Frank Zappa: New York and Elsewhere(1980)

Make a Wish(en)

While vacationing at a boys' camp, the rambunctious Chip Winters befriends a famed composer Johnny Selden. Stuck for an inspiration for his latest operetta, Selden at last finds it when he meets Chip's gorgeous mother Irene Winters, a popular singer. Alas, her stiff-necked fiancé Walter Mays refuses to allow her to return to the stage, whereupon Rathbone spirals into a depression -- and even worse, a profound case of writers' block.

Once Upon a Time Michel Legrand(fr)

Michel Legrand, jazz musician and composer extraordinaire, has left his mark on the history of cinema, including the films of Jacques Demy, especially The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the 60th anniversary of which is being celebrated in Cannes. Using never-before-seen archives and personal accounts, the film looks back on a lifetime dedicated to music, and the career of a man who served it masterfully to the very end.

Die Deutschmeister(de)

Young Stanzi who is visiting Vienna helps a young corporal and musician to become famous for his marching song "Die Deutschmeister".

Listening to the Space in My Room(en)

A portrait of a recently vacated home, the film evokes both memory and the lingering presence of past inhabitants. Through precise, enigmatic sound–image construction, Beavers crafts an intimate meditation on art, existence, and the search for meaning.

O, Fortuna! A portrait of the composer of Carmina Burana, Carl Orff(fr)

David Gilmour: Wider Horizons(en)

After a break of nine years, David Gilmour steps back into the spotlight with a number one album and world tour. This film is an intimate portrait of one of the greatest guitarists and singers of all time, exploring his past and present. With unprecedented access, the film crew have captured and detailed key moments in David Gilmour's personal and professional life that have shaped him both as a person and a musician.

Galaxie(en)

In March and April of 1966, Markopoulos created this filmic portrait of writers and artists from his New York circle, including Parker Tyler, W. H. Auden, Jasper Johns, Susan Sontag, Storm De Hirsch, Jonas Mekas, Allen Ginsberg, and George and Mike Kuchar, most observed in their homes or studios. Filmed in vibrant color, Galaxie pulses with life. It is a masterpiece of in-camera composition and editing, and stands as a vibrant response to Andy Warhol's contemporary Screen Tests. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.

Night Flight with Frank Zappa, Porn Wars(en)

Frank Zappa stopped by the Night Flight studios in 1985 to talk about music videos, censorship, the PMRC and what it's like to play in his band.

Jean-Michel Jarre - Rendez-Vous Lyon(en)

October 5th, at 10.30 pm , after pope John-Paul II`s blessing of Lyon from the top of Fourvieres hill, Rendez-Vous Lyon got under way, a concert performed for more than 800,000 people on the banks of the river Saone. Fourvieres hill was ablaze for ninety minutes, fired on by cannons of light, fireworks and images synchronised to music being performed live on the central stage by Jean-Michel Jarre, 60 musicians and 120 choristers. A baroque feast, blending classical and avant-garde, workmanship and high-tech, past and future, Rendez-Vous Lyon will long be remembered as an exceptional event.

The Liar and His Lover(ja)

Set within music field, this film depicts a love story between a 25-year-old sound engineer and 16-year-old high school student Riko, who posessess a gifted voice. 25-year-old sound engineer Aki is a member of popular band "Crude Play," but right after the band decides to make their major record debut Aki quits the band. But, Aki provides his music to Crude Play under the name of producer Soichiro. Aki begins to date Riko, whose father runs a fruit and vegetable shop. Riko doesn't know about Aki's background, but she likes to listen to him hum. Riko is in a band herself, with childhood friend Yuichi and Sota. One day she is scouted by producer Soichiro.

Rush - A Show of Hands(en)

For a band with high standards, a perfect show is impossible, and an excellent show is rare. You hope that the norm is "good". To deliver a really exceptional, comfortable performance before a recording truck or film crew has been our unfulfilled dream of many years. Always it seemed that as soon as the machines started rolling, we forgot how to play and our equipment forgot how to work. But for these two nights, the gods smile. And the film becomes not just a concert, but a symbol - for the band a scrapbook, an autobiography, an era frozen in glacial clarity. For the audience, it can be an enduring souvenir, and if it can't quite capture what it was like to be there, it is a way of seeing through many pairs of eyes, of shifting one's vantage-point around and above the players in a way no mortal could. Hands perform, and hands respond. Hands gesture, and hands respond. A show of ears and eyes, a show of hearts and minds. A Show of Hands. - Neil Peart

Memories of a Young Pianist(en)

Interview with the italian composer Claudio Gizzi about his lifetime and work as part or the extras of the Blu-Ray edition from What? (Che?) (1972) from Roman Polanski

Immortal Beloved(en)

A chronicle of the life of infamous classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven and his painful struggle with hearing loss. Following Beethoven's death in 1827, his assistant, Schindler, searches for an elusive woman referred to in the composer's love letters as "immortal beloved." As Schindler solves the mystery, a series of flashbacks reveal Beethoven's transformation from passionate young man to troubled musical genius.

Swinging Light(en)

An experience of a camera swinging in different gestures facing the optical distortion of the Sun. The last appearance of the smudge.

tick, tick... BOOM!(en)

On the brink of turning 30, a promising theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out.

Orchard Street(en)

This short film documents the daily life of the goings-on on Orchard Street, a commercial street in the Lower East Side New York City.

Sonic Youth: Live at Soundstage(en)

Quintessential alternative rockers, Sonic Youth, celebrate free-form experimentalism while reinforcing their performance-art driven tradition in this Soundstage performance, recorded on May 7, 2003 at WTTW Grainger Studio in Chicago. The band, which settles just outside the realm of definition, delivers a part rock, part free-form noise, part avant-garde punk performance which features a new song "Sympathy for the Strawberry."

Six by Sondheim(en)

This intimate documentary explores the life and career of the stage legend Stephen Sondheim through six of his best-known songs.

Cassis(en)

Filmed during a visit to Jerome Hill in Provence, Jonas Mekas sets his Bolex to capture a single day overlooking the port of Cassis. Shot frame by frame from morning to sunset, the film distills shifting light and color into a quiet meditation on time, place, and perception.

Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - The Lost Broadcast: The Beat Club '68(en)

This DVD contains a filmed rehearsal of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the legendary Beat Club in Bremen, Germany, on 6th October 1968. The music is largely one long improvisatory continuous performance rather than a run-through of their greatest hits, but is punctuated by Zappa directing the band to play the opening themes of some of his more well-known pieces.