krishna, two brothers unaware of their bond, face Kuber Agarwal, a wealthy businessman set on destroying Naya Basti village to build a factory, ignoring the villagers’ heritage. Agarwal’s daughter Sirjana falls in love with Arjun and marries him against her father’s wishes.Chameli secretly loves Arjun but remains silent, while Krishna falls for Gita. With the villagers’ support, Arjun and Krishna resist Agarwal’s plans. The story takes a tragic turn as Agarwal and Chameli die, but the brothers succeed in protecting the village. Sirjana’s decision to leave her father highlights that love and integrity triumph over greed. Directed and written by Mohan Nirula and produced by Chabi Ojha, Janma Bhoomi showcases Nepal’s cultural roots and the power of unity.

Mutiny on the Buses(en)

Bus driver Stan Butler agrees to marry Suzy, much to the anguish of Mum, her son-in-law, Arthur, and daughter Olive. How, they wonder, will they ever manage without Stan's money coming in? Then Arthur is sacked, and Stan agrees to delay the wedding. Meanwhile, he hits on an idea: Arthur should learn to drive a bus. Somehow he does just that, and even gets a job. Stan then blackmails the Depot Manager into giving him the job of driver on the new money-making Special Tours Bus. A great idea ...if only the inspector hadn't taken Stan on his trial run to the Windsor Safari Park

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.

Hello...?(en)

"a colorful poem of the first copy-motion film... the system registers images directly from a color (xerox) duplicator model 6500... an original, versatil, unique system developed by Darino" –Back Stage

The Song of the Tree(ky)

Esen, a young man who has been expelled from his village, escapes with the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the village. Whilst being pursued, he is forced to fight for her hand in a battle that results in the destruction of a sacred totem tree. This puts the whole village in jeopardy, and it is up to Esen to redeem himself and save them all.

Zamaskowany zabójca - wersja reżyserka(pl)

The main characters are stalked by an assassin who appeared out of nowhere.

Girl on the Moon(ru)

Someone from another planet crashed on Earth and evil is chasing him, and then love appears, and it defeats evil through an amulet.

Samajavaragamana(te)

Balu, a determined middle-class man who finds himself at a crossroads when Sarayu enters his life, rekindling his long-lost desire for romantic relationships. Balu must try his best to stop his cousin’s marriage in order to save his own love life.

Mercs(en)

Mercs is an action-packed comedy-drama set in the high-stakes world of underground gambling and street fighting. A diverse group gathers at an illegal fight venue, each with their own motives. Helma and Sanna pretend to know each other to catch Preach’s attention, while Lyra sneaks in for a rebellious thrill, only to be overwhelmed by the violent scene. Carl seeks a win to appease his wife, Dexter loves the adrenaline, and Donovan stumbles into the chaos, instantly hooked. Vicious D shows off his skills and his girlfriends, while Lucy and Jade thrive on the fight’s raw energy. Rupesh, a seasoned gambler, believes he has mastered the underground scene and bets big on his favorite fighter. Meanwhile, fighters like Enjo and Goliath take center stage in brutal showdowns. As bets rise and tensions explode, Mercs delivers a thrilling ride through the unpredictable world of underground gambling, deception, and intense combat.

LOOP(pt)

A chase with a curious "ending."

Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon(hi)

The story of a girl in a small North Indian town who is an obsessive fan of top Hindi movie star Madhuri Dixit, and dreams of moving to Mumbai to become a film heroine herself.

Death in Venice(en)

Gustav Von Aschenbach, a passionate composer, arrives in Venice as a result of wanderlust and there meets a young man by whose beauty he becomes obsessed.

Werther(fr)

Jules Massanet's lyrical opera is transformed into a superb film production by Petr Weigl, shot on location in Prague, with music conducted by Libor Pesek. First produced by the Vienna Opera in February 1892, "Werther" rapidly confirmed Massanet's position on the French opera scene and achieved enormous popularity outside France, notably in Italy, America and England. The tragic story tells of Werther's intense passion for Charlotte, who has married his best friend, Albert, fulfilling a pledge to her now deceased mother. But Werther's letters of love bring Charlotte to his side when he promises to take his own life.

The Bartered Bride(cs)

Frantisek Filip film version of the Smetana opera.

Rigoletto(it)

This tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's beautiful daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to the curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter had been seduced by the Duke with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda likewise falls in love with the Duke and eventually sacrifices her life to save him from the assassins hired by her father.

Wagner: Die Walküre(de)

Richard Wagner called Die Walküre the “first evening” of the Ring of the Nibelung; he called Das Rheingold the prologue or Vorabend. Musically and dramatically, we are introduced to a radically new and different world when the opening bars of Die Walküre resound. A fully developed orchestral palette of Leitmotivs paints a wild storm scene, and the curtain rises on a modest dwelling: a fully human scene that has nothing to do with the gods, dwarves and nymphs of Das Rheingold. At the same time, however, the way Die Walküre portrays radical beginnings reveals some telling reminiscences of the unfolding of Das Rheingold. Die Walküre is exciting and deeply feeling drama.

Mozart: Don Giovanni(de)

Premiered in 1787, “Don Giovanni” exposes the timeless theme of a man hovering between vitality and destruction. Neither morality nor the law can stop this serial lover in his quest to conquer all women as he places his own pleasure above all other principles. Today, the rich depth of Mozart’s masterpiece still astonishes audiences with its mix of comedy and seriousness, pleasure and love, entertainment and murder. At the helm of this new Salzburg Festival production, in a near-live broadcast from the Great Festival Hall, director Romeo Castellucci promises to focus on the ambiguity and inner turmoil of this serial lover whose immoral behaviour condemns him to a deadly solitude. The exceptional cast – featuring Italian baritone Davide Luciano (Don Giovanni), Russian soprano Nadezhda Pavlova (Donna Anna) and Finnish bass Mika Kares (the Commendatore) – is accompanied by the chorus and musicians of the musicAeterna ensemble, conducted by Vitaly Polonsky and Teodor Currentzis.

Carmen in 3D(en)

Passion, jealousy and betrayal take center stage at Londons Royal Opera House in a spectacular production of the worlds most popular opera. Bizets Carmen is packed with some of the best-loved and memorable music in all of opera. In this characteristically vivid and vibrant stage production by Francesca Zambello, beautifully filmed in 3D by Julian Napier, Seville is brought to life with ranks of soldiers, crowds of peasants, gypsies and bullfighters as well as a magnificent horse, a donkey and even some chickens! This spectacular RealD and Royal Opera House production features a supremely talented cast, gripping drama and Bizets energetic and passionate score. It is truly a musical event to remember!

Die Tote Stadt(de)

"Die tote Stadt" is a psychologically layered drama with Hitchcock-like features, about Paul who, after the loss of his beloved Marie, slowly but surely becomes entangled in a dream world of obsessions and delusions. This impressive opera is a passionate as well as a surrealistic plea for mourning. "He who cannot live with death has no life."

Die Walküre(de)

Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in Stepháne Braunschweig's production of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre. A Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2007 production, in coproduction with Osterfestspiele Salzburg. Directed for HDTV and video by Don Kent.

Figaros Hochzeit(de)

Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the classical German musical heritage. This enchanting film, the very first opera production of DEFA, stands out because of its lavish decor and costumes, its outstanding actors and their masterful voices of that time.

Giacomo Puccini: Turandot(it)

Lovely but lethal, the evil Princess Turandot comes to life through the performance of Luana De Vol in this visually stunning production of Giacomo Puccini's Peking-set opera directed by Nuria Espert and conducted by Giuliano Carella. In this 2004 performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain, all the subtleties of Puccini's unique tonality and unconventional instrumentation are in ample evidence.

Kaufmann's Otello at the Royal Opera House(it)

On a June night in 2017, opera lovers thronged to the Royal Opera House in London to hear tenor Jonas Kaufmann, recently acclaimed by The Daily Telegraph as the world s greatest tenor, make his eagerly anticipated debut in the title role of Otello Verdi s greatest and most demanding role for tenor voice. As the New York Times wrote Mr. Kaufmann made his debut in the part, and he calmly, confidently sang it for the ages.

La Bohème(fr)

Puccini: Madama Butterfly(it)

The Lyric Opera of Chicago's 1985 production of Puccini's opera, set in the late nineteenth century in the city of Nagasaki, about a young Japanese woman who weds an American naval officer who later abandons her and the child she bore him.

Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser(de)

Witness the Zurich Opera's stunning production of Richard Wagner's masterpiece "Tannhauser," conducted by Franz Welser-Most and featuring Peter Sieffert (Tannhauser), Solveig Kringelborn (Elisabeth) and Roman Trekel (von Eschenbach). Initially produced in Dresden in 1845, "Tannhauser" instilled a sense of wonder in a few of Strauss's ardent friends and admirers, among them Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt. Opera buffs will love it.

L’Italiana in Algeri(it)

Live performance from the Schwetzinger Festspiele, 1987. At the age of 21, Italian composer Giacchino Rossini penned the masterful comic opera “L’Italiana in Algeri” (“The Italian Girl in Algiers”) in less than a month. The composer’s youthful exuberance comes across in this infectious 1987 performance. Though she’s known mainly for her Wagner roles, acclaimed German mezzo-soprano Doris Soffel shines in the title role of Isabella. Ralf Weikert conducts, and Mauro Pagano oversees sets and costumes.

Arabella(de)

2014 marks a year of celebration recognizing the 150th birthday year of the German late-Romantic orchestral, operatic and lied master composer, Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Arabella (premiered 1933, Dresden) was the last of the half dozen Strauss works to feature a libretto by the great Austrian writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal. This production, from the most recent Salzburg Easter Festival is, after Capriccio, the second of three Richard Strauss operas C Major is releasing in honor of the composers birth, life and work. The star-laden cast includes soprano Renèe Fleming, baritone Thomas Hampson, Albert Dohmen (Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, MET) and Gabriela Beaková (Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden). With Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden, the music of Richard Strauss is in the best of hands. (ORF) Thielemann gets the best out of the cast...especially Renée Fleming with her luxurious soprano FAZ

Verdi: Otello(en)

Rarely has a production of Verdi’s Otello been staged in such a prestigious location: the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice! This special outdoor “event production” of the Teatro La Fenice takes place amidst genuine late-Gothic and Renaissance architecture highlighted by spectacular projections: “A set of singular fascination” (Il Corriere Musicale). Critics were full of praise for the musical performance, designating conductor Myung-Whun Chung as the “absolutely dominating force” of the performance (GB Opera). The lead role is sung by Gregory Kunde, who successfully interpreted both Verdi’s and Rossini’s Otello in one year, perhaps the first tenor ever to do so. He “reproduces every accent, every colour demanded by Verdi with sensibility and intelligence” (OperaClick).

Cosi Fan Tutte(it)

Officers Ferrando and Guglielmo are certain that their lovers Dorabella and Fiordiligi are faithful to them, but the cynical Don Alfonso challenges them to a bet that the women will be unfaithful given the chance. The officers thus pretend to go off to war, and return in disguise as Albanian strangers, to woo Dorabella and Fiordiligi incognito. The ladies are initially frosty, but soon warm to their new suitors, spurred on by their maid Despina. Performed at the La Scala Theatre in Milan.

Viva Vivaldi(it)

Viva Vivaldi! is a concert by the Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli interspersing arias from the 20 surviving operas of Vivaldi with two concertos. Given with the early music ensemble Il Giardino Armonico before a very appreciative audience in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the performance is part of Bartoli's exploration of the Venetian composer's opera music which also includes The Vivaldi Album. There is a startling dynamic energy, which contrasts powerfully with the more restrained interpretations by singers such as Emma Kirkby. Bartoli's natural Italian and the live atmosphere of Maria Grazia d'Alessio's oboe gives her interpretation of the quietly haunting and melodically rich "Non ti Lusinghi la Crudeltade" from Tito Manlio a particular piquancy. The Flautino Concerto is a most attractive interlude, while the more famous Lute/Violin Concerto beguiles with its exquisite lyricism.