Films can be Friends

Schauburg Mon Amour

This DVD contains a filmed rehearsal of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the legendary Beat Club in Bremen, Germany, on 6th October 1968. The music is largely one long improvisatory continuous performance rather than a run-through of their greatest hits, but is punctuated by Zappa directing the band to play the opening themes of some of his more well-known pieces.

This James A. FitzPatrick Traveltalks short visits the West German cities of Hamburg, Bremen, Munich, and Heidelberg. Included are scenes of World War II destruction that lingered at the time.

Alte Filme aus Bremen

The lives of six German-Turkish immigrants are drawn together by circumstance: An old man and a prostitute forging a partnership, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together.

Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in.

The story has an old donkey resolving to break away from the unbearable hardships of working for a fat miller (Alfred Pongratz). By and by, he recruits three more unsatisfied animals and convinces them to accompany him on his way to Bremen where they want to become musicians. Fighting off some robbers in a forest house then becomes an important part of the story.

"Is this all there is to life?" thought the donkey, who was working as a tourist attraction for in the "Animal-Adventure-Park ", after his boss kicked him out. And because people again and again told him that his voice sounded lovely, he decided to make a career as a musician and go to Bremen. On his way, he met a dog, whose fate was to spend the rest of his life in the animal asylum, because his old master had died. The dog was a great drummer, so the donkey asked him to come along with him. On their way they met a cock and a cat, who were also living in a desperate situation. Since they too were good musicians, it was only logical that they completed the band. And what nobody ever believed came true. After many adventures, they were finally on stage. Where? Of course in Bremen.

Pasta Mista

Frank Lehmann, 20, still lives with his parents in the dreary high-rise housing project "Neue Vahr" in Bremen. It's the year 1980 and Frank gets drafted to the army even though his friends assure him that "he's not really the guy for it". When he gets back home, after his first week at the army, his Dad has turned his room into a TV repair shop, so Frank has to move out. Luckily his old friend Martin is starting a commune with two other Punks in Bremens leftist borough "Viertel". Frank, without further ado rents the unlivable walk-through room. From now on Frank is a traveler between the Worlds. Each week he goes from the Army, with all the unconditional rules and regulations to the commune where his friends are preaching the world revolution. Frank is trying to avoid to stick out, but fails miserably, in both worlds.

Four aging animals, a dog, a cat, a donkey and a rooster escape from their former homes because they weren't as productive and useful for their owners as they used to be. To avoid death, they all move out on a musical journey to Bremen to find a better life.

Four farm animals, a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, leave their home to become musicians in Bremen. Based on the tale of the Brothers Grimm.

Das Gesetz sind wir

Savo from Kikinda (Serbia) and his brother recall how they called communal service few years back to empty the septic tank in their backyard. As careless servicemen weren't coming for days, Savo staged his death by drowning in the hole. Communal service sent three trucks while Savo was looking at them from the attic. A story of a small man who fought the system and won, only to become a huge YouTube hero afterwards.

Comedy legend Martin Lawrence returns to the stand-up stage for a night of impressions and insight on everything from sex, relationships and President Obama, to Bill Cosby, Hollywood and more. Filmed live at LA's Orpheum Theatre.

A whimsical yet serious-minded look into the future sponsored by the appliance and radio manufacturer Philco-Ford. In the "1999 House of Tomorrow", each family member's activities are enabled by a central computer and revolve around products remarkably similar to those made by the sponsor. Power comes from a self-contained fuel cell which supports environmental controls, an automatic cooking system, and a computer-assisted "education room".

Off-camera, a Western traveler tells us of hearing singing from his hotel window in Bombay. He searches for the source, and discovers a caste of street performers, eking out a modest living. We see individuals and groups, old and young, snake charmers and those hired to sing at family celebrations. A few talk about their lives and refute accusations of kidnapping lodged against the caste. A troupe of women sing at a party for a pregnant woman - they are saucy and blunt, encouraging and sisterly.

A documentary about avant-garde composer Harry Partch.

This short documentary, shot in July 1976 at the Mannes College of Music on Manhattan's Upper East Side, marks the first collaboration between Merchant Ivory Films and composer Richard Robbins, who would go on to provide the musical scores for nearly all Merchant Ivory films. Later in 1976, 'Sweet Sounds' was shown at the New York and London Film Festivals. It was also broadcast on PBS.

Ivory's initial effort as a filmmaker was Venice: Theme and Variations, a documentary made as his master's thesis at the USC film school that, although only 28 minutes long, is rich in composition and aesthetic texture.