Manon Lescaut(1983)

Andrea Chénier(it)

Live from ROH 1985. Giordano's Andrea Chenier is one of the greatest of verismo operas, full of heart-stopping big tunes and powerful emotional situations. If it is not as well-known as it should be, it is because in summary it sounds a little too like Puccini's Tosca: there is a tussle between political opponents over a woman, an attempt to save a condemned man, a tenor aria about writing poetry on the eve of execution. The difference is that Gerard (Giorgio Zancanaro) is not a villain like Scarpia, he is an idealist whom the French Revolution has betrayed as much as it has his rival the poet Chenier (Placido Domingo). His temptation to abuse his power to seduce the virtuous Maddalena (Anna Tomowa-Sintow) is a momentary one, though its consequences are terrible. There is a streak of post-Wagnerian decadence in much of this--Maddalena is at least as much in love with death as she is with Chenier, and the final love duet has a deeply sinister aspect. -- From Amazon.co.uk

The Age of Curious(en)

Three teens face their inner wildness on a dreamlike journey when they decide to peek under the hair of God.

The Ring Road(ar)

In a country where corruption has reached epidemic levels, an investigative journalist tries to reveal the corruption of a medical mogul whose corruption caused the death of dozens without blame. Essam has a daughter who has kidney failure and has been affected by the filters made by this mogul's factory. On another front, Essam is in a stale marriage caused by the daughter's sickness and finds himself lured by an attractive seductress. Things become more complicated when the daughter's sickness becomes fatal and he can't cover the expenses of the transplant. Essam is faced with a deep moral question.should he become corrupt himself in order to save his daughter's life? and how can he save his marriage and reputation along the way?

Audit(en)

A young actor and his wife undergoing an IRS audit have more to worry about than the usual cheating when the IRS secretary turns out to be hot for the wife and the auditor turns out to be an ex-trick of the actor.

L'Affiche rouge(fr)

A company wants to make a play about Mont Valerien resistant fighters who were shot by the Nazis and the French collaborators.

Zonder Zelda(en)

Wander is working as an engine operator on a cargo-ship. When he takes a coffee-break, a woman appears in a talkshow on TV. In an instant, Wander recognizes her to be his long lost girl-friend Zelda from childhood days some 20 years ago. In these days, Wander used to live in a boarding-school. From his room window, he can see the house on the opposite river bank where Zelda lives. She's a really adorable young beauty, but she's less affected than one should think, and so Wander gets his chance. They are having a good time until one day when Wander finds Zelda's father in the school kitchen making love to the kitchen maid. Things turn out bad for most of the characters involved, but there's an open end.

This love is from another planet(es)

Iván decides to propose to Natalia, a creative and intelligent artist, despite the fact that they have been dating for a few months.

Airport from the Service Entrance(ru)

Due to heavy snowfall that hit the city, aircraft flights were stopped for a day. Thousands of passengers crowded into the waiting room. Working together during this difficult shift, the previously conflicting bosses of the two shifts will evaluate each other, act in concert, and each will reconsider their professional and moral positions...

Seven Booths(ru)

What, it would seem, could be more innocent than a women's toilet being renovated? In his booths you can hide from the bustle of the big city, discuss lovers, drink, cry, sleep, smoke and have sex... And you can also hide in it what no one should find. An unknown beauty leaves a disc with information in the toilet. Two gangsters come to collect theirs and 7 stalls in the closet of a fashionable nightclub become the stage for one of the most unexpected stories of our time.

Zombiemania(en)

The evolution of the zombie from its roots in Haitian voodoo to its coveted role as the world's most popular monster: from being a clumsy corpse to becoming a cannibal killer and the main agent of every infectious pandemic, the zombie has come a long way in seventy years. A look at the rising tide of zombie culture examining why something so dead has so much life in viewers' nightmares and at the box office.

Die Legende von Derdriu und Noisi(de)

She Kept Asking for the Moon(sk)

Johanka had a fling with a well digger she had not met before and who, she was most likely certain, would never be around again. Just before his departure, they have sex and she eventually becomes single mother of a baby girl. Now, 18 years later, her daughter Paulina commutes by bus to work in the nearby city, which gives the village gossips the occasional opportunity to remind her of her unknown father. A resultant conflict with her mother makes Paulina take up residence in the city. Johanka, prodded by her also-single friend Jozefka who maintains that a woman without a man is nothing, begins to woo the new teacher Jarek only to discover later that he is married. Paulina, in the meantime, loses her virginity to the soldier Jirka who promptly makes himself scarce. Johanka fails to consider that she actually has a better life than some of her married neighbors, begins to see.

Yeguas y cotorras(es)

Delfina decides to spend with her two best friends, in her family’s manor house, her last day before getting married. In a sometimes violent, sensual or caring atmosphere, they share their doubts, their memories, their secrets, but also their bitterness. This intriguing title (literally Mares and Parrots) hides a subtle social unease within the young Buenos Aires bourgeoisie.

Standing Room Only(en)

Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (aka Red Skelton's 's Christmas Dinner) is a TV special that premiered on Home Box Office (HBO) on December 13, 1981. The program stars Red Skelton and was part of HBO's Standing Room Only series of specials.

Heavy Metal Horror(en)

Julia, a disillusioned young prostitute hounded by an evil spirit, escapes her pimp and crosses paths with a heavy metal band, bringing their worlds together in a night of terror.

The Cry Of Silence(en)

A story about life, death, vulnerability and grief.

A Midsummer Night's Dream(en)

The Glyndebourne Opera's 1981 production of the Benjamin Britten opera, based on Shakespeare's play.

Carmen(fr)

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, 25 March 1997.

Carmen(fr)

Live performance from Teatro alla Scala, 7 December 2009 .

Carmen(fr)

Live performance from the Vienna State Opera, 6 May 2010.

Bizet: Carmen(fr)

This 2003 performance of Georges Bizet's 19th century opera Carmen was produced and directed by filmmaker and stage director Franco Zeffirelli, best known to many for the Academy Award-winning big-screen adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Shot at the Arena di Verona, the production features Marina Domashenko in the title role and music by the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona under conductor Alain Lombard.

Tchaikovsky: Iolanta / Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle(ru)

Valery Gergiev conducts Mariusz Trelinski’s thrilling new production of these rarely heard one-act operas. Anna Netrebko stars as the blind princess of the title in Tchaikovsky’s lyrical work, opposite Piotr Beczala as Vaudémont, the man who wins her love—and wakes her desire to be able to see. Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko are Judith and Bluebeard in Bartók’s gripping psychological thriller about a woman discovering her new husband’s murderous past.

Salome(de)

Richard Strauss's opera, from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Don Giovanni(it)

Live performance at the Metropolitan Opera in 2000.

Die Walküre(de)

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), WWV 86B, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner with a German libretto by the composer. It is the second of the four operas that form Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). The story of the opera is based on the Norse mythology told in the Volsunga Saga and the Poetic Edda.[1][2] In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one in a group of female figures who decide which soldiers die in battle and which live. Die Walküre's best-known excerpt is the "Ride of the Valkyries". DVD release June 2009.

The Metropolitan Opera: Il Barbiere di Siviglia(en)

Mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina headlines a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine, Rosina, alongside high-flying tenor Jack Swanson, in his Met debut, as her secret beloved, Count Almaviva. Baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky stars as Figaro, the titular barber of Seville, with bass-baritone Peter Kálmán as Dr. Bartolo and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Don Basilio rounding out the principal cast.

Ermione(it)

Recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1995, this acclaimed presentation of composer Gioachino Rossini's epic opus ERMIONE is based on Jean Racine's play "Andromache." Set in Troy after the city fell to the Greeks, the production recounts the rancorous battle between widow Andromache and Helen of Troy's green-eyed daughter, Ermione for the love of Pyrrhus

Die Walküre(de)

The gorgeous and evocative Otto Schenk/Günther Schneider-Siemssen production continues with this second opera in Wagner’s Ring cycle. Hildegard Behrens brings deep empathy to Brünnhilde, the favorite daughter of the god Wotan (James Morris) who nevertheless defies him. Morris’s portrayal of Wotan is deservedly legendary, as is Christa Ludwig, as Fricka. Jessye Norman and Gary Lakes are Sieglinde and Siegmund, and Kurt Moll is the threatening Hunding. James Levine and the Met orchestra provide astonishing color and drama. (Performed April 8, 1989)

Siegfried(de)

Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner.

Aida - San Francisco Opera(it)

An Egyptian military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for the enslaved Ethiopian princess Aida, and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris is in love with Radamès, although he does not return her feelings.

The Metropolitan Opera: Salome(de)

Met performances of Strauss’s white-hot one-act tragedy, which receives its first new production at the company in 20 years. Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story—already filtered through the beautiful and strange imagination of Oscar Wilde’s play—a psychologically perceptive Victorian-era setting rich in symbolism and subtle shades of darkness and light.

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin(ru)

The pain of unrequited love is portrayed unforgettably by two of today’s greatest stars. Renée Fleming is musically and dramatically radiant as the shy Tatiana, who falls in love with the worldly Onegin, played with devastating charisma by Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Their mesmerizing vocalism and chemistry explode in one of opera’s most heartbreaking final scenes. With Valery Gergiev on the podium conducting Tchaikovsky’s passionate score, this performance is one for the ages.

Fantasio(fr)

Simon Boccanegra(it)

Live from the Metropolitan Opera: Simon Boccanegra

Eugene Onegin(ru)

Live performance by the Bolshoi Theatre at the Palais Garnier, Opéra National de Paris, 2008.

Prince Igor(ru)

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, March 1, 2014. Absent from the Met stage since 1917, Borodin’s masterwork about an introspective prince’s military campaign against the invading Polovtsians returned in 2014 with a first-rate cast and an astonishing production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Well worth the wait, the sets feature visually striking projections interlaced with lush flowering fields, and the first act delivers one of opera’s most exciting dance medleys, a portion of which went mainstream in the 1950s when Tony Bennett recorded “Stranger in Paradise.”