Jazz Is My Native Language: A Portrait of Toshiko Akiyoshi (1983)

Let's Get Lost

Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.

Sparni

It’s the second semester of junior year for Pierce “Sparni” Sparnroft, a gifted jazz vibraphonist studying at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Sparni’s prospects on the vibes were rejuvenated by their new professor, the world-renowned Steve Nelson, and are to be showcased during a student-driven recital in May 2023. But all the while, Sparni must face a crisis within.

Keiko Kishi, Eternally Rebellious

Born in 1932, Keiko Kishi has been one of the first Japanese actresses known worldwide. Her decision to move to France and to marry director Yves Ciampi in 1957 – after he filmed her in Typhoon Over Nagasaki starring Jean Marais and Danielle Darrieux – caused a huge scandal in Japan. Despite this transgression, Keiko Kishi continued acting in her home country with Kon Ichikawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Masaki Kobayashi… building unique bridges between Japanese and European cultures. Free and rebellious, she emancipated herself from the many obstacles she encountered in the film industry, and created her own production company in her early twenties. Let’s look back at the story of a pioneer, an inspiration for many generations.

Piano Blues

Director — and piano player — Clint Eastwood explores his life-long passion for piano blues, using a treasure trove of rare historical footage in addition to interviews and performances by such living legends as Pinetop Perkins and Jay McShann, as well as Dave Brubeck and Marcia Ball.

Passing the Torch

Passing the Torch documents a ninety year old Jazz master, Jimmy Heath, mentoring teenage musicians with a thirst for knowledge and an appreciation of America's homegrown art form, Jazz. Director Bret Primack captures Heath's gentle, humorous sharing of life lessons and the non-threatening way he guides aspiring artists to musical excellence. An esteemed mentor, Mr. Heath reaches a much younger generation by understanding his role, to be dependable, engaged, authentic, and finely tuned to their needs.

The Fabulous Baker Boys

The lives of two struggling musicians, who happen to be brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer.

Fire Music

Although the free jazz movement of the 1960s and '70s was much maligned in some jazz circles, its pioneers - brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane - are today acknowledged as central to the evolution of jazz as America's most innovative art form. FIRE MUSIC showcases the architects of a movement whose radical brand of improvisation pushed harmonic and rhythmic boundaries, and produced landmark albums like Coleman's Free Jazz: A Collective Inspiration and Coltrane's Ascension. A rich trove of archival footage conjures the 1960s jazz scene along with incisive reflections by critic Gary Giddins and a number of the movement's key players.

Streetlight Opus

When two buskers find themselves situated on the same busy street corner, a musical battle ensues when the musicians realise that the lively city isn't big enough for the both of them

Jazz session: Dizzy Gillepsie en concert au studio 104 - 1970

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Jazz Legends: Charles Mingus & Eric Dolphy - 1964

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Cold Trumpet

Chet Baker silently wanders through an Antonioniesque landscape in a Felliniesque state of wonderment as his improvised trumpet solos alternate between earnestly offering the obvious and mocking the artiness of the whole affair.

Stray

An orphaned teenager forms an unlikely friendship with a detective. Together they investigate her mother's murder, and uncover the supernatural force that proves to be a threat to her family.

Geisha Assassin

One rainy night in the Edo period, Kotono (a geisha) confronts samurais who killed her father. The samurais attack her one after another, but she fights hard against samurais with her sword. Kotono tries to chase the samurais who scramble to escape. Yet now three ninjas stand up against her. Kotono drops her sword by their wave of assaults. Can she beat them?

The Karate Kid Part II

Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, even if it means the destruction of their village. Daniel finds his own love in Yukia's niece, Kumiko, and his own enemy in Sato's nephew, the vicious Chozen. Now, far away from the tournaments, cheering crowds and safety of home, Daniel will face his greatest challenge ever when the cost of honor is life itself.

Nurse Diary: Beast Afternoon

A doctor develops a new scientific breakthrough in female psychotherapy with the discovery of the “Dream Ring,” a device that is inserted into a woman to record her thoughts and dreams. But, one dark and stormy night, the doctor and his assistant end up dead… hanging by ropes from the rafters of their lab. The lovely Reiko suffers from a condition known as “genophobia” (the fear of sexual intercourse), so she is admitted to the Tachibana Clinic for observation. Another group of doctors have the “Dream Ring” device and use it on Reiko to analyze her wildly erotic, and violent, dreams and nightmares. The clinic doctors have more sinister reasons to test this device on Reiko, however, and secretly put her under hypnosis so that the ring is activated at any time she hears the sound of a bell. Can she escape the evil doctors’ experiment and, even if she does, who is that strange person, dressed all in black, following her around?

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror

Your favourite teddy bear. That model kit that took so long to complete. The picture book you used to read over and over again. The shining stone you found that day in the park. Where do all your childhood's treasures go when you grow up? In this story, we meet fantastic creatures that gather all these little objects that fall into oblivion as they are forgotten by their owners when they step into adulthood. These creatures sneak into our world from a different dimension, and unseen by humans, they take all the ditched and forgotten "treasures" into their world. Here, they use their booty to build their own city, a fairy tale-like place called... Oblivion Island!

truth: 1 Night, 1 Room, 3 Baddest Bitches

A Japan-set battle-royale comedy over a vial of sperm is centered around three women on the verge of a nervous breakdown from hearing their biological clock ticking away: a doctor and manager of a sperm bank, Sana Kobayashi, a single mother, Maron Kuribayashi, and an alluring receptionist, Mayumi Kujō. Unknowingly, the three shared a beloved partner and a sperm donor, Makoto, but lost him in a sudden accident. The night of Makoto's funeral they are shocked to discover each other in his room. In a rage of screaming, thrashing, and boasting about their own sexual prowess with Makoto, more fierce emotions erupt once Sana's plan to self-inseminate is exposed, but this leads to unexpected consequences. They affirm their real love for Makoto and reveal his true wishes.

Prelude Maison Ikkoku: When the Cherry Blossoms Return in the Spring

Kyoko Otonashi is a 22-year-old widow. Six months have passed since the sudden death of her husband, Soichiro. In her resolve to move on, she has recently taken over the management of a boarding house owned by her father-in-law. She now finds herself reminiscing about the few seasons that she and Soichiro had together, and about the first time that she saw him: when he became her geology teacher during her final year of high school. This prequel is the third and final OVA released after the conclusion of MAISON IKKOKU, an animated series based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi. The past events are retold through flashback sequences using scenes from the television series, with narration by Sumi Shimamoto as Kyoko.

Gun Crazy: Episode 1: A Woman from Nowhere

A mysterious stranger comes into a lawless town run by a kingpin and starts shooting up the place.

Gun Crazy: Episode 2: Beyond the Law

An idealistic young lawyer whose faith in the law is rocked when she is unable to prevent a rapist from walking free. Her disillusionment of the judicial system is complete when her next case goes disastrously wrong, her corrupt boss is killed by her disappointed gangster clients, and she only narrowly escapes the same fate when a gun-toting stranger bursts into the office and shoots the men dead.

Recently, My Sister is Unusual

Mitsuki and Yuya become stepsister and stepbrother because of their parents' marriage. Mitsuki can't get along with her new family and Yuya doesn't know how to approach his new stepsister. One day, Mitsuki becomes possessed by the spirit of Hiyori. Hiyori likes Yuya and believes Yuya can help her get to heaven. Hiyori places a leather chastity belt upon on Mitsuki and a plan takes place to help send Hiyori to heaven.

La Petite Mort 2: Nasty Tapes

Follow the owners of the infamous "Maison de la petite mort" during their daily work. After the shocking events in part one, you'll never guess what the new owner Monsieur Matheo Maximè is up to. Torturing for money at it's very - worst.

Gothic & Lolita Psycho

Yuki lives at home in peace until one day a unit of assassins breaks in and kill her mother. In order to revenge herself Yuki becomes a demon of vengeance by donning gothic lolita clothing, using a parasol as a deadly weapon, and executing the guilty in God's name.

Dixieland Droopy

John Pettibone (Droopy), a dog whose love of Dixieland music is not appreciated by those around him, has a lucky meeting with Pee-Wee Runt and his All-Flea Dixieland band at the circus.

Beautiful Breasts Serenade: Erotic Fair Skin

At night, Luna after taking a bath is humming the Scottish folk song "Hometown Sky". In front of her eyes, wearing dark make-up and dressed again, there was a picture of three middle-aged men stuck on the wall ...

Rent-a-Cat

A young woman who rents out cats to lonely old folks finds her life turned upside down when a young man from her past shows back up in her life.

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.

Ushi Must Marry

Ushi Hirosaki has to marry according to Japanese tradition before her 30th birthday. Because time is running out, her family decides she has to marry a huge sumo wrestler. A rather unfortunate combination, so Ushi wants to look for a nicer candidate herself. She travels halfway around the world to find her dream husband. Along the way she does valiant efforts, for example to learn table manners and to lose her Japanese accent.

Living on Tokyo Time

When her visa expires, a young Japanese immigrant in San Francisco agrees to marry a Japanese-American boy to avoid being deported back to Japan.

Tokyo Stray Girls

A timid young woman who lives with her domineering mother accepts an Adult Video scout's offer to "become somebody else" by performing in porn videos. As she rises in popularity, the boundaries between her two lives begin to disintegrate.

Cherry Blossoms & Demons

When everything in his life seems to be going wrong, downtrodden and alcohol-dependent Karl has a fateful encounter in Munich with Yu, a mysterious Japanese dancer from his father’s past. Unexpectedly, Yu begins to help Karl confront his demons (both literal and figurative) and begin to heal.

Malice

Keo Sinn and her university friends find themselves tormented by the ancient curse of the vengeful Nu Gui. As the malevolent spirit unleashes havoc, Keo is forced to confront her haunting past and unravel a tragic connection to the malignant figure known as Malice. Secrets will be unearthed and the boundaries of reality will blur in this harrowing tale of revenge. Brace yourself for a journey into the realm of supernatural obsession.

Guinea

Yukari Nishihara, 25, earns her living as an art model and aspires to become an actress. One day, while she was out, she saw “a man's face about to jump off the roof of a building”, and since then she has been suffering from a peculiar constitution: she sees a suicide while on her period, faints, and develops a fever. The goddess of love does not smile on Yukari, who is unable to become a sweet girl with a nice boyfriend. The only things that can save Yukari now are her best friend Hana, who has a keen intuition, and a suppository that can break a fever in one shot. On the day of an important audition, Yukari has decided that this is her last chance. However, Yukari realizes that she has forgotten her antipyretic suppositories, and her eyes meet those of another soon-to-be suicide victim. She is in a desperate situation. What does Yukari do?

The Dates

At a romantic dinner, a couple begins to observe the table next to them, as they suspect a killer is lurking. But first, they need to reach a consensus. Is he really a killer?

Das Amulett

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Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez

“Working-class Latino hood, crossed with crazy artist, crossed with left-wing radical,” so the legendary underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez is described in this intimate portrait by his wife, Emmy-nominated filmmaker Susan Stern.

Edu Falaschi - Temple of Shadows in Concert

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Beijing 2008 Olympic Closing Ceremony

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CMA Country Christmas 2017

Country Music queen Reba McEntire will debut as host for the eighth annual “CMA Country Christmas” event from Nashville’s famed Grand Ole Opry House on Monday, November 27, 2017 on ABC. The two-hour holiday music celebration airs on the ABC Television Network and will feature performances by McEntire and a lineup of today’s best in Country sharing their favorite sounds of the season.

Vaudeville Days

A narrator provides very brief info on the beginnings and history of Vaudeville while Vaudeville acts are staged by impersonators and contemporary performers.

Drain The Ocean: WWII

What lies beneath the ocean? World War Two left a great number of ships and submarines hidden beneath the waves. Now, as the oceans drain, each vessel reveals its secrets through new data-based 3D reconstructions. From the Arizona in Pearl Harbour’s shallows, whose destruction brought America into the war, to Nazi super ship the Bismarck and its mysterious end three miles down. From the flaming merchant ships secretly torpedoed by U-boats off tourist beaches of the USA, to the covert inventions of the Allies' costly D-Day beachhead, and lastly to the troopship Leopoldville sunk with the needless deaths of 400 soldiers. Drain The Ocean exposes the truth.

16 Shots

Documentary examining the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke and the cover-up that ensued.

My Name Is Violeta

Violeta leads a normal life in a well-off family, with loving parents, surrounded by everything the heart of an eleven-year-old girl might wish for. But she hasn’t always been the pretty girl she is today; she was born a boy. At age 6, she baffled her parents (the famous adult movie stars Nacho Vidal and Franceska Jaimes) when she told them she wanted to be called and dress as a girl. After the initial shock, they decided to give her all their support on the long and tough road that will lead to her becoming a woman someday. Violeta faces many challenges, medical (such as deciding whether or not to take hormone-blockers to stop the development of masculine features as soon as puberty kicks in) and legal (obtaining an ID card with her new name and gender). Later, she may consider getting a sex reassignment procedure, or the possibility of becoming a mother through adoption.

Introduction to the End of an Argument

This highly kinetic tableaux of uprooted sights and sounds works most earnestly to expose the racial biases concealed in familiar images. Relying on valuable snippets from feature films such as "Exodus", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Black Sunday", "Little Drummer Girl", and network news shows, the filmmakers have constructed an oddly wry narrative, mimicking the history of Mid East politics.

Kaleidoscope

A photographer and a filmmaker challenge each other to shoot—one to photograph the other to film—two young actresses, one from Tokyo, the other from the countryside. The photographer seeks naturalism in his compositions, and Kawase observes and comments on his work. The competition between the photographer, the filmmaker, and the actresses creates a charged atmosphere.

Tumsa Nahin Dekha: A Love Story

Charming and continually drunk millionaire sees a woman on the street and falls madly in love with her, she works as a striptease dancer and has a mentally handicapped brother. They fall in love, but he unfortunately has to marry someone else.

Up in Central Park

A newspaper reporter and the daughter of an immigrant maintenance man help expose political corruption in New York City.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

High Fidelity

After his long-time girlfriend dumps him, a thirty-year-old record store owner seeks to understand why he is unlucky in love while recounting his "top five breakups of all time".

Shrutilayalu

The film revolves around Naidu, a Carnatic musician whose adopted sons become popular performers in the city. In their success, they disrespect their father and lose sight of his original ambition of building a music academy. Years later, Sita, the daughter-in-law of Naidu, brings these souls on track.

The Legend of Kingdom Come

This feature documentary is an origin story about the beloved 90s-era graphic novel Kingdom Come, going behind the scenes and inside the mind of its creator: comic book legend Alex Ross.