B4MD tells the story of American music at this precarious moment. Filmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen traveled the country, hoping to understand why mainstream music seems so packaged and repetitive, and whether corporations really had the power to silence musical innovation. The answers they found on this journey are what makes B4MD both riveting and exciting.
Boujad: A Nest in the Heat (1992)
Boujad: A Nest In the Heat is a personal and anguishing look at issues of separation, independence and return. As director Hakim Belabbes chronicles his journey from his home in Chicago to visit his family in his hometown of Boujad in Morocco, his exploration of family relationships is self-conscious and at times painfully honest. We witness his most private moments with his family. Belabbes' film intimately explores the domestic spaces and religious rituals of intra-family relationships, especially when compounded by one member's break with traditional values.
Billy the Kid (2007)
"I'm not black, I'm not white, not foreign, just different in the mind. Different brains, that's all," explains 15-year-old Billy in Jennifer Venditti's provocative coming of age film. Following Billy as he bicycles through the quiet streets of small town Maine, we watch him traverse the frustrating gap between imagination and reality, grappling with isolation and first-time young love. By turns exhilarating and disturbing, we see the world from the intimate view of an expressive and seemingly fearless outsider.
The Dungeon Masters (2008)
The Dungeon Masters explores the subculture of role-playing games, specifically Dungeons & Dragons, which for over 30 years has offered gamers the chance to escape their mundane lives and participate in a world they might otherwise never experience. Popularity and power are based on creativity and imagination rather than social status or wealth, and success is based not on who you know but on what you do.
Big Time (1988)
Bringing his unique sense of humor to this bizarre and original piece of moviemaking, Tom Waits takes the audience through a musical journey with his jazzy, quirky, bluesy tunes presented as you would never, ever, ever expect.
...So Goes the Nation (2006)
A look at the role of the Buckeye State in the 2004 Presidential Election.
Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare (2017)
A filmmaker's lifelong dream quickly becomes his worst nightmare when he attempts to make a low budget horror film about an aborted fetus that seeks revenge on its family.
Old Partner (2009)
An elderly farmer lives out his final days with his wife and a loyal ox in the Korean countryside.
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2009)
Produced by Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine for MTV and Dickhouse Productions, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is a documentary about the renowned West Virginia outlaw Jesco White and his eccentric backwoods family. In addition to getting in trouble with the law, the Whites, who live deep within Appalachia, uphold a time-honored dancing style, even as they contend with poverty, drugs and other issues. Alternately humorous and sad, the movie is an unflinching look at life on the criminal margins of rural mountain culture.
My Country, My Country (2006)
The director follows a Sunni Arab doctor as he prepares to run for the early 2005 elections in Iraq.
Playing Columbine (2008)
Chronicles the history of the game "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!." The film traces back the 16-bit role-playing game to its inception, through the 2006 shooting at Dawson College in which the game was singled out by the media as a "murder simulator" that "trained" the shooter, and finally the game's removal from the list of finalists at the Slamdance 2007 Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition - prompting half the entries and a sponsor to pull out of the festival in protest. Written by tolka
Pittsburgh (2006)
Jeff Goldblum put his Hollywood actor life on hold to star alongside his new girlfriend in a Pittsburgh regional theater production of The Music Man. Co-directors Bradley and LaBrache tread a surprisingly elegant line between genuine documentary and outright self-parody improv in this deliciously deadpan comedy.
The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver's Wife (1991)
From award-winning director Nick Broomfield, The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver's Wife documents Broomfield's efforts to interview Eugene Terre'Blanche, leader of the sinister neo-nazi AWB Afrikaner Party in South Africa. Cameras capture awkward interactions with skittish AWB supporters, combat training of militant youth, and the coveted interview itself. Broomfield's access to these events is made possible by the leader's driver, whose wavering allegiance to the movement is explored as well.
Unmistaken Child (2009)
In Nepal, a venerable monk, Geshe Lama Konchog, dies and one of his disciples, a youthful monk named Tenzin Zopa, searches for his master's reincarnation. The film follows his search to the Tsum Valley where he finds a young boy of the right age who uncannily responds to Konchog's possessions. Is this the reincarnation of the master? After the boy passes several tests, Tenzin takes him to meet the Dali Lama. Will the parents agree to let the boy go to the monastery, and, if so, how will the child respond? Central to the film is the relationship the child develops with Tenzin.
High School Record (2005)
Four awkward 17-year-olds struggle through their senior year. Like most high school students, they ride a continual wave of embarrassment: crappy after-school jobs, attempted sex in the science room, tinfoil shorts, guitar-strumming hippie teachers and brushes with the law. The only difference is that their moments of humiliation are caught on tape--our gang of four are the subjects of a documentary shot by fellow classmates.
Google Me (2007)
Jim Killeen googled his own name and made a documentary about the men with whom he shares it.
VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media (2016)
This lively documentary explores the rise and fall of physical media from the origin of film all the way through the video store era into digital media, focusing on B-movie and cult films. With icons like Joe Bob Briggs (MonsterVision), Lloyd Kaufman (Toxic Avenger), Greg Sestero (The Room), Debbie Rochon (Return to Nuke 'Em High), Deborah Reed (Troll 2), Mark Frazer (Samurai Cop), James Nguyen (Birdemic) and many others.
Lumière & Company (1995)
40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes.
2012: Time for Change (2010)
2012: Time For Change is a documentary feature that presents ways to transform our unsustainable society into a regenerative planetary culture. This can be achieved through a personal and global change of consciousness and the systemic implementation of ecological design.
The Short Films of David Lynch (2002)
This collection of David Lynch's short films cover the first 29 years of his career. Each film is given a special introduction by the director himself. His earliest underground films Six Figures Getting Sick (1966), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970) and The Amputee (1974) are showcased as well as two requisitioned works well into his successful career The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988) and his addition for Lumière and Company (1995).
Cirque du Soleil: LoveSick (2008)
This fascinating reality program exposes the ups and downs of a group of Cirque du Soleil performers as they put together "Zumanity," a new, highly erotic show in Las Vegas. Filmed over two years, Lovesick follows the diverse group of artists -- coy Cuban stripper Alex, feisty New York drag queen Joey, stylish British dancer Laetitia and debutante princess Jonel -- along with Creation Director Andrew and Spymonkey, the outrageous clown quartet.