Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
This Royal Albert Hall Concert, presented now on DVD, was also available online through live streaming. It is difficult to remember the last time any concert gave me so much pleasure and insight, and sent my soul soaring to such heights of joy. So many beloved piano pieces, so magnificently performed! Valentina has scaled the heights of technique, knocking off 'impossible' Liszt pieces like a stroll in the park. She melds with the piano with such assured ease that she can milk every piece for musical content and subtlety, reminding us of the great Hoffman, who also loved to play each piece a little differently every time, tapping deeply into the inexhaustible potential of a great composition, perpetually finding fresh ideas and magnificent new interpretations.
This documentary highlights the evolution of Brazil's Circo Voador venue from homespun artists' performance space to national cultural institution.
What is essential in a time of upheaval? Director Brittany Farhat documented the months of panic and epiphany in the leadup to July Talk’s lauded Drive-In Shows of 2020, and with the help of unreleased archival footage spanning a decade, follows the thoughtful group of artists to a crossroads of identity and circumstance.
As they travel around the country, a singer-songwriter duo's love triangle with their roadie jeopardizes their unannounced farewell tour.
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 Object Formerly Known as a Record, the Movie is a film portraying the Mexican Rock band Café Tacvba in the process of creating their latest album. The film could be described as an "Album Movie", combining the musical and philosophical ideas of the band members, beautifully rendered performances and a poetic visual-score that culminates in a truly intimate portrait of Café Tacvba's creative process.
Billy Yeager is a musician, singer-songwriter, filmmaker, activist, humanitarian and an all around living breathing performance artist. He has written and recorded over 2600 songs, produced 6 films and been discovered many times by several well known artists, yet most of his works are extremely hard to find and are considered to be very valuable by serious collectors, but if it can't change the world, the artist wants no part of it. Turning his back on the music and film industries, Yeager retreats into the desert to make his films and create his music.
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.
A tribute to Charles Mingus.
A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.
AMIN portrays Qashqai musician Amin Aghaie, a young modern nomad and his family who despite facing steep financial, cultural and political obstacles are dedicated to their art and culture. Amin travels to remote towns and villages to record the music of the surviving masters whose numbers decline each year. His nomadic family are selling their meager belongings to help support their son's education in performance and ethnomusicology at Tchaikovsky's Conservatory in Kyiv, Ukraine, but it is not enough. Amin, desperate to finish his academic education, sells his violins one at a time just to pay for his tuition.
A documentary film by Peter I. Chang which traces the life of the Japanese musician Hisao Shinagawa through his early years as a folk singer in Tokyo to his current occupation as a street performer in Los Angeles.
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.
Exploring every facet of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle, this biopic takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.
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.
A surreal journey into singer José González’s inner world of thoughts and shadows. Staged with dark humour in the picturesque Swedish countryside around his home with Ruben Östlund’s regular creative partners behind the camera.
Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Viennese composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his students the finer points of rock 'n' roll. The school's hard-nosed principal is rightly suspicious of Finn's activities. But Finn's roommate remains in the dark about what he's doing.
In Ireland in the mid 1960s, two feuding brothers and their respective Ceilidh bands compete at a music festival.