This is Poe and Král's first effort, shot on small-gauge stock, before their more well-known endeavor The Blank Generation (1976) came to be. A "DIY" portrait of the New York music scene, the film is a patchwork of footage of numerous rock acts performing live, at venues like Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the dive bars of Greenwich Village and, of course, CBGB.
Bugsy Malone (1976)
New York, 1929, a war rages between two rival gangsters, Fat Sam and Dandy Dan. Dan is in possession of a new and deadly weapon, the dreaded "splurge gun". As the custard pies fly, Bugsy Malone, an all-round nice guy, falls for Blousey Brown, a singer at Fat Sam's speakeasy. His designs on her are disrupted by the seductive songstress Tallulah who wants Bugsy for herself.
¡Al fútbol! (1975)
Any given Sunday of 1974 in Spain, soccer games in several stadiums, the sarcastic voice of commentators, the inevitable presence of advertising. Goal! The victors and the defeated.
Grunge Pedal (1993)
Starring Vehicle for Free Kitten. Kim Gordon, Julie Cafritz, & Mark Ibold lounge on suburban lawns, jamming a guitar effects box & Japanese beat boxes. Thurston reads lyrics off Public Service (early 80's L.A. hardcore compilation), and Saccharine Trust's "Pagan Icons". Mark, in English accent, reads bio penned by Byron Coley.
Skeeno H.C. Rules (1991)
Sonic Youth play hockey arena w/ Neil Young in Reno, Nevada. Ten years earlier 7 Seconds recorded the earnest hardcore classic "Skins, Brains, & Guts" EP. The town was known as Skeeno. Audio recorded especially for the film by Society's Ills, a band consisting of Mike Watt (bass), Thurston (vocals), Dez Cadena (guitar), & David Markey (drums), who cover said EP.
Familiar Phantoms (2024)
Familiar Phantoms is an experimental documentary short film about memory, history and trauma.
Bad Hostage (2024)
In a investigation into the pernicious origins of Stockholm Syndrome, a thrilling family story intersects with a dramatic bank robbery in Sweden (1973) and the famous kidnapping of Patty Hearst (1974).
Glam, Sweat & Tears (2021)
Tears were formed in the small town of Katrineholm, Sweden, back in 1968. A band from the same era as Sweet, David Bowie and T-Rex. In the middle of the prog wave, the band chose to invest in an extroverted expression with make-up, glitter and spectacular stage shows. A unique band in Sweden of that time not only for how they looked but also for their sound. Nowadays, the members of Tears are older men, but it still happens that they put on make-up and take to the stage. Ola Salo (The Arc) is one of Tears biggest fans and speaks passionately about the band's history and glam rock in general.
Wake Up Punk (2022)
Joe Corré, son of punk visionaries Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, burns an estimated £5M worth of punk memorabilia protesting the commodification of punk. The film takes this incendiary act of ‘cultural terrorism’ and the questions it raised to explore the lifespan and true worth of punk - the 20th century's most volatile movement.
Rock Bottom (2024)
Inspired by the music and life of Robert Wyatt, “Rock Bottom” is a self-destructive love story between Bob and Alif, a young couple of artists immersed in the creative whirlwind of the early 70s hippie culture. Drugs will turn a passionate summer into a nightmare in a journey through the themes of Wyatt’s music: the euphoria and anguish of artistic creation, the unconscious fascination with drugs, the disenchantment with routine and physical and mental degradation.
Merrily We Roll Along (2013)
Franklin Shepard is a talented Broadway composer who abandons his theater career and all his friends in New York in order to produce films in Los Angeles. The story begins at the height of his Hollywood fame and moves backwards in time, showing snapshots of the most important moments in Frank’s life that shaped the man he is today.
Moments Like This Never Last (2021)
Dash Snow rejected a life of privilege to make his own way as an artist on the streets of downtown New York City in the late 1990s. Developing from a notorious graffiti tagger into an international art star, he documented his drug- and alcohol-fueled nights with the surrogate family he formed with friends and fellow artists Ryan McGinley and Dan Colen before his death by heroin overdose in 2009. Drawing from Snow’s unforgettable body of work and involving archival footage, Cheryl Dunn’s exceptional portrait captures his all-too-brief life of reckless excess and creativity.
Facing Fear (2013)
The worlds of a former neo-Nazi and the gay victim of his senseless hate crime attack collide by chance 25 years after the incident that dramatically shaped both of their lives. They proceed to embark on a journey of forgiveness that challenges both to grapple with their beliefs and fears, eventually leading to an improbable collaboration...and friendship.
Still Crazy (1998)
In the seventies Strange Fruit were it. They lived the rock lifestyle to the max, groupies, drugs, internal tension and an ex front man dead from an overdose. Even their demise was glamorous; when lightning struck the stage during an outdoor festival. 20 years on and these former rock gods they have now sunk deep into obscurity when the idea of a reunion tour is lodged in the head of Tony, former keyboard player of the Fruits. Tony sets out to find his former bandmates with the help of former manager Karen to see if they can recapture the magic and give themselves a second chance.
9 Songs (2004)
Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.
Shooting the Darkness (2019)
The testimony of the men who unwittingly became war photographers on the streets of their own towns in Northern Ireland, when violence erupted around them. Instead of photographing weddings and celebrities, as they expected, they produced the images that crudely show the suffering of ordinary people between 1968 and 1998, the worst years of the conflict.
Dr Tscharniblues (1979)
Bern, 1979: a tower block called Tscharnergut. A group of friends get together to make a film about their experiences growing up in suburban Switzerland.
Superchunk: Crowding Up Your Visual Field (2003)
Includes vintage Superchunk videos with commentary on the videos from the band and the directors, a documentary made by the band, interviews and live footage - you'll need a few days to get through all of it. Over four hours of material and all of it's essential.
The Knack: Getting The Knack (2004)
"Getting The Knack" chronicles the controversial career of power pop stars, The Knack. Viewers will witness a compelling tale of instant stardom and spectacular failure, a story marked by heroin addiction, alcohol abuse, vicious inner-band feuding and massive critical backlash. "Getting The Knack" explores the group's career via candid interviews with the original band, producers Mike Chapman and Jack Douglas, Sharona Alperin, (the inspiration behind their biggest hit), Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols, Rick Springfield, Elliot Easton of The Cars, Devo's Bob Mothersbaugh, comedian Weird Al Yankovic and many more. Narrated by Cherie Currie of The Runaways, "Getting the Knack" is augmented by scores of rare photos and previously unseen archival footage providing a no-holds barred look at the rise and fall and ultimate resurrection of the group.