The Improv: 50 Years Behind the Brick Wall

An exploration of the individual components that make up a jazz improvisation, told in 13 parts.

Ricky Pherwinnikins is a young director who believes that his most recent film Punxsutawney Phil's Last Stand is going to be announced as the secret 11th Best Picture nominee during tonight's Oscar ceremony.

Cecil Taylor was the grand master of free jazz piano. "All the Notes" captures in breezy fashion the unconventional stance of this media-shy modern musical genius, regarded as one of the true giants of post-war music. Seated at his beloved and battered piano in his Brooklyn brownstone the maestro holds court with frequent stentorian pronouncements on life, art and music.

Things go badly for a small film crew shooting a low-budget zombie movie when they are attacked by real zombies.

An irreverent group of teens - Thirty, Whoopie, Headguy, Pinky, Stinky, Jumbo, Giggles, and James - are thrown into a two-day panic-induced adventure after one of them discovers she's pregnant.

The Grand is in the tradition of improvisational comedies like Best In Show and This Is Spinal Tap. The story is set in the world of professional poker and follows six players who reach the final table of the world’s second most famous high stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker.

Aspiring director Corky St. Clair and the marginally talented amateur cast of his hokey small-town musical production go overboard when they learn that Broadway theater agent Mort Guffman will be in attendance.

Orson Welles pitches to potential investors his vision of a largely improvised bullfighter movie about an existential, James Dean type troubadour who sets himself apart from other matadors. In front of an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles pontificates on the state of cinema, the filmmaking process, and the art of bullfighting.

At an orphanage, the children are sad because they received used defective toys as gifts. Professor Grampy sees the children while passing by in his sled and has an idea on how to give them a merry Christmas.

Savoir Ce Qu’on Pense

An improvised film; a man discovers he's emotionally stuck between his ex-girlfriend, his new girlfriend and his best friend; and in the course of a day he must follow his passion and become unstuck.

A mockumentary that follows the 5 main contestants of The Golden Apron contest, a competition in search of "the greatest home chef in America", being held by a nefarious food manufacturing company with their own corporate agenda.

A movie premiere gone awry leads to an equally chaotic trial to determine the fate of four amateur filmmakers.

An important audio-visual record of a landmark series of four concerts staged in London in 2022 when more than 30 musicians joined improviser, percussionist and animateur Eddie Prévost to mark his 80th birthday. The film takes a close look at improvisers who create music in the moment, free from the authority of a composer, score or conductor. Ranging from profound delicacy to subversive atonality, the “awkward wealth” of this music raises vital questions about artistic freedom, individual responsibility and what it means for people to make music together in the 21st Century. Featuring performances by John Butcher, Sue Lynch, Ute Kanngiesser, Marjolaine Charbin, Nathan Moore, Seymour Wright, Veryan Weston, Alan Wilkinson, John Tilbury and Eddie Prévost amongst others. Plus readings by musician and author David Toop. The film includes the last ever concert by AMM, the pioneering improvising group co-founded by Eddie Prévost in the mid-1960s.

When Brad gets fired from his job, he goes to reopen an old cinema, he enlists his frends to help him show the last film the cinema aired before it closed... Only they don't know, the film is in Italian. With everyone sitting ready they begin to dub the movie... on the fly!

3 Friends create 6 comedy sketches to “save the world” with comedy

In 1989, a collective of young hip hop artists gathered at a health food café in South Central Los Angeles. Their mandate? To reject gang culture and expand the musical boundaries of hip hop. DuVernay's documentary chronicles the historic legacy of the Good Life Cafe — the open mic nights that became an L.A. institution, the eclectic array of talented young MCs that emerged there, the alternative hip hop movement they developed, and their worldwide influence on the artform.

In Netflix's first-ever crowd work special, Matt Rife gets up close and personal with an unpredictable Charlotte audience to riff on all things dreams.

En Frame

Based on an incident in the life of Beat icon Neal Cassady and his wife, the painter Carolyn, the film tells the story of a railway brakeman whose wife invites a respected bishop over for dinner. However, the brakeman's Bohemian friends crash the party, with comic results. Pull My Daisy is a film that typifies the Beat Generation. Directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, Daisy was adapted by Jack Kerouac from the third act of his play, Beat Generation; Kerouac also provided improvised narration.