Sprout Wings and Fly

In this interview, conducted for the Criterion Collection in 2014, Elijah Wald, who collaborated with folksinger Dave Van Ronk on his memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street, discusses the people and places central to New York's Greenwich Village folk scene of the late fifties and early sixties - a scene transformed by the arrival of Bob Dylan.

A single female voice sings of waiting in her garden for her ‘dark-eyed sailor’ to return from war, bearing the other half of their token, a gimmel ring. Three veterans pass on the road as she waits, and she asks them: “When you were fighting in distant lands, did you think of the home you left?” In reply the veterans relate their recollections. The garden images in the accompanying film represent ‘home’, but also stand for a more general possibility of redemption, of the potential of the past to return at any time, disguised and changed, to renew the present: “Each moment of time is a garden gate,” the song goes, “Through it my love may walk.”

Documentary about the blacklisted folk group The Weavers, and the events leading up to their triumphant return to Carnegie Hall.

Heinz Strunk, plagued by crater-like skin rashes, lives with his sick mother in Hamburg-Harburg in the 1980s. As a saxophonist, he tours the North German lowlands with the dance combo "Tiffanys". In this bizarre universe of Korn, Klaus & Klaus and Koteletts, bandleader Gurki teaches him how to deliver cheerful, upbeat music. To escape the vicious circle of shooting festivals and village weddings, Heinz wants to start a solo career and become a hit producer...

As a sci-fi obsessed woman living in near isolation, Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote and self-released Keyboard Fantasies in Huntsville, Ontario back in 1986. Recorded in an Atari-powered home-studio, the cassette featured seven tracks of a curious folk-electronica hybrid, a sound realized far before its time. Three decades on, the musician – now Glenn Copeland – began to receive emails from people across the world, thanking him for the music they’d recently discovered.

Wirklich alles?!

One of the most important Kentuckians of the 20th century, Harry Caudill brought the story of Appalachia to national attention when his book “Night Comes to the Cumberlands” was released in 1963. The nonfiction account of Eastern Kentucky’s coal region, part history and part polemic, eloquently recounted the exploitation of Appalachia’s land and its people by business and government interests, and made Caudill a national spokesperson for his homeland. Harry Caudill spent his life advocating for Eastern Kentucky, with the aim of helping the powerless as well as securing the region’s unmatched natural resources for future generations. His work led to lasting government reforms for Appalachia, and his legacy remains a touchstone for activists today.

Two strangers, both folk musicians stranded in California, take a road trip to New York in the days after 9/11. A story about the kindness of strangers and the power of music.

Paris To Kyiv’s Fragmenti recording was originally released in 2005, a sonic tapestry of ancient Ukrainian song fragments and contemporary sounds. Nearly 11 years later, after circulating throughout the roster of artists on Balanced Records, a remix album has been compiled featuring electronic and avant garde interpretations by Ken Gregory, Joe Silva, Rise Ashen, Kasm, J57, Solidaze, Cayetano, Miguel Graça, Trevor Walker and Anders Peterson. This film accompanies the remix by Joe Silva.

A troubadour is expelled from the city when the queen sees his disfigured face. The palace guards smash his instrument as punishment, but the musician does not lose his determination to continue making music.

A square rich boy wants to make it with a pretty folk singer, so he buys the coffee house where she and a bunch of other beatniks perform. Features performances by The Goldebriars, The Free Wheelers, and a very young Joan Rivers doing a stand-up routine.

Documentary about the folk scene around Castilla y León

The history of American popular music runs parallel with the history of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, with each male descendant possessing different musical abilities.

New York, early 1960s. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in the West Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music.

Hugues Aufray, l'éternel jeune homme

A visual and auditory immersion into the world of verdiales, a blend of mystery, tradition, and the culture of Málaga. Layers of image and sound accumulate, transforming the celebration into an increasingly vibrant landscape. "I was once told that verdiales are the punk of Málaga folklore."

1. Intro 2. Cartouche 3. Queen For A Day I 4. Queen For A Day II 5. Under A Violet Moon 6. Minstrel Hall 7. Past Times With Good Company 8. Soldier Of Fortune 9. Durch Den Wald Zum Bach Haus 10. Once In A Million Years 11. Mr. Peagram's Morris And Sword 12. Home Again 13. Ghost Of A Rose 14. Mond Tanz/Child In Time 15. Wind In The Willows 16. Village On The Sand 17. Renaissance Faire 18. The Clock Ticks On 19. Loreley 20. All For One 21. Black Night 22. Midwinter's Night/Dandelion Wine Since then the renaissance-infused magic of Blackmore's Night has captured the hearts and minds of fans and media around the globe. With such successful albums as Fires At Midnight, Ghost of a Rose, and Beyond The Sunset: The Romantic Collection now behind them and etched into history, the band is proud to present the brand new DVD, Castles & Dreams.

Comitiva Esperança

With The Innocent Criminals, American singer Ben Harper set the legendary Olympia stage alight. He performed his album Bloodline Maintenance there.

A documentary portraying the life of Norwegian folk singer Lillebjørn Nilsen. Lillebjørn's talent brought him into the limelight as a shy 15-year-old. This is his own story about music, fame and an eternal longing for peace.