On a fateful San Francisco night in the early '60s, Condor nightclub performer Carol Doda was lowered to the stage on a floating piano, topless. Word spread quickly, setting off a wave of controversy and delight, with raids soon to follow. There was even a trial for the new celebrity. Doda's dry wit and charisma made her an instant sensation of the night club scene: an empowered woman in full control. Or so it seemed.
Henry Rollins narrates Lilly Scourtis Ayers' no-holds-barred profile of volatile Bay Area punk legend Marian Anderson, whose hypnotic beauty, devil-may-care rebellion and shocking sexual exploits onstage launched her to infamy before tragically dying of a heroin overdose at the tender age of 33.
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.
Dance for All
A homeless musician finds meaning in his life when he starts a friendship with dozens of parrots.
Utilizing the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, the epic Indian tale of exiled prince Ramayana and his bride Sita is mirrored by a spurned woman's contemporary personal life, and light-hearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of Indian shadow puppets.
Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.
IT CAME FROM AQUARIUS RECORDS tells the story about the San Francisco based independent record store, Aquarius Records. Having closed in 2016 after 47 years, this small apartment-sized store championed local, underground, independent, and challenging music to the masses - most memorably with their infamous bi-weekly, college essay-length, new-release lists. Six years in the making, interviewing collectors, musicians, and store owners, the film has a very personal angle, with lots of behind-the-scenes footage (and drama) that shows both the joy and excruciating stress that comes with running — and closing — a store like this, helped in no part by the changing city around them.
This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.
Completely topless. Completely uninhibited. The craze that began in San Francisco is now exploding across the USA and Europe.
Live concert from the "Damaged Justice" tour. Recorded at the Seattle Coliseum, Seattle, Washington, on August 29 and 30, 1989.
Get Thrashed traces the rise, fall and impact of thrash metal; from its early years, through its influence on grunge, nu metal and today's heavy metal scene. It is the story of the heaviest, hardest music of the 80s and early 90s as told by the bands who lived it, the fans and bands that grew up on it and by the artists that carry the "thrash metal" flag today.
An opportunistic singer woos a wealthy widow to boost his career.
Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.
Revenge, murder, bloodshed and retribution. “Slayer: The Repentless Killogy” short film was written and directed by B.J. McDonnell, who conceived and directed the three brutal music videos - “You Against You”, “Repentless” and “Pride In Prejudice” - for Slayer’s final studio album, Repentless (2015). Concert tracklisting: 1. Delusions Of Savior 2. Repentless 3. The Antichrist 4. Disciple 5. Postmortem 6. Hate Worldwide 7. War Ensemble 8. When The Stillness Comes 9. You Against You 10. Mandatory Suicide 11. Hallowed Point 12. Dead Skin Mask 13. Born Of Fire 14. Cast The First Stone 15. Bloodline 16. Seasons In The Abyss 17. Hell Awaits 18. South Of Heaven 19. Raining Blood 20. Chemical Warfare 21. Angel Of Death
A young woman arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown from Hong Kong with the intention of marrying a rakish nightclub owner, unaware he is involved with one of his singers.
The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.
Controversy erupts over a New-Deal-era mural of the namesake of San Francisco’s George Washington High School. The thirteen-panel artwork "The Life of Washington" by Victor Arnautoff offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide.
Forever, Chinatown is a story of unknown, self-taught 81-year-old artist Frank Wong who has spent the past four decades recreating his fading memories by building romantic, extraordinarily detailed miniature models of the San Francisco Chinatown rooms of his youth.
Ninety-year-old sound artist and comedian Henry “Sandy” Jacobs lives a quirky existence at the end of Sunnyside Drive, a steep and winding dirt road washed by fog from the Pacific Ocean. Sixty feet down the hill lives his eccentric 84-year-old friend and neighbor, architect and former Frank Lloyd Wright collaborator Daniel Liebermann. These extraordinary old men, influential artists in the 1950s and ’60s, continue, each in their own way, to search the world for perfection. Sunnyside takes us to an extraordinary place, a microcosm with its own distinctive rhythm and remarkable inhabitants. It is a film about creativity, the capacity to dream and, ultimately, the transience of life.