As if directing a science-fiction film, Johana Ožvold dissects the story of electronic music. From the pioneer sound engineers working behind the Iron Curtain, through the French avant-garde composers, up to the post-modern creators of digital sonic artefacts, the first-time filmmaker summons an abstract landscape that is haunting and yet achingly beautiful. A voice appears from old television screens forgotten in the maze of some futuristic archive where past and future seem to coexist in a complex and multi-layered way.
SubBerlin - Underground United (2008)
The original Tresor was in many ways the quintessential Berlin club: located in an unrenovated vault beneath a bombed out department store, it opened its doors amidst the general confusion and ecstasy that swept across the city when the wall fell. Its low ceilings, industrial decor and generally unhinged atmosphere created an unprecedented platform not only for techno in Berlin, but also for the scene taking shape across the Atlantic in Detroit.
Intellect: Techno House Progressive (2003)
Documentary about the hard working DJs and producers who have brought electronic dance music to the forefront of nightlife around the world. Featuring over 35 world class artists from Derrick Carter to Paul Van Dyk.
Electronic Vibrations: A Sound Changes the World (2022)
The amazing story of electronic music: its epic journey from its origins in Europe, at the hands of the great artists of the post-war classical avant-garde, to the great post-industrial cities of the USA, where this genre of genres took over music stores, shady clubs and, eventually, the big stages.
Discovering Electronic Music: Revised (1983)
A short educational documentary on early electronic composition and synthesizers.
Europe in 8 Bits (2013)
The stars of Europe's ascendant chip music movement demonstrate the repurposing of old videogame and home computer hardware like Nintendo's GameBoy and NES, Atari's ST, and Commodore's Amiga and C64 into tools by which they have created a new sound, a modern tempo and an innovative musical style.
Revolution of Sound - Tangerine Dream (2017)
‘Tangerine Dream is science fiction!’ declares band leader Edgar Froese who died in January, 2015 aged 70. For almost fifty years he and his band ‘Tangerine Dream’ explored sound and its effect on our emotions. This film about one of Germany’s first electronic bands kicks off with the young Berlin musicians who were as inspired by the space age of the 1960s, with its rocket launchings and visions of the future, as they were by their own heartbeat, on which Froese also based compositions. Aided by the Moog and other synthesisers Froese (and various band members) revolutionised popular music. His explorations took him into the worlds of classical, new and film music. He preferred to visualise moods rather than create clearly structured songs. A blend of amateur footage, interviews with band members, relatives, friends and colleagues such as Jean-Michel Jarre that creates a comprehensive portrait of an artistic pioneer.
COOCUYO (2017)
COOCUYO. To quote a Cuban comedian: “where does the Cocuyo hide its battery?”, just thanks to its peculiarity, Desiderio uses this cockroach as a perfect metaphor to describe his protagonists: with their green lights during the night and virtually impossible to find during the day. In his movie, he tries to find the battery of the Cocuyo living and looking for the “day-time” part, creating a path made by portraits and with an anti-narrative style. These scenes are far away from the Electronic music, or partly at least; all in a very natural context and without a defined screenplay. http://www.coocuyo.com/
Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution (2008)
Kraftwerk's vision of a keyboard-driven world of clicking metronomic rhythms and digitised sound bites may have been the stuff of avant fantasy in the 1970s (the decade that saw the band's first groundbreaking albums), but it is a reality in the new millennium. Their visionary style is explored in KRAFTWERK AND THE ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION, a study of the group, their career and their emergence as the most influential electronic band in the world.
I'm Tryna Tell Ya (2014)
A documentary of Chicago Footwork and Juke scene. "In spring 2012 We went to Chicago to document the Footwork Scene. When we got home and started reviewing the footage we realised we had just filmed our first full length documentary. A scene ingrained in the lineage of the City itself, filled with effervescent dancers, storytellers and beatmakers. It was singlehandedly the most unique and in-depth tour we had ever experienced. Featuring key players on the scene, such as DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn, Manny, Traxman & Arpebu. The team navigated through the Windy City living with the GHETTOTEKNITIANZ of Teklife. They slept on floors, sofas and in dodgy motels with their charming hosts. All the while managing to obtain un-seen footage from the finest Producers, Footworkers and the good people of Chi-Town. It’s taken our team a long and painstaking while to put this together. We hope to do the people who shared their homes, talent and ultimately their lives with us, proud."
72 hours ... And Valencia was the city (2008)
Documentary that addresses the phenomenon known as the "destroy route" or the "bakalao route" that placed the city of Valencia in the social and musical vanguard of the late 80s and early 90s.
Clara Rockmore: The Greatest Theremin Virtuosa (1998)
Quite simply the finest theremin player who has ever lived, Clara Rockmore began her performing life as a violin prodigy at the age of 5 years old, still the youngest person ever admitted to the prestigious Imperial Conservatory of Saint Petersburg where she studied under the great Leopold Auer. Due to childhood malnutrition causing bone problems in her teen years, she was forced to give up the violin and moved to New York City in the mid 1920's where she met and became involved with Russian electronics genius Leon Theremin and helped him to refine and perfect his new instrument, giving advice from the standpoint of a musical performer to make the theremin more playable and developing her own hand techniques and exercises for playing the instrument.
OHM+: The Early Gurus Of Electronic Music : 1948–1980 (2005)
Over two hours of rare performances, interviews, animations, and experimental video. Milton Babbit’s discussion of the difficulties of working with archaic synthesizers in the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in the 1950s and ’60s is a firm reminder of just how foreign electronic sounds were to even the academic community only 40 years ago. Likewise, Paul Lansky’s private lesson with theremin inventor Leon Theremin is an example of how non-user friendly electronic musical instruments could be, even to people who should have the best sense of how to approach them.
Speaking in Code (2009)
Shot in 11 cities and 5 countries, Speaking in Code provides a glimpse into the world of electronic dance music through the eyes of Modeselektor, the Wighnomy Brothers, Philip Sherburne, Monolake and David Day. Director Amy Grill documents their successes and failures over a three-year period.
Reformat the Planet (2008)
'Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet' is a feature length documentary which delves into the movement known as ChipTunes, a vibrant underground scene based around creating new, original music using old video game hardware. Familiar devices such as the Nintendo Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System are pushed in new directions with startling results. Using New York as a microcosm for a larger global movement, 'Reformat the Planet' maps out the genesis of the first annual Blip Festival, a four day celebration of over 30 international artists exploring the untapped potential of low-bit video game consoles. With floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melodies, trailblazers of the ChipTune idiom descend upon Manhattan to pen a new chapter in the history of electronic music.
Berliner Trance (1993)
This lost classic, shot on 16mm in a wintry Berlin in 1993, explores the origins of the German trance scene. Featuring interviews with fresh-faced selectors including Laurent Garnier and MFS Records founder Mark Reeder, the documentary also feature footage from the city's iconic Love Parades in 1991 and 1993.
Shiny Toy Guns - Setting Sun: Live in San Diego (2014)
Alt. rockers Shiny Toy Guns perform to a sold-out crowd at the Belly Up tavern on the last stop of their 2014 summer tour. See the band performing some of their biggest hits including 'Le Disko' and 'You Are The One', along with fan favourites from their latest album 'III'.
Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock (Part I) (2019)
The fourth in a series of feature-length documentaries about Progressive rock written and directed by Adele Schmidt and José Zegarra Holder. Krautrock, Part 1 focuses on German progressive rock, popularly known as Krautrock, from in and around the Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg regions of Germany. Artist featured include Kraftwerk, Neu, Can, Faust and others.
Jungle Mania (2013)
This work by indie filmmaker Ikon documents 20 Years of Jungle Mania, a rave held on 6 April 2013 at the Coronet Theatre in London. The event celebrated and commemorated 20 years of drum and bass music in London dance culture. In addition to coverage of the live performances and the crowd, the film features interviews with reknowned drum and bass DJs and producers who performed that night.
Keyboard Fantasies (2021)
As a sci-fi obsessed woman living in near isolation, Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote and self-released Keyboard Fantasies in Huntsville, Ontario back in 1986. Recorded in an Atari-powered home-studio, the cassette featured seven tracks of a curious folk-electronica hybrid, a sound realized far before its time. Three decades on, the musician – now Glenn Copeland – began to receive emails from people across the world, thanking him for the music they’d recently discovered.