Beyond the Grace Note (2020)

Conductivity

Conductivity is a film about creative leadership told through the story of three young conductors at the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland; I-Han Fu (Taiwan), Emilia Hoving (Finland) and James Kahane (France). When stepping on the podium, they are put under a magnifying glass. Conductor training, in essence, is leadership training. The film gives a unique viewpoint to follow the students, as this is the first film about conductor training at the Sibelius Academy.

Karajan: Beauty As I See It

With a career that includes a 35-year tenure as composer of the Berlin Philharmonic and record sales topping 200 million, Herbert von Karajan is one of the most legendary figures in 20th-century classical music. Comprised of archival footage, performance highlights and interviews with the likes of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Christa Ludwig and Seiji Ozawa, this retrospective chronicles the life and times of the iconic Austrian maestro.

Sex, Maracas & Chihuahuas

A joyful tale filled with music. The rise of radio. The jazz big bands. The legendary clubs and ballrooms. The soundtracks of the great musical films and TV shows. Sex and romance, gangsters, luxury cars and palm trees. From Barcelona to New York, with a stop in Cuba. The birth of Las Vegas. The sound of the maracas. Chihuahuas everywhere. The incredible life story of Xavier Cugat (1900-90).

The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past

Documentary about sixteen great conductors of the 20th century.

Jiří Bělohlávek: But I just love conducting so much

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Herbert von Karajan: Maestro for the Screen

Documentary on conductor Herbert van Karajan, focusing on his early adoption of audio and video recording technology and his impetus to make use of it to preserve his musical legacy for future generations.

Karajan: Portrait of a Maestro

An account of the life and work of controversial German orchestra conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908-89), celebrated as one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century.

The Conductor

Leonard Bernstein’s protégée Marin Alsop reveals how she smashed the glass ceiling to become an internationally renowned conductor.

Bach pour tous

A musical journey in the footsteps of conductor Michel Brun, an atypical character, an atheist, who nevertheless plays sacred music, and who devotes his life to Johann Sebastian Bach. With the musicians of the Ensemble Baroque de Toulouse.

Leonard Bernstein: A Genius Divided

One of the first US born conductors to receive worldwide fame, Leonard Bernstein is an exceptional composer and certainly not only due to The West Side Story. Instead of concentrating exclusively on his most famous work, Thomas von Steinaecker sets out to paint a complete picture of Bernstein. Thus, the documentary focusses on the American’s less known later works and on three compositions in particular: his Mass, the musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the great final opera A Quiet Place. The film paints a vivid picture of the multitalented Bernstein, struggling with his role as composer and conductor, tackling the tension between successes and flops, between the politics of his time and his own liberal humanitarian claim. It looks back on Bernstein’s major achievements, such as his acclaimed conducting of Mahler and his involvement in the Young People’s Concerts, and it shows Bernstein’s work with young aspiring musicians as well as his political commitment.

Muhai Tang - In The Ocean Of Music

MUHAI TANG – IN THE OCEAN OF MUSIC is a portrait of Chinese conductor Muhai Tang’s extraordinary life. Born in 1949, the founding year of the People’s Republic of China, and raised during the Cultural Revolution, it seemed as if he would have to abandon his dream of a career in music. However, his talent, perseverance and the support of Herbert von Karajan ultimately brought him to the world’s concert halls. Today, Muhai Tang is a global nomad. A wanderer between the worlds which he unites with music. His personal history, interspersed with historical caesurae, is typical for Chinese of his generation. He gained access to western culture early on through music. Muhai Tang’s life and work are exemplary of a changing China and the enrichment of the world by an artist between East and West.

Carmen Get It!

Jerry runs into the Metropolitan Opera, trying to evade Tom.

Dead Again

In 1949, composer Roman Strauss is executed for the murder of his wife. In 1990s Los Angeles, a detective comes across a mute amnesiac woman who is somehow linked to the Strauss murder.

The Castle of Sand

Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.

The Marching Band

Diagnosed with leukemia, a successful orchestra conductor learns that he is adopted, and his younger brother is in a village marching band. The conductor decides to help them win a regional contest.

Orchestra Rehearsal

An orchestra assembles for a rehearsal in an ancient chapel under the inquisitive eyes of a TV documentary crew, but an uprising breaks out.

Days of Happiness

Emma, a talented conductor and rising star on the Montreal scene, has a complicated relationship with her father and agent Patrick. She has to face up to her emotions and decide whether she wants to successfully combine her career with her love affair with Naëlle, a recently separated cellist and mother of a young son.

Hearts and Flowers

A flirtatious hotel orchestra leader provokes conflict.

Unfaithfully Yours

Before he left for a brief European visit, symphony conductor Sir Alfred De Carter casually asked his staid brother-in-law August to look out for his young wife, Daphne, during his absence. August has hired a private detective to keep tabs on her. But when the private eye's report suggests Daphne might have been canoodling with his secretary, Sir Alfred begins to imagine how he might take his revenge.

Fujimi Orchestra: Cold Front Conductor

Tonoin Kei, a musical genius, becomes the new conductor of Fujimi, clashing with the group's leader, Morimura Yuuki, who is unaware of Kei's feelings for him.

To Joy

Two violinists in the same orchestra fall in love and get married, but they can't get along.

The Hollywood Bowl

Tom is conducting a symphony at the Hollywood Bowl when Jerry comes out to co-conduct.

Maestro!

Due to the economic recession, the orchestra is shut down. The members hear later that the orchestra will be reformed. Only some of the members, who have not yet been rehired, gather for the orchestra. For the first time since they disbanded the orchestra plays together, but they sound horrible. At that time, the conductor Tetsusaburo Tendou appears in front of them.

A Singing Girl

A girl (Alice Babs) from the country moves to Stockholm to become a singer.

Hidden Face

Su-yeon, a cellist in an orchestra led by her fiancé and conductor Sung-jin, disappears one day, leaving behind only a video recording. Sung-jin is devastated over the loss of Su-yeon, but feels a strong attraction to Mi-ju, a cellist who fills in for his fiancée. Then one rainy night, Sung-jin and Mi-ju get swept away by their mutual desires for each other and commit an unforgivable act at Su-yeon’s house. Meanwhile, Su-yeon, who is thought to have gone missing, remains trapped in a secret room inside her house, and watches the naked truth unravel before her.

Break of Hearts

Constance, a poor but aspiring composer, meets the great conductor, Franz, through their old music teacher. They fall in love, despite Constance knowing about Franz's weakness for pretty women.

Maestro

An aspiring conductor finds himself in his dream position, conducting an orchestra that doesn't exist.

What the Fly !?

A lizard conductor leads his symphony orchestra when suddenly he encounters a noise that disturbs the course of his majestic work.

John Adams conducts John Adams

Like many of John Adams’ operas, Doctor Atomic is based on recent world historical events—here, the effusive Robert Oppenheimer, “father of the atomic bomb,” anxiously awaits the bomb’s first test in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Adams adapted the work into a symphony, comprising its three main acts. In the second half of the program, Adams conducts his 2015 violin concerto, Scheherazade.2, which restages the tale of the One Thousand and One Nights heroine as a strong woman navigating a patriarchial society, incarnated by the solo violin part. The work was composed specifically for Canadian-American virtuoso Leila Josefowicz and co-commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, who perform it to perfection. The evening then closes out with Tromba Lontana, an orchestral fanfare written to mark the 150th anniversary of Texas’s independence from Mexico in 1836.

Rambling 'Round Radio Row #5

The Happines Boys Billy Jones and Earnie Hare are invited to a party, but separate themselves from the rest of the guests, so they can not be urged to perform. However, they are watching the other guests from radio doing their stuff: song team Reece & Dunn, as well as the Funnyboners are singing, Smith Ballew and Frances Langford are exchanging love songs, Arthur Tracy tries his luck with a girl, just to find out that she prefers Bing Crosby and 4 orchestra leaders are trying to find out, who the best conductor is, by conducting a piece of recorded music....

Králové Šumavy

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Make Moravia Great Again

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Stanisław Lem: Autor Solaris

An account of the life and work of the Polish writer Stanisław Lem (1921-2006), a key figure in science fiction literature involved in mysteries and paradoxes that need to be enlightened.

Summerwar

Jasmin and Jastrip are both 12 years old and live in Kiev. Jasmin is a girl from a loving family, who wants to excel at all cost. Jastrip is a boy, who is neglected and simply wants to find a place where he is loved. They both visit the Azovez camp which aims to raise a new class of patriotic warriors for a Ukraine of tomorrow. There the kids learn how to be real Ukrainians, to fight, to shoot, to yell, to get orders and to give orders. And over time this changes them.

The Judge over the Czech Way

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Viva video, video viva

Today, analogue video is attractive primarily thanks to the distinctive aesthetic quality of its pixelated image and raster errors. But for Czech artists who first explored the possibilities offered by video art in the late 1980s, this medium represented a path towards freedom. Through a portrait of her grandfather Radek Pilař, one of the pioneers of Czech video art, the director explores her own legacy of imperative creative fascination. Her film’s main story, i.e., the process of reconstructing the 1989 exhibition Video Day, contrasts this enchantment with life in the final days of the totalitarian regime, which different sharply with the adventures of those who decided to emigrate – whom the filmmaker also visits in order to discover forgotten works, get to know their creators, and re-establish broken ties.

Ztracený břeh

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Lorena: Light-Footed Woman

A young woman of the Tarahumara, well-known for their extraordinary long distance running abilities, wins ultramarathons seemingly out of nowhere despite running in sandals.

Match 64: The Maracanã

A documentary following the day life of fans in Brazil on July 13, 2014: the day when Germany and Argentina met up in the finals of FIFA World Cup.

Giocondo Dias – Ilustre Clandestino

The documentary portrays the life of Bahian communist leader Giocondo Dias, the left-wing activist who lived two thirds of his life in hiding and led the PCB party as general secretary.

José Aparecido de Oliveira – O Maior Mineiro do Mundo

Documentary that chronicles the trajectory of the journalist, federal deputy, secretary of state, minister of state, governor and ambassador José Aparecido de Oliveira, who lived with the greatest authorities and personalities from the political, business and cultural circles in Brazil and the world.

Batalha

At the eastern end of the city of São Paulo, poetry is a reality.

Behind the Blood

Seen through the eyes of a priest, a crime reporter and a hitman, this documentary examines the thin line between good and evil in one of the most dangerous cities in the world: San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Le avventure del lupo

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Psyched Out

A documentary about psychedelics and psychedelic experiences