When the film West Side Story was released in 1961, New York's reviled Puerto Rican community gained some visibility and, over time, both in Spanish Harlem and the Bronx, neighborhoods plagued by poverty, drugs and crime, Hispanic identity was reborn and strengthened, thanks to a syncretic and intentionally popular music that eventually conquered the entire city.
An archival biography film about the early career of Deborah Harry told entirely through press interviews where she endures superficial, tedious, and demeaning questions from journalists.
Global soccer hero Thierry Henry stars in this up-close sports documentary that covers his 2010 move from Barcelona to the New York Red Bulls.
A documentary about a 78-year-old Indian woman in New York who is the world's most passionate theatergoer. Nicki Cochrane has been seeing a play every day for more than 25 years, acquiring free tickets using a variety of ingenious means.
In over an hour of filming, Danno recounts the roots of Hip-Hop culture through an almost symbolic journey, where it all began, between the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn, confronting some of the most important names in the scene,
In the pinnacle of their Stack Is The New Black national tour, Short Stack play the Sydney Opera House in a sold out mega-show.
I Ramones is a half-hour of concert footage captured in Rome in 1980, just after the release of the Phil Spector-produced album End of the Century. Shot on film, it laid forgotten in the vaults of an Italian television station for two decades after its one-time broadcast.
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.
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
Dash Snow rejected a life of privilege to make his own way as an artist on the streets of downtown New York City in the late 1990s. Developing from a notorious graffiti tagger into an international art star, he documented his drug- and alcohol-fueled nights with the surrogate family he formed with friends and fellow artists Ryan McGinley and Dan Colen before his death by heroin overdose in 2009. Drawing from Snow’s unforgettable body of work and involving archival footage, Cheryl Dunn’s exceptional portrait captures his all-too-brief life of reckless excess and creativity.
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
Las cuatro esquinas y Madrid
Don Letts examines the history of this notorious subculture in a fascinating documentary, which features interviews with members of different skinhead scenes through the decades. Beginning in the late 1960s, Don fondly recalls a time of multiracial harmony as youngsters bonded over a love of ska, reggae and smart clothes as white working-class kids were attracted to Jamaican culture and adopted its music and fashions. But when far-right politics targeted skinheads in the 1970s and 1980s, an ugly intolerance emerged, and Don reveals how the once-harmonious subgroup has since struggled to shake this stigma.
In 1892, Ellis Island, in New York Bay, became the main gateway to the United States for immigrants arriving increasingly from Europe. The story of immigration to the United States from 1892 to 1954, an enthralling polyphonic narrative that embraces both small and great history.
Through a series of interviews, 'So Which Band Is Your Boyfriend In' takes a look at gender in the UK's DIY and underground music scenes.
The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC. Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond spent three months in 1976 riding along with patrol officers in the 44th Precinct of the South Bronx, which had the highest crime rate in New York City at that time. They produced about 40 hours of videotape that they edited into a 90-minute documentary.
A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.
"Getting The Knack" chronicles the controversial career of power pop stars, The Knack. Viewers will witness a compelling tale of instant stardom and spectacular failure, a story marked by heroin addiction, alcohol abuse, vicious inner-band feuding and massive critical backlash. "Getting The Knack" explores the group's career via candid interviews with the original band, producers Mike Chapman and Jack Douglas, Sharona Alperin, (the inspiration behind their biggest hit), Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols, Rick Springfield, Elliot Easton of The Cars, Devo's Bob Mothersbaugh, comedian Weird Al Yankovic and many more. Narrated by Cherie Currie of The Runaways, "Getting the Knack" is augmented by scores of rare photos and previously unseen archival footage providing a no-holds barred look at the rise and fall and ultimate resurrection of the group.
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.
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.