A Conversational Exploration of Sonic Practice

MONTREAL NEW WAVE is a feature documentary that explores the New Wave cultural current in Quebec in the 70’s and 80’s. The film documents and questions that unknown part of our recent cultural history. Through archives and interviews with key figures of the time, MONTREAL NEW WAVE wants to shed light on a defining current that still inspires the Quebec cultural scene today.

Lo Sound Desert is a documentary about the Californian Desert music scene, which gave birth to bands like Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age. What basically started by revolving punk rock kids - hidden from narrow-minded authorities of suburban desert communities in the early 80s, became a vibe over the years. The film provides a unique insight into the history of the Coachella Valley music scene: From never-ending jams in the middle of the desert to headlining huge European stages - Desert Rock, often misinterpreted as musical genre continued its underground spread and became international treasure. Lo Sound Desert is narrated by Josh Homme, Brant Bjork, Mario Lalli and many others from bands like Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss, Fatso Jetson, Dalis Llama, Hornss, Fu Manchu etc.

Originally broadcast on ABC's True Stories in 1993, Feed Them to the Cannibals tells the story of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. It was the first time cameras were allowed at Sleaze Ball and the Mardi Gras Party.

A Hundred Years of Happiness; an observational documentary, is a personal portraiture of a Vietnamese farming family and their daughter Tram. While her father instils in her the importance of familial obligation to care for one’s ageing parents, her mother desires a secure future devoid of economic hardship. Determined to fulfil both her parent’s wishes, Tram pursues a new life in South Korea as a migrant bride, but her fast-tracked journey leaves little time for reflection.

During the time of the Stolen Generations, thousands upon thousands of Aboriginal girls were taken from their families and pressed into domestic servitude by the Australian Government. They were supposedly employed as servants, but with total control over their movements, wages and living conditions, their lives all too frequently became an inescapable cycle of abuse, rape and enslavement, with consequences that echo powerfully to this day. Recounting the stories of five of these women – Rita, Violet and the three Wenberg sisters – Servant or Slave is a commanding piece of first-person testimony to a dark and unacknowledged corner of Australian history. Shot with admirable craft and humanity by documentarian Steven McGregor (Croker Island Exodus, MIFF 2012), Servant or Slave is a work of great sadness and urgency, bringing to forceful life the human tragedy of Australia's Indigenous history in the unadorned words of those who lived it.

"Don't go in the Water." This line bred fear in millions of people around the world. In 1975, Jaws showcased the greatest eating machine, the great white shark, on the big scren and changed the swimming habits of movie-goers everywhere. By far the most feared creature in the sea, this species is responsible for more attacks on human beings that all other sharks combined. Step outside the Hollywood hype and travel to South Australia with an expedition as they attempt to increase understanding and reduce human/shark confrontations. Observe the behavior and lifestyle of the great white shark, and see these miracles of evolution up close in this unforgettable exploration under sea.

At Western Australia’s first Indigenous-run police station, two officers learn language and culture to help them police one of the most remote beats in the world.

Ensemble

Indonesian noise, the largest scene of extreme and independent music scene is the biggest in South-East Asia. This documentary gives an extensive overview with numerous bands, artists and speakers, all from Jakarta, Bandung, Bekasi, Yogyakarta, and Tokyo, who freely talk about their own definitions and approaches to noise music.

The forceful feature-length documentary Journey to Jah by Noel Dernesch and Moritz Springer catches the global phenomenon of crossing borders by documenting the experiences of integration in a foreign culture. The film follows the internationally acclaimed European musicians Gentleman and Alborosie, which found a new spiritual home within the reggae culture while Jamaican singer Terry Lynn takes the other direction integrating European styles into her music.

"Recording Josephine" showcases the personalities and recording process involved in the making of the album, "Josephine" by Magnolia Electric Company. The album was recorded at engineer Steve Albini's Electical Audio in Chicago.

This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.

In the pinnacle of their Stack Is The New Black national tour, Short Stack play the Sydney Opera House in a sold out mega-show.

The story of The Boomtown Rats, who fought a conservative Ireland, broke through the UK punk scene, scored global No 1 hits and revolutionised the world with Bob Geldof’s Live Aid.

Director Mat de Koning captures the rollercoaster journey of a young Perth band, the Screwtop Detonators, their manager Dave Kavanagh (an ex-mentor to The Libertines) and their one-time roadie, Will Stoker, as they grapple with the music industry's long road to the top. Initially ambitious and eager for fame and fortune, their aspirations change over time as they individually discover what truly matters in life.

Bernadette Corporation describes this work as "A fashion film about the poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé and the color white." Produced for the 2000 Walker Art Center exhibition Let's Entertain, this short film employs a range of strategies to approach the idea of nothingness, emptiness, and vacuity, with an eye to how these notions relate to contemporary mass-cultural entertainment. Juxtaposing "documentary" takes on a fashion shoot with footage of semiologist Sylvère Lotringer giving an impromptu lecture on Mallarmé on a frozen lake, Hell Frozen Over maintains an ambiguous stance from which to both critique and celebrate the power of surface.

Documentary about Florence Foster Jenkins, her delusions, and how the people around her reacted to them.

An intimate account of the relationship between young composer and pianist Kit Armstrong and the world renowned Alfred Brendel, Set the Piano Stool on Fire captures both the creative process and champions the value of teaching and collaboration. Featuring the only filmed footage of Brendel during his farewell tour, this is highly revealing and essential viewing for anyone interested in classical music.

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.

A documentary that follows two men. One resigned from factory work to study composition because of his love for music. He has more than 100 original songs and once had a music career in Beijing. Eventually he returned to his hometown, Xuzhou, to make a living performing by the roadside because he could no longer afford to eat. The other was born in Taiwan before moving to Xuzhou to stay with his father's family in Xuzhou when he was 15 years old. Soon after his father died he taught himself the piano, music composition, MIDI music production. He had many students, including idols and stars, even as he still lives in a low-rent house, gets by selling e-waste, and educates people who love music for free. They are misfortune, ordinary, dressed in ragged clothes, and sing the most beautiful songs.