Brick by Brick(1982)

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road(en)

The worlds of glitz, glam, and pop-rock fused immortally on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, born of the formidable partnership of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. This 1973 double album may well have been the peak of their collaboration. Ranging from perennial favorites like "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and the Jets," and the title track to more ambitious compositions like "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and everything in between, Goodbye is unmatched in its depth and scope. This entry in the Classic Albums series of DVDs documents the often tumultuous writing and recording sessions for that masterpiece through vintage clips of the musicians in the studio and new interviews with Elton, Bernie, producer Gus Dudgeon, and the band members. We may never know how the John-Taupin team achieved their magic, but this release offers a both a peek at the process and a few reasons why the album endures today.

The Golden Spurtle(en)

In a quaint Scottish village in the Highlands, contenders from around the globe gather to compete for the title of World Porridge Champion armed only with oats, salt and water. As the ailing Porridge Chieftain's tenure ends, he embarks on a mission to find a successor. Amidst intense rivalries and the charm of eccentric locals, this documentary delves into the legacy of the village and unveils a captivating culinary spectacle.

Janma Janma(ne)

Janma Janma is a Nepali film that delves into love, dreams, and the cycle of life. The story follows Amar and Praya, a couple deeply in love. Praya is haunted by recurring dreams of someone trying to kill her, which leave her anxious and fearful. Amar, along with her parents, reassures her that the dreams aren’t real and encourages her to move forward. Praya eventually finds a new beginning, embracing a fresh life. However, she discovers that her old friends didn’t get the same chance at renewal. She shares this realization with Amar, urging him to cherish love and life. The story concludes with Amar reflecting on her words, highlighting the fleeting yet profound beauty of existence. Janma Janma is directed by Sital Nepal and written by Yubraj Lama. It weaves an emotional narrative of second chances, dreams, and the power of love to overcome life’s uncertainties.

Area of Conflict(en)

Human traffickers wipe out a young girl's family and village. She then seeks revenge on those responsible, eventually becoming first the hunted then turning into the hunters with the mercenary hired to eliminate her.

Highly Dangerous(en)

A US newsman and a British entomologist spy on germ-warfare research in a mythical country.

Within Sand(ar)

When "Snam" gets ambushed by a group of thieves, he finds himself lost in the Saudi desert. While his pregnant wife, Halla, faces the men of the tribe to ensure his return, he finds himself being followed by a lone wolf.

The Peasants(az)

A historical revolutionary film depicting the struggle of peasants and the Baku proletariat against landowners and Musavatists in 1919.

Unfaithfully Yours(en)

Before he left for a brief European visit, symphony conductor Sir Alfred De Carter casually asked his staid brother-in-law August to look out for his young wife, Daphne, during his absence. August has hired a private detective to keep tabs on her. But when the private eye's report suggests Daphne might have been canoodling with his secretary, Sir Alfred begins to imagine how he might take his revenge.

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.

Barrier(pl)

A dream-like meditation on post-industrial life in Communist Poland.

The Idiot(fr)

Nastassia Philippovna finds herself juggling the affections of four men over the course of a single evening. One is her benefactor, the bourgeois Totsky. Another is the opportunistic Ganya, whom Totsky has promised 75,000 rubles if he will marry Nastassia. Rogozhin offers Nastassia 100,000 rubles for her hand. And the “idiot,” Prince Myshkin, loves Nastassia madly and vows to “save” her.

Fighter(da)

Aïcha, a high-school student, is a passionate kung fu fighter. Her Turkish parents expect her to get good grades so she can get into medical school, like her brother Ali. But school doesn´t inspire her. Defying her family, Aïcha starts secretly training at a professional, co-ed kung fu club. A boy, Emil, helps Aïcha train for the club championship and they fall in love. But the rules of life are not as simple as the rules of kung fu, and Aïcha is forced to decide who she is and what she wants.

Mills from the Zaanstreek(xx)

Windmills along the River Zaan.

Mother's Field(ky)

In a remote Kyrgyz village, a mother navigates daily life as her family is drawn into the upheaval of World War II. Left behind to tend the land and hold her household together, she clings to hope amid growing uncertainty. As seasons pass, the quiet weight of absence and memory shapes her world. A deeply personal story of endurance, Mother’s Field captures the emotional cost of war from the perspective of those who wait.

Uli Hoeneß - Der Patriarch(de)

Dangerous Charm(bg)

He is well educated, charming, and gallant - a dream for each lonely lady. In reality he is a skillful swindler, who robs naive women. Cheating merchants with guilty consciences are his targets as well. This is the elusive protagonist of the movie. He constantly changes his name, stages his own death, and travels from town to town. His exploits are myriad and his life is an endless adventure. Yet, he remains an amiable swindler, an unrealized actor, whose only goal is make his life more interesting.

Electric Apricot(en)

Electric Apricot is a spoof of jam bands centered around the band, Electric Apricot, in the style of "This Is Spinal Tap"

Toy Machine - Jump Off A Building(en)

Toy Machine's 4th video release, "Jump Off A Building", is the follow up to "Welcome to Hell". It is Toy Machine at it's most creative. Featuring the skateboarding of Brian Anderson, Mike Maldonado, Elissa Steamer, Bam Margera, Ed Templeton, Chris Senn and Kerry Getz.

Wilt Chamberlain: Borscht Belt Bellhop(en)

In 1954, before his senior year of high school, Wilt Chamberlain took a summer job that would change his life, working as a bellhop at Kutsher's Country Club, a Jewish resort in the Catskill Mountains. An unexplored and pivotal chapter in the life of one of basketball's greatest players, and a fascinating glimpse of a time when a very different era of basketball met the Borscht Belt in its heyday.

From Scotland with Love(en)

Made entirely of Scottish film archive, a journey into our collective past, the film explores universal themes of love, loss, resistance, migration, work and play. Ordinary people, some long since dead, their names and identities largely forgotten, appear shimmering from the depth of the vaults to take a starring role. Brilliantly edited together, these silent individuals become composite characters, who emerge to tell us their stories, given voice by King Creosote's poetic music and lyrics

Valie Export – Das bewaffnete Auge(de)

A look at the extensive work of the Austrian multimedia artist VALIE EXPORT. Her role as a key feminist figure and mediator between the international women’s movement and the artistic avant-garde and pioneer are at the center of the film.

Misidentified(pt)

Fly by Night(en)

FLY BY NIGHT follows artist Duke Riley as he embarks on his biggest project to date -- training thousands of pigeons outfitted with tiny LEDs to twirl, swoop, and glide over the East River at dusk from a decommissioned naval vessel in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Commissioned by the public arts nonprofit Creative Time, the visually mesmerizing project received acclaim from the art world and the thousands of New Yorkers who witnessed the performances during the spring of 2016. The Village Voice awarded Riley a lifetime achievement award for "elevating the prestige of pigeons in the public consciousness." This piece follows Riley's process from conception to final performance, and ultimately like the project itself, examines urban humanity's relationship to the natural world.

Naked Spaces: Living Is Round(en)

Shot with stunning elegance and clarity, NAKED SPACES explores the rhythm and ritual of life in the rural environments of six West African countries (Mauritania, Mali, Burkino Faso, Togo, Benin and Senegal). The nonlinear structure of NAKED SPACES challenges the traditions of ethnographic filmmaking, while sensuous sights and sounds lead the viewer on a poetic journey to the most inaccessible parts of the African continent: the private interaction of people in their living spaces.

Wie konnte es geschehen? - Teil 1: "Deutschland erwache..." (1914 - 1938)(de)

In 1945, 160 German cities lay in ruins and the loss of millions of lives, billions in material assets and countless cultural treasures was mourned throughout Europe... With the question “How could it happen?”, the film goes back to the year 1914, when the “primal catastrophe of the 20th century” took its course with the First World War.

The American Nurse(en)

THE AMERICAN NURSE is a heart-warming film that explores some of the biggest issues facing America - aging, war, poverty, prisons - through the work and lives of nurses. It is an examination of real people that will change how we think about nurses and how we wrestle with the challenges of healing America. THE AMERICAN NURSE is an important contribution to America's ongoing conversation about what it means to care. The film follows the paths of five nurses in various practice specialties including Jason Short as he drives up a rugged creek to reach a home-bound cancer patient in Appalachia. Tonia Faust, who runs a prison hospice program where inmates serving life sentences care for their fellow inmates as they're dying. Naomi Cross, as she coaches an ovarian cancer survivor through the Caesarean delivery of her son. Sister Stephen, a nun who runs a nursing home filled with goats, sheep, llamas and chickens, where the entire nursing staff comes together to sing for a dying resident.

Wild Genius(en)

Portrays the exceptional life, career, and mental health challenges of living legend Robert Trivers, the evolutionary biologist TIME Magazine named as “one of the greatest scientists of the 20th Century”.

Dominguinhos(pt)

Through rare and precious footages and gigs with great artists such as Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Hermeto Pascoal, Djavan, Nara Leao, Luiz Gonzaga, among many others, "Dominguinhos" reveals this genius of Brazilian music, creator of a deeply authentic, universal and contemporary work. The film values the sensory cinematic experience, a journey driven by Dominguinhos his own.

The Domino Effect(ru)

Rafael - the minister of sports of an unrecognized country, and Natasha - a Russian opera singer, try living together in Abkhazia - a war-torn future-less country. Observing their difficult relations, we see life in a place marked by war and nationalism. The film portrays trapped people dreaming of peace, normality and happiness.

Feral Love(en)

Crazy cat lady or world-class musician? You decide. Dorian Rence smashes our notions of what matters and who counts in "Feral Love." Dorian was the seventh woman to join the New York Philharmonic. In her 40-year career she has performed with all the greats: Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, Yo Yo Ma to name a few. And she cares for a feral cat colony in the tunnels of New York City.

Club Native(en)

With moving stories from a range of characters from her Kahnawake Reserve, Mohawk filmmaker, Tracey Deer, reveals the divisive legacy of more than a hundred years of discriminatory and sexist government policy to expose the lingering "blood quantum" ideals, snobby attitudes and outright racism that threaten to destroy the fabric of her community.

Dear Thirteen(en)

A nuanced portrait of a new generation, Dear Thirteen is a cinematic time capsule of coming of age in today’s world. Through the eyes of nine thirteen-year-olds, we see how pressing social, geographical and political challenges are shaping, and being shaped by, young people: rising anti-Semitism in Europe, guns in America, gender identity and racial divisions across Australia and Asia. With no adult commentary outside the filmmaker, Dear Thirteen offers an intimate view into the universal uncertainty inherent in growing up.

Home Truth(en)

In 1999, Colorado mother Jessica Gonzales experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when her three young daughters were killed after being abducted by their father in violation of a domestic violence restraining order. Devastated, Jessica sued her local police department for failing to adequately enforce her domestic violence restraining order despite her repeated calls for help that night. Determined to make sure her daughters did not die in vain, Jessica pursues her case to the US Supreme Court and an international human rights tribunal, seeking to strengthen legal rights for domestic violence victims. Meanwhile, her relationship with her one surviving child, her son Jessie, suffers, as he struggles with the tragedy in his own way. Shot over the course of nine years, Home Truth chronicles one family’s incredible pursuit of justice, shedding light on how our society responds to domestic violence and how the trauma from domestic violence can linger through generations.

Lost in Lebanon(en)

As the Syrian war continues to leave entire generations without education, health care, or a state, Lost in Lebanon closely follows four Syrians during their relocation process. The resilience of this Syrian community, which currently makes up one fifth of the population in Lebanon, is astoundingly clear as its members work hard to collaborate, share resources, and advocate for themselves in a new land. With the Syrian conflict continuing to push across borders, lives are becoming increasingly desperate due to the devastating consequences of new visa laws that the Lebanese government has implemented, leaving families at risk of arrest, detention, and deportation. Despite these obstacles, the film encourages us to look beyond the staggering statistics of displaced refugees and focus on the individuals themselves.

Land Without Bread(es)

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

Megacities(en)

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

The Voyagers(en)

In the summer of 1977, NASA sent Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 on an epic journey into interstellar space. Together and alone, they will travel until the end of the universe. Each spacecraft carries a golden record album, a massive compilation of images and sounds embodying the best of Planet Earth. According to Carl Sagan, “[t]he spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet.” While working on the golden record, Sagan met and fell madly in love with his future wife Annie Druyan. The record became their love letter to humankind and to each other. In the summer of 2010, I began my own hopeful voyage into the unknown. This film is a love letter to my fellow traveler. - Penny Lane

So This Is London(en)

London at its best? This gorgeously photographed portrait of the capital was made by Marion Grierson, sister of the more famous John Grierson, often hailed as the father of documentary film. The film transcends the typical travelogue thanks to the photography of William Shenton and Grierson's poetic approach to editing - which prefigures modern films like the acclaimed From the Sea to the Land Beyond (2012). The film achieved international fame at the time of its original release, yet Marion Grierson is almost completely overshadowed in the history of British documentary film by her brother John.