Arabic Secret

A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.

There is a rumor in the Kyiv musical community: once upon a time, in private conversation, Queen Elizabeth II mentioned Valentyn Silvestrov as one of her favorite composers of the modern age. The Royal Press Office hasn’t confirmed it, so no one knows for sure. But the stature of Silvestrov justifies this rumor. Highly respected by the world’s best music professionals, he remains a mystery for a wide audience. The documentary is far from a traditional biopic about a prominent person. It is an observation, a confession and, most of all, a story of great talent set against the backdrop of uncertain times.

Before Rolling Stone, there was Soul Newspaper. Behind Soul, there was Regina Jones. Against all odds, Regina blazed her own path, and at 80 has found herself again.

Yannis is 22 years old. The restless soul, the heart that beats for music. In Marseille, surrounded by a group of passionate friends, his goal is that of thousands of others: to make a living from his art. We delve into his daily life, the creative process of his first EP and an encounter with a tumultuous youth. How to learn to live in uncertainty? What does it mean to want to be an artist? And above all, how can you be happy when you're a blue boy?

Człowiek ze studni

A film featuring architect, sculptor, and musician Nobuo Kubota in a sound-sculpture performance. From within a cage-like structure filled with traditional musical instruments and sound-making devices fashioned from ordinary objects and toys, Kubota creates an aural/visual montage of musical notes and noises. Praised by music educators as a valuable tool for teaching creativity in sound exploration and musical innovation, the film reveals the infinite percussion possibilities of simple objects and presents a portrait of a versatile performer whose imagination has led him far beyond the confines of conventional music. Directed by Jonny Silver - 1982 | 20 min

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

Following the artist from the bustling streets of New York to her rain-soaked hometown of Bergen, the film includes interviews with AURORA's closest friends, as well as uniquely stripped-back performances of tracks including “Warrior” and “Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1).” Whether she’s reminiscing on her childhood with her sisters, dancing through the city streets in her headphones, or discussing the secret life of apples, there’s a spellbinding quality to everything the artist does.

An intimate story of song and sacrifice—musically gifted superstar Sheryl Crow navigates an iconic yet arduous musical career battling sexism, ageism, depression, cancer, and the price of fame, before harnessing the power of her gift.

Arctic Tale is a 2007 documentary film from the National Geographic Society about the life cycle of a walrus and her calf, and a polar bear and her cubs, in a similar vein to the 2005 hit production March of the Penguins, also from National Geographic.

Two amateur filmmakers attempt to make a documentary about the legendary underground "phone-work artist" Longmont Potion Castle, who, since 1988, has released sixteen albums of hilariously surreal phone pranks. Despite a semi-successful crowdfunding campaign and the involvement of celebrity fans, the filmmakers succumb to their own infighting and bad luck, abandoning the project. A year later, the unpaid camera operator liberates the raw footage and finishes the film.

An independent record store owner and life-long Alice Cooper superfan convinces the original lineup of his favorite band to reunite at his store over forty years after they parted ways.

To sum up the life and work of British artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is close to impossible. Not only because of the wide range of artistic disciplines, but also because of the timespan, since the mid 1960s to the present day, that has been saturated by hundreds of records, thousands of concerts, exhibitions, interviews, videos, spoken word performances, collages, sculptures, philosophy, cultural engineering, occultism and radical transgender concepts. A couple of descriptions are still valid after these 50 years of active creativity and provocation. P-Orridge is a romantic existentialist and a cultural engineer. Everything is both work as such and seed for cultural and behavioural change.

Supersonic charts the meteoric rise of Oasis from the council estates of Manchester to some of the biggest concerts of all time in just three short years. This palpable, raw and moving film shines a light on one of the most genre and generation-defining British bands that has ever existed and features candid new interviews with Noel and Liam Gallagher, their mother, and members of the band and road crew.

Sonia Reich- who survived the Holocaust as a child by running and hiding, suddenly believes that she is being hunted again, 60 years later.

In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.

The true story of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar through the eyes of his son, Juan Pablo.

An uplifting insight into the lives of seven-year-old conjoined twins, who weren’t expected to live more than a few days. Cared for by their devoted father, the girls have defied all odds.

An old Brazilian musician, Rato Branco, seeks out the old masters of the 8-bass sanfona in the backlands of Bahia to recover the secrets and traditional touches of the Pé de Bode, as this sanfona is known in northeastern Brazil. The film recounts the friendship between the master Rato Branco and the great musicians of the sertão, revealing the musical memory of this region.

An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.