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.

Amadeus(en)

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

William Tell(fr)

“Let us assume that Switzerland is truly a paradise. The music hereto was written long ago. We have merely forgotten it.” (Daniel Schmid) This is the material from which the most Swiss of all operas is made: the legendary Wilhelm Tell – a Swiss hero: straightforward, a primus inter pares of the indomitable freedom fighters, a good shot, surefire. A myth that becomes a poetic playground: nature in turmoil, the struggle for freedom and forbidden love. A legendary overture at a gallop with an iconic post horn motif – all this and much more in the thirty-seventh and last opera by Rossini.

The Great Waltz(en)

Johann Strauss, Jr., a would-be composer of waltzes in mid-19th Century Vienna, attempts to thwart his father's efforts to prevent his success when the older man becomes jealous of his melodic skill.

Attila(it)

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

Rigoletto(it)

A musical drama based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto.

Alceste(en)

John Eliot Gardiner conducts Gluck’s 1776 French version of “Alceste” at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Soprano Anne Sofie von Otter takes the title role of Alceste, Queen of Thessaly, who offers to die at the hands of the gods in place of her husband, Admète (Paul Groves), so that the people will not lose their king. Alceste is then saved from the underworld by Hercule (Dietrich Henschel).

Rêve Kakudji(en)

Serge Kakudji is a twenty-year-old Congolese counter tenor who fell in love with opera as a young boy, listening to audiotapes of opera recordings in his room in Lubumbashi. Later he traveled to Europe to achieve his dream of becoming a top opera singer. Although Serge's artistic ambitions are pure and uncomplicated, the reactions among his environment and audiences are often ambiguous and divided. While some people respect and acknowledge his artistic vocation, others see him as an exotic oddity, or complain that that his African timbre jars with classical opera. Serge refuses to be discouraged by any of this. On the contrary, he wants to hold up a mirror to Western culture and confront it with its underlying beliefs. He also wants to use his story and experiences in the west to bring opera to Congo. Together with his countrymen and women, he wants to found a Congolese opera tradition based on African stories that will inspire people to follow their dreams.

Tosca(it)

Tosca is a melodrama of love, betrayal and death set in the revolutionary unrest of 1800. The story concerns the opera singer Floria Tosca who tries to save her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, from the brutal chief of police, Scarpia. Through-composed and expertly orchestrated it contains some of Puccini’s best-known lyrical arias and remains one of his most performed operas. In this 2022 production, an eminent cast is directed by the acclaimed Australian director Barrie Kosky – ‘the Amsterdam audience was completely swept off its feet by Kosky’s stunning production’ (Opera News).

Tamerlano(en)

Handel's 1724 opera Tamerlano followed the success of his previous year's Giulio Cesare with another colourful historical costume drama. This time the setting is the court of "Timur the Tartar", who has just defeated the Turkish Sultan Bajazet at the battle of Angora. There are, naturally enough, romantic complications when both Tamerlano and his ally, the Greek Prince Andronico, fall in love with Bajazet's daughter Asteria. She, however, has plans to revenge her father's defeat. This production was directed by Jonathan Miller and staged in the intimate surroundings of the Goethe Theatre of Bad Lauchstadt as part of the 2001 Halle Handel Festival.

Don Giovanni(it)

Live performance from Cologne Opera. Conlon conducts a skittishly dynamic performance of Don Giovanni. He relies on Thomas Allen’s tough Don to give the work much of its dark menace and on Holle’s terrifying Commendatore to provide the moral outrage – his job is to keep things moving, and he does. The exteriors – blank city spaces reminiscent of the paintings of Giorgio De Chirico – and moodily claustrophobic interiors mirror effectively the anguish of the orphaned Anna and the abandoned Elvira; this is a performance in which the two women victims of the Don function effectively as correctives to his libertine charm. Andrea Rost as Zerlina brings real delicacy to her role, reminding us that “La ci darem la mano” is a duet about her flirtation with Don Giovanni and not just a famous stand-alone moment. This is an admirable presentation of a fine performance.

Elektra(fr)

Last production staged by Patrice Chéreau, this Elektra will remain as the main and most striking lyrical event of these last years in Aix-en-Provence. This production is leaded by three amazing singers: the German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius gave a tremendous, never-to-be-forgotten account of the title role, Waltraud Meier portrays a human and chilling Clytemnestra and Adrianne Pieczonka is a fantastic Chrysothemis. Everyone's loneliness and intimate struggles are Patrice Chéreau's favorites theatrical themes. With Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Orchestre de Paris, this production of Elektra becomes an unforgettable experience.

Bizet: Carmen(fr)

Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili gives a dynamic performance as Bizet’s iconic gypsy, the woman who lives by her own rules. Aleksandrs Antonenko is Don José, the soldier who falls under her spell, and Ildar Abdrazakov plays Escamillo, the swaggering bullfighter who takes Carmen away from Don José—an action that seals Carmen’s tragic fate. Anita Hartig is Micaëla, and Pablo Heras-Casado conducts Richard Eyre’s hit production, set in 1930s Spain.

Evensong(en)

Loosely based on the story of the singer Nellie Melba...

Aria(en)

Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, and Nicolas Roeg. Each short uses an aria as soundtrack/sound, and is an interpretation of the particular aria.

Orlando Paladino(it)

In the Summer of 2009, the British director Nigel Lowery and the Iranian choreographer Amir Hosseinpour brought to the stage of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, with colour and full of humour, the fantastic and imaginative adventures of "Racing Roland". On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn, the composer's most renowned opera during his lifetime,Orlando Paladino, was performed, a heroic-comical stage piece based on Ariost's famous Versepos. Singers such as Marlis Petersen (Angelica), Tom Randle (Orlando), Alexandrina Pendatchanska (Alcina), Pietro Spagnoli (Rodomonte), Sunhae Im (Eurilla) and Victor Torres (Pasquale) performed under the musical direction of period-music specialist René Jacobs. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra completed this high-class production giving the music a beautiful sound and lively swing.

Salzburg Marionette Theatre: The Magic Flute(de)

The Queen of the Night has begged Prince Tamino to free her daughter Pamina from the clutches of the High Priest Sarastro, who has abducted her. Together with the bird-catcher Papageno, Tamino enters Sarastro's realm to seek her. When he finds her, the two fall in love, but they have to have to undergo ordeals before they can be together. At the end, Papageno is also rewarded with his Papagena.

The Metropolitan Opera: The Marriage of Figaro(it)

Richard Eyre’s elegant production, which opened the Met’s 2014–15 season, sets the action of Mozart’s timeless social comedy in a manor house in 1930s Seville. Ildar Abdrazakov leads the cast as the resourceful Figaro set on outwitting his master, the philandering Count Almaviva, played by Peter Mattei. Marlis Petersen sings Susanna, the object of the Count’s affection and Figaro’s bride-to-be, Amanda Majeski is the Countess, and Isabel Leonard gives a standout performance as the pageboy Cherubino. Music Director James Levine on the podium brings out all the humor, drama, and humanity of Mozart’s score.

The Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker(en)

Clara is given an enchanted Nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve. As midnight strikes, she creeps downstairs to find a magical adventure awaiting her and her Nutcracker. The magician Drosselmeyer transforms the drawing room into a battle between mice and toy soldiers. During the battle, Clara saves the Nutcracker’s life – so breaking a magical spell that turned him from a boy to a toy – and the Mouse King is defeated. In celebration, Drosselmeyer sweeps Clara and the Nutcracker off to the Kingdom of Sweets, where they meet the Sugar Plum Fairy and take part in a wonderful display of dances. The next morning, Clara’s adventures seem to have been more than just a dream.

Opéra National de Paris: Verdi's Don Carlos(fr)

Set in 16th-century France and Spain, Don Carlos tells of the political and amorous rivalry between King Philip II and his son, Don Carlos, over Elisabeth de Valois. Krzysztof Warlikowski strips down a tragedy haunted by ghosts, and places the intimate at the heart of an imaginary fresco truer than history itself. Along with Philippe Jordan, he reveals to the public the very first version of this great five-act opera: the version modified by Verdi himself for the work’s first performance in 1867.