
Take one look at award-winning songwriter / artist Allee Willis and you see someone unafraid to be themselves. Dressed in a cacophony of prints and colors, her signature asymmetrical haircut and famed parties at her real-life Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Allee didn’t waste any opportunity to tell you what she was about. But privately, Allee struggled with not fitting established gender and sexual norms. She buried herself in her work, until true love manifested her ultimate masterpiece - self-acceptance.
Self (archive footage)
Self - Pet Shop Boys
5.5Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating on a different New York rink and pass her off as Karen. The scheme backfires when promoter Larry Herman takes a look at Bob's film and decides to make the skater a star. Unfortunately, it's actually amateur (and illegal immigrant) Marie Bergin in the newsreel footage, not the great figure skater from Switzerland. Chaos ensues as Bob tries to straighten everybody out.
5.5In this musical, the second entry in a five-film series, a thrift shop owner sells his business and buys a small time radio station. He begins looking for sponsors. He finds one with a department store owner who will only lend him the money if he will allow his daughter, an aspiring tap-dancer and singer, to perform on the air. This is unfortunate as she is tone-deaf. To compensate, the owner hires a real singer to dub the daughter's voice. The singer and the owner's nephew fall in love and mayhem ensues. Songs include: the Oscar nominated "Who Am I?," "Swing Low Sweet Rhythm," "In The Cool of the Evening," "Make Yourself at Home," "The Swap Shop Song," "The Trading Post," "Sally," "Ramona," "Sweet Sue," "Dinah," "Margie," and "Mary Lou."
9.0Former child prodigy James Harries and his family may at first sight seem to be a houseful of geniuses, but although every single member has a Ph.D. in Metaphysics, we soon discover that some were purchased from a fake university in the USA, while the others were awarded to them by themselves. They regard themselves as morally, intellectually, and financially superior to the rest of society, even though the clan (housed in a mock mock-Tudor cottage in the middle of a Cardiff council estate) includes a convicted arsonist, an astral projectionist, a former Bunny Girl, a part-time private detective and a transgender daughter (James is now Lauren), all of whom seem to live their lives in a parallel universe.
5.6I'll Get By is an updated remake of the 1940 20th Century-Fox musical Tin Pan Alley. William Lundigan and Dennis Day play William Spencer and Freddie Lee respectively, successful song publishers who make hits out of such numbers as "I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo", "Deep in the Heart of Texas", "You Make Me Feel So Young", "There Will Never Be Another You", and other favorites (the rights to all of these songs were conveniently held by 20th Century-Fox). The partnership has some hard times, especially during the feud between ASCAP and the radio networks, when only public-domain songs like "I Dream of Jeannie" were permitted to be broadcast.
6.5A songwriter has to come up with a full-length theatrical piece within a few days.
6.8A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.
5.3Two aspiring songwriters finally manage to sell a tune by claiming that it was composed by a reclusive musical genius. When the tune hits the top of the charts, they find themselves having to produce the "real" composer.
6.3Ulysses is a shy and effeminate boy who finds himself coping with new responsibilities as man of the house after the death of his father. Living alongside his mother, younger brother, and conservative aunt, Ulysses is also struggling with questions about his gender identity. He finds an escape by creating a world of fantasy filled with dance and music. Ulysses' journey takes a turn for the better when he finds a vibrant transgender community.
0.0Eric Andersen is widely regarded as one of the most poetic songwriters that sprang from the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s. His artful mélange of love, despair, hope and stirred memory has earned him a passionate international following and the respect and admiration of artists ranging from Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen to Lou Reed and Wyclef Jean. The Songpoet offers a look into the mind, soul and creative process of this multifaceted, complex and singularly driven artist whose career saw great expectations waylaid by misfortune.
0.0In the early eighties, the tough trucker Harm married the shy, country girl Siepie. Thirty years later Harm tells her that he wants to become a woman. That is difficult to hear for Siepie. Not only because she will lose her husband, but also because she is afraid of gossip in their small, Frisian village. Yet she gives Harm the space to openly live as Harriette.
0.0A multi-awarded 23 minute short film about pansexual punk rockers in a toxic relationship in London’s underground music scene
0.0Sixteen year olds Palani and Karthik want to become "ladyboys." They're bullied in school and beaten by their families. Their parents would like to see them grow up as normal boys, but they're falling deeper and deeper into the world of the "Aravanis." Loved as dance performers but hated as homosexuals, their stories emblazon the inner conflicts of India's gender culture today.
6.5A strange story from Somerset, England about a filmmaking farmer and the inspiring legacy of his long-lost home movies.
5.4A young actor from Texas tries to make it in New York while struggling in his relationship with a beautiful singer/songwriter.
7.3Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.
10.0A documentary that is a deep exploration of gender identity within the context of Greek society, providing a multi-layered narrative that reflects the experiences of individuals navigating the complexities of gender in a culture where these topics are still emerging. Over four years, the filmmakers captured intimate stories of people confronting their gender identities, revealing how personal, societal, and familial expectations shape their journeys. The documentary aims to challenge the traditional norms of gender and to give voice to those whose experiences are often marginalized. It marks a significant step in Greece’s cinematic exploration of LGBTQ+ themes and is a pivotal contribution to the global conversation on gender identity.
8.2Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story is a documentary about the life and work of Michael "Mick" Ronson, the guitarist, songwriter, producer and arranger who, in the early part of his career, performed with David Bowie as one of the 'Spiders from Mars'.
6.8Heaven Adores You is an intimate, meditative inquiry into the life and music of Elliott Smith. By threading the music of Elliott Smith through the dense, yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in -- Portland, New York City, Los Angeles -- Heaven Adores You presents a visual journey and an earnest review of the singer's prolific songwriting and the impact it continues to have on fans, friends, and fellow musicians.
0.0Two bodies and one mind, this is the extraordinary story of one pair of conjoined twins in today's world.
0.0Past her prime and afflicted with a severe case of writer's block, a veteran songwriter finds new inspiration in a bird that takes up residence outside her home.
