Chance, History, Art...

This collection of short films represents a hint of the tectonic shift in the underground film world in connection with the punk rock “movement.” Restored from original negatives, it showcases the reasonably well-known alongside the extremely rare, from music shorts to impressionistic documentary.

David Markey's documentary of life on the road with Sonic Youth and Nirvana during their tour of Europe in late 1991. Also featuring live performances by Dinosaur Jr, Babes in Toyland, The Ramones and Gumball.

Probably the most atypical star in the history of popular music, Ian Dury overcame Polio to be one of the most iconic figures of the late punk movement. With his supercharged live performances and unique blend of sexually poetic lyrics, Ian Dury achieved critical aclaim from both his fans and fellow artists. From his early days with Kilburn and the High Roads to his superstardom with the Blockheads, Ian Dury was a complicated cocktail of warmth, wit, bile and bombast... quite simply he was unique and unforgettable. To discover the legend that is Ian Dury this DVD contains amazing live performances of Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, What A Waste, Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, Sweet Gene Vincent and many other hits from his heyday, alongside in-depth interviews that give an insight to the man himself.

Dither: The D.I.Y. Sound is not your conventional punk rock documentary. In this documentary we explore the ideologies created by cornerstones of the early punk community such as Ian Mackaye of Minor Threat, Fugazi and Dischord Records. But beyond that, we explore the communities and people that have adopted these ideologies and created their own version of what it means to be D.I.Y. This is not a documentary about just music, it's a documentary about the communities that surround the music and embrace it as a way of identification and brotherhood. But this documentary doesn't just ask questions about the culture, it asks questions about how it's possible to maintain a culture that is, at it's core, so opposite of the modern economic and social system.

In 2007, 11 years after one of the most influential American punk bands, Jawbreaker, called it quits, the three members, Blake Schwarzenbach, Chris Bauermeister, and Adam Pfahler reconnect in a San Francisco recording studio to listen back to their albums, reminisce and even perform together one last time. Follow the band as they retell their "rags to riches to rags" story writhe with inner band turmoil, health issues, and the aftermath of signing to a major label. Featuring interviews with Billy Joe Armstrong, Steve Albini, Jessica Hopper, Graham Elliot, Chris Shifflet, Josh Caterer and more.

The rare short film presents a curious dialogue between filmmaker Julio Bressane and actor Grande Otelo, where, in a mixture of decorated and improvised text, we discover a little manifesto to the Brazilian experimental cinema. Also called "Belair's last film," Chinese Viola reveals the first partnership between photographer Walter Carvalho and Bressane.

The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

"With characteristic wit and rigor, experimental filmmaker Larry Gottheim here applies his impressionistic editing style to footage collected during his travels in the Dominican Republic. Gottheim’s formal emphasis on repetition and fissures between sound and image resonates here as a mode of sociological reflection (with the fragmentary montage mirroring elements of ritual while also destabilizing the ethnographic gaze). A largely overlooked antecedent to the contemporary blending of avant-garde and ethnographic filmmaking, MACHETTE GILLETTE… MAMA still poses a potent challenge to documentary convention." - Max Goldberg

On June 13, 1978, the punk bands the Cramps and the Mutants played a free show for psychiatric patients at the Napa State Hospital in California. We Were There to Be There chronicles the people, politics, and cultural currents that led to the show and its live recording.

Formed in 1979 in Wichita, Kansas, the so-called "blister pop" band the Embarrassment played major U.S. cities and garnered praise from the likes of Allen Ginsberg, John Cale and Jonathan Demme, but their refusal to compromise their vision made success elusive. Through archival interviews and concert footage, this documentary draws a portrait of the oft-overlooked post-punk legends.

Que Esse Grito Não Seja em Vão!

The tale of the formation, journey and end of the seminal Punk/Reggae band The Slits.

This stream-of-consciousness could be nothing less than pathway of the soul, as images of Marilyn's window are remembered from inside-out, its "view" interwoven with all of other windowing and the Elements of the known world.

Out of the vagueries of sometime beseeming repetitive light patterns, and the delicately variable rhythms of thought process, the imagination of The Monumental and of the Ephemeral are born to mind hard as nails.

From London's 1970 mod scene to Sonic Youth, punk music has always been about attitude and anarchy. This comprehensive rockumentary traces the roots of punk, from The Velvet Underground and the New York Dolls to the Sex Pistols and The Clash.

Filmed during the production of the Columbia Pictures western "Mackenna’s Gold," this short work presents a non-narrative visual study of the Arizona desert. Rather than documenting the film set itself, "6-18-67" assembles landscape images, time-lapse photography, and ambient sound into an abstract record of place and duration.

This film describes a psychological state "kin to moonstruck, its images emblems (not quite symbols) of suspension-of-self within consciousness and then that feeling of falling away from conscious thought. The film can only be said to describe or be emblematic of this state because I cannot imagine symbolizing or otherwise representing an equivalent of thoughtlessness itself. Thus the actors in the film, Jane Brakhage, Tom and Gloria Bartek, Williams Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Olovsky and Phillip Whalen are figments of this 'Thought-Fallen Process', as are their images in the film to find themselves being photographed."

Iconic Welsh rock musician Mike Peters' rise to fame, battle with cancer and inspiring return, featuring one-of-a-kind performances from other legendary musicians.

Rude Boy is a semi-documentary, part character study, part 'rockumentary', featuring a British punk band, The Clash. The script includes the story of a fictional fan juxtposed with actual public events of the day, including political demonstrations and Clash concerts.

The Sex Pistols album Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols is unquestionably one of the most important musical statements in the history of British music. It was in 1977, at a time when the nation was crippled by class division and unemployment that four working class teenagers with supposedly non-existent futures recorded an album that to this day remains as one of the greatest and most influential bodies of work ever recorded. This documentary features exclusive interview's with all four of the original members of the Sex Pistols as they take you on a track by track look at the making of the album. Featuring Steve Jones and Glen Matlock demonstrating selected riffs and licks off the album and explaining the development of the song writing. Candid interviews with Malcolm McLaren, Chris Thomas and Bill Price set the record straight about the recording session. Intertwining additional rare home video, live footage and early demo's make this release a compelling must see.