A look at NYC’s gentrification and growing inequality in a microcosm, Class Divide explores two distinct worlds that share the same Chelsea intersection – 10th Avenue and 26th Street. On one side of the avenue, the Chelsea-Elliot Houses have provided low-income public housing to residents for decades. Their neighbor across the avenue since 2012 is Avenues: The World School, a costly private school. What happens when kids from both of these worlds attempt to cross the divide?
A Dog's Life: A Dogamentary, a wacky and poignant documentary about the positive effects of the bond between dogs and humans, told through the story of Gayle Kirschenbaum and her dog Chelsea. Chelsea rigged with a "doggie cam", this couple hit the streets of NY looking for love. 9/11 happens. Chelsea emerges as a healing force as a therapy dog.
Lou Reed was wise to chronicle a concert by his early-'80s band, featuring lead guitarist Robert Quine and bassist Fernando Saunders. Reed had used them on his trilogy of strong albums -- The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts, and New Sensations -- released between 1982 and 1984. This 52-minute video, shot at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ, in 1984, is a straightforward, no-frills live show. Reed, in black T-shirt and black leather pants, stands on-stage before a cityscape background and makes his way through a set that features both a selection of Velvet Underground songs, and his sole hit single, "Walk on the Wild Side," plus highlights from his three recent albums, notably such songs as "I Love You Suzanne." As such, the video makes a good Lou Reed career sampler.
Die Menschenfischer
Barneys' closing sale.
A new documentary, exploring the Chelsea Hotel's role in the cultural and artistic movements of the 20th century, from the Beat Generation to the Punk Rock scene. Delving into the history of the hotel, as a home and gathering place for some of the most influential artists and cultural icons of the past century, including Mark Twain, Arthur Miller, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Leonard Cohen, Madonna and a possible spirit or two. Including historical footage of some of the residents and regulars who made the glorious Chelsea Hotel so legendary.
Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones unite in "Shine A Light," a look at The Rolling Stones." Scorsese filmed the Stones over a two-day period at the intimate Beacon Theater in New York City in fall 2006. Cinematographers capture the raw energy of the legendary band.
A reckless joyride into the darkest corners of popular music that delves deep into the mind of Mick Rock, the genius photographer who immortalized the seventies and the rise to rock stardom of many legendary musicians.
The New Breed Documentary chronicles a cassette compilation put out by Freddy Alva & Chaka Malik in 1989. New York Hardcore was undergoing a transition at the end of the 80's & this generational shift was exemplified by the bands that were featured on the compilation.The story of the tape is at heart the story of NYC & kids that grew up in it's five boroughs as well as related outposts in Long Island/Yonkers. A unique set of social/economic circumstances during the 70's & 80's forged the individuals that went on to make up the New York Hardcore scene. This full length documentary profiles band members/fanzine editors/record label heads & fans that made up this vibrant scene with narration by NYHC book author Tony Rettman. It's unheard of for a feature film to focus on an outdated analog format like a cassette compilation but it is through the eyes of these individuals that a spotlight is shined onto those tumultuous times & what is ultimately a tribute to a bygone era.
Shot entirely from an apartment window during the first month of New York City’s “Shelter in Place” directive, this film is a winding conversation about the fears, anxieties, and hopes of the residents of Claremont Avenue, in Manhattan.
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.
The remarkable true story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger's syndrome whose overwhelming love of transit has landed him in jail 32 times for the criminal impersonation of NYC subway drivers, conductors, token booth clerks, and track repairmen.
An account of the short life of genius musician Jimi Hendrix (1942-70), probably the most talented and influential guitarist of the twentieth century: his humble beginnings in Seattle, his time in New York, his rise to fame in swinging London… Live fast, love hard, die young.
Planting Earth Week follows a radical climate activist who tells the story of a splitting decentralized movement that made headlines in 2019.
The story of the making of The Bell Jar, the unique, semi-autobiographical novel written by American writer Sylvia Plath (1932-63), published in February 1963, shortly before her death.
This documentary captures the overflowing energy and activity of one today's greatest composers, Philip Glass, and allows us to follow him from New York to London and from Paris to Boston. He speaks about his beginnings, his moving to Paris for two years of intensive study with Nadia Boulanger, his meeting with Indian musician Ravi Shankar and director Robert Wilson, who had a deep influence on his career. The film also shows him at work on the last details of his opera The Sound of a Voice, directed by Robert Woodruff and conducted by Alan Johnson. Éric Darmon's camera, with its poetic shots and original framings, takes us for a musical journey into seven months of the life of the composer who, rising from the underground scene of the seventies, brought on a revolution in modern theater.
Seeing is to painting what listening is to politics. Survival as an artist demands both. Paint Until Dawn is a documentary on art in the life of James Gahagan (1927-1999), who painted all night to push the limits of vision. His life and thought reveal a correlation between art and activism through an interesting angle: the creative process itself.
This is the story of Vasiliy Ilyin, a retired farmer from the village of Ryshkovo, on a first time journey to see the world, New York, the ocean, and a cover photoshoot for Esquire Russia
From 1973-1981, bartender Sheldon Nadelman shot over 1,500 black and white photographs of his customers at the Terminal Bar, located in midtown Manhattan. These are their stories as recollected by Sheldon 25 years after the bar closed its doors for good in 1982. Last Call examines a broad swath of the bar's clientele, some of them regulars, some of them one-offs and uncovers these never-before-heard stories of a bar community that would otherwise be forgotten.
Portrait of the last year of the life of famous New York drag queen Consuela Cosmetic.