Rave Culture is one of Britain’s great cultural exports, but after its first wave in the late eighties and early nineties, it was soon forced into the underground by stringent new laws and superclubs. But forward 25 years into in the midst of a nationwide purge on the nation’s nightlife, where nearly half of all British clubs have shut down in the last decade, and a new kind of scene has emerged. Clive Martin investigates this 21st century version of Rave, where young people break into disused spaces with the help of bolt-cutters and complicated squatting laws, to suck on balloons and go hard into the early morning. But with the police using increasingly extreme tactics to clamp down on these parties, and more than one fatality causing nationwide media panic, can the scene survive?
A collection of death scenes, ranging from TV material to homemade super 8 movies.
Janina Ramirez explores the BBC archives to create a TV history of Leonardo Da Vinci, discovering what lies beneath the Mona Lisa and even how he acquired his anatomical knowledge.
Portrait of the Italian sculptor Donatello (1386-1466), a precursor of the High Renaissance who considerably influenced sculptural art with his innovative way of conceiving space. Donatello is already a legend in his own lifetime. The sculptor is the forefather of the High Renaissance and pioneer for artists such as Raphael or Michelangelo. His bronze sculpture of the "David" or the "Pazzi Madonna" in marble are icons of art history and testify to his sculptural power of renewal.
Documentary examining the work of sculptor Richard Lippold, particular his sculpture of the sun at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
On August 8, 1988, the world’s first and largest Satanic rally took place. Ripped from a video featuring Satanist talking about creating a New World Order and killing off the masses. The 8-8-88 ritual was conducted right at the heart of the Satanic Panic. The goal, further exploit and feed upon the energies produced by the fears of the ignorant general public and media. It was shown to a sold-out crowd of degenerates promising them, “A Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief,” “A Nightmare of TERROR!” and “An Evening of Apocalyptic Delight!”
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.
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.
Murder, rape, satanism and necrophilia is the staple diet of millions of teenagers who listen to the lyrics of extreme heavy metal music. This World investigates the potential links between "death metal" and a series of gruesome crimes around the world. In Italy a group of young death metal fans formed a satanic cult called the Beasts of Satan. At least four gruesome killings resulted. But death metal musicians deny that they have any responsibility for the actions of people who profess to be their fans. With exclusive access to the families, one of the killers and graphic police footage, the film tells the inside story for the first time. We hear from the musicians, the children and the parents from Oslo to California and ask just how far can music go in its ability to shock, and just how damaging might it be?
The documentary follows Nicolas Vlavianos (1929-2022), a renowned sculptor, in the final years of his life. It captures the moment — when he is around 90 years old — that he returns to an old drawer, tries to pick up his tools, and realizes he no longer has the strength to hold them. That simple gesture becomes the symbolic trigger: the end of his long creative cycle and the beginning of a farewell to his art. From there, the film documents the dismantling of Vlavianos’s studio and workspace, and the gradual process of his withdrawal from physical creation. It’s not just a retrospective of works: it’s a portrait of decline, memory, mortality, and legacy.
Two screens of film about - and sometimes shot by - Claes Oldenburg, detailing his inspiration, his methods and his relationship with his partner Hannah Wilke.
Seeing is to painting what listening is to politics. Survival as an artist demands both. Paint Until Dawn is a documentary on art in the life of James Gahagan (1927-1999), who painted all night to push the limits of vision. His life and thought reveal a correlation between art and activism through an interesting angle: the creative process itself.
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.
Documentary directed by W.K. Border, that which dives into the aspects of contemporary Gothic subculture, vampirism, and BDSM culture. Filmed in 1997 in California.
Hip-Hop Culture and Graffiti Video Magazine
56-year-old artist Mindy Alper has suffered severe depression and anxiety for most of her life. For a time she even lost the power of speech, and it was during this period that her drawings became extraordinarily articulate.
In "The New Gabbers" we follow three young gabbers in the run-up to hardcore festival Ground Zero in the Netherlands. The documentary paints a picture of the lively hardcore subculture through the personal stories of these 'new gabbers'.
Jürgen Friedrich Mahrt (1882-1940) left behind a large collection of taxidermied birds and butterflies, as well as countless photographs, documenting the wildlife habitats of his time, many of which no longer exist today. His great-granddaughter has the collections analyzed by experts.
"In this half-hour documentary, Producer Sandra King provides an intimate portrait of a public phenomenon: Graffiti. Over an 18 month period, King and her crew followed the teenage members of a graffiti 'crew,' Vandals on the Street, as they painted and rapped and moved through the streets of downtown Newark. What emerges is a unique glimpse behind the 'tags' at the kind of inner city kids who write on walls, but who also make art; who create out of wedlock children, but who also form binding relationships; who drop out of school and never read a book, but who create their own brand of poetry through the medium of 'rap.'
Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's PBS documentary tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s.