Fritz Hauser: Sound Explorer

Dame veneno

With the release of her eighth studio album, Britney is back and she's workin' it! This documentary chronicles the career of international superstar from her more innocent years with the release of "Baby One more Time" to being the highest paid judge on US X Factor and collaborating with Will.i.am on her latest album. She is worldwide a pop icon, who continues to grow and deliver to her fans. This is her inside story.

Documentarian Jose Sanchez-Montes turns his attention towards the late Cuban musician Ignacio Villa, known throughout the world as Bola de Nieve (Snowball), with this 2003 biographical documentary entitled simply Bola de Nieve. A master pianist, Bola de Nieve was a mainstay through the middle portion of the 20th century, with his music almost omnipresent in South America cinema throughout those formative decades. With Bola de Nieve's famous statement "I'm a sad person, but my songs sound happy" in mind, Sanchez-Montes also looks at the influence of the musician's African heritage and homosexuality upon Bola de Nieve's unique musical style.

A portrait of a hard rocking band known for their substance-fueled live performances on their evolutionary journey to become one of the greatest cult rock bands of our time.

Electro-Pythagorus is an intimate and subjective portrait of the late Martin Bartlett, the Canadian electronic music pioneer who studied with Pauline Oliveros, David Tudor, John Cage, and Pandit Pran Nath. His contribution as an interdisciplinary composer, educator, and founding member of Western Front, though undoubtedly extensive, is in danger of being erased from cultural memory since his death from AIDS in 1993. Navigating an array of archival materials including letters, correspondences, notebooks, personal photos, and a huge body of unreleased music and field recordings held at the archives of Simon Fraser University, Electro-Pythagoras is a journey through the evolution of Bartlett’s musical time and space, softly guided by Luke Fowler’s insightful camera and montage—creating an experimental portrait that defies one-dimensionality.

With his vivid oil paintings, Albert Anker captured Swiss folk life like no other. Together with musician Endo Anaconda we discover the "Anker-House", Anker's old studio.

Lap up the luxury and opulence of the festive season at Switzerland's Gstaad Palace hotel, as we discover one of the most exclusive hotels in the world, where staff and management work hard to ensure their guests enjoy the ultimate 5-star festive experience. Run by third generation hotelier Andrea Scherz, whose family have owned the hotel since 1938, the hotel is one of the last in Switzerland to close between the summer season and winter. When it reopens in mid-December, with rooms costing up to £18,000 per night, the pressure is on to provide a truly first class Christmas.

A computer generated fern follows a modular synthesizer soundtrack.

Backed by an echoed horn music, the light passes through a magnifying glass. On the walls, they portrait pans being held on top of a stove.

Self-effacing Hungarian pianist, József, has a unique talent for fusing contemporary jazz with traditional Roma music. This new sound catches the attention of the acclaimed saxophonist Tim Ries and the two begin performing together. József dreams of escaping his humdrum life and making it big in the home of jazz: America. Along the way, he conquers his demons and learns that when shooting for the stars, success is not the destination, but the journey itself.

The passionate advocates of the ‘Cigar Box Guitar Revolution’ express their love of making unique instruments and the democratic, re-cycling ethos of the movement. Many are from the UK’s northern, post-industrial towns, recreating self-identity through hand-made guitars. Their emotional connection with their instruments creates a unique sound which is quite magical. A cinematic short, subsequently commissioned by the BBC as Cigar Box Blues. Festivals include: Woodstock, Nashville, Albuquerque (Honourable Mention)

Call Me Iggy

A newly expanded version of the original Grace documentary, featuring new interviews with band members and producer Andy Wallace as well as unseen footage of Jeff and the band at Bearsville Studio recording Grace. Included in Grace (Legacy Edition), a newly remastered version of the album.

Flipside is a documentary about the world of wax records in Russia. The film unveils the story of the legendary medium for records, very popular in the USSR, undeservedly forgotten in the years of the perestroika and raised from the ashes nowadays. What is the place of the wax record in the world of digital technologies? Who are the people that collect, sell and buy wax records today, and why do they do this? Who are those that try their best to impede them? Why do disk jockeys and musicians continue to idolize wax records? How did the wax record players make it back from garbage cans to the luxury HI-END shops? You will find answers to all these questions in a unique film for music fans, a trip through the world of music in the 20th century, at high speed, to the most sincere and humane format of the music.

An overview of the Brazilian vinyl market and its main players to understand the dimension of a universe that mixes sounds, money and passion. New factories, labels, stores, rarity-hunting mercenaries, collectors, DJs and a whole complex ecosystem revolve at 33 rpm around this renewed and beloved industry.

An intimate look at the Woodstock Music & Art Festival held in Bethel, NY in 1969, from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000.

Bubble is a short film performed by Zeena Parkins and the Plastic Girls, Eleanor Hullihan and Erin Cornell in a public park in Brooklyn, NY.

Pinoi Rock & Rhythm sheds the spotlight on four obscure yet significant figures in contemporary Philippine Popular Culture. Rebel Disc Jockey Dante "Howlin" Dave David, Stills Photographer and former stuntman Mr. Johnny Albia, Elvis Presley devotee Mr. Chito Bertol and Pinoy Rock guitar icon Mr. Jun Lopito. The documentary unfolds lighthearted, candid and sometimes outrageous introspection from the four individuals on the ups and downbeats of their respective careers.

Talented teen musicians from around the USA spend a week working with Grammy nominated professionals

The point of departure for this film is the 1981 composition De Tijd by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. Van der Keuken leaves the music undisturbed as an autonomous soundtrack and has the images engage in a sort of battle with it. These images are associations, fragments of events, scenes and situations. The film is preceded by a text by Bert Schierbeek.