Accordion Tribe: Music Travels (2004)

Lisbon Beat

A journey through Lisbon’s suburbs through the lives of a handful of musicians establishing their place to exist in a city of complex identity struggles. Different generations and backgrounds meet, Angola to São Tome, Cabo Verde and Guine Bissau represented by old musicians and young producers.

Coragem

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Two Trains Runnin'

The search of several young, white men for blues singers who have been missing for decades coincides with the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1960s.

Kill Hitler

This 140-minute documentary takes a close look at the story and historical context of a young Swiss man who was beheaded during WW II for supposedly wanting to kill Hitler. The man's family cannot help clarify the issue since they say he had been pro-Nazi earlier. Other injustices or puzzling omissions come to the fore, such as a German who was against Hitler, survived torture by the SS, and then was not given any state aid when peace was restored. Another sequence shows an extensive U.S. archive of materials that identifies many Nazis and their activities -- but is not available to anyone trying to track down former war criminals. Like other films of this type, the documentary helps to fill in facts about WW II that are little-known, or slow in coming out.

Melody of Noise

The film accompanies musicians who have devoted themselves to new, uncharted sounds with a great deal of passion. They build new instruments and work with quotidian noises. In the process, the ostensible noise often becomes sound. An adventurous journey of discovery into the realm of noises and sounds, rhythms and stillness. Together with people who listen closely and without reservation. A film that aims to engage viewers to listen with their eyes and see with their ears. Astonishingly sublime.

Katy Perry: MTV Unplugged

MTV Unplugged offered an unusual opportunity to showcase Katy Perry's work in an exposed, undercooked way and to reveal just how much of the real her had been part of that flashy presentation. Recorded in New York on July 22, 2009, Katy picked five cuts from One Of The Boys, an unreleased song, and a cover of 2003’s “Hackensack,” by Fountains Of Wayne, to perform in front of a small studio audience.

Father's Garden: The Love of My Parents

The father tends his large garden with the utmost precision. The mother irons shirts and regrets that the father never wears T-shirts. The father likes order, always knows best, and has everything under control. The mother prays and talks of her loneliness. The two are fundamentally different, have opposing views and interests, and have been married for 62 years. Closely knit yet poles apart: this is the ambivalent standpoint from which Peter Liechti turns his lens on his elderly parents and the story of their marriage. Alongside conversations that shift from slapstick to insanity and observations of daily life in his parents’ cramped, lower middle class apartment, a puppet theatre is also established as a second location. This forms the stage for scenes between mother and father to be reenacted by rabbit puppets; as a puppet, the son can also react in explosive fashion.

Zen for Nothing

Hidden in the wooded mountains on the west coast of Japan lies the small Zen monastery Antaiji. A young woman sets off to immerse herself through autumn, winter and spring in the adventures of monastic life. The young woman is Sabine Timoteo from Switzerland. The abbot of the monastery is Muho Noelke, born in Berlin. An interplay between the philosophy of the Japanese Zen master Kodo Sawaki and the surprises brought forth by everyday life.

La Traversée

Every summer, many people transit by sea between France and Algeria, between Marseille and Algiers. Cars loaded to the hood... packages of all kinds... men loaded with bags and stories. At sea, we are no longer in France and not yet in Algeria, and vice versa. From the singular confines of the boat, in the back and forth and the parenthesis of the journey, the crossing puts back in the heart of the passage these women and men brought up.

How Far the Stars

Self-effacing Hungarian pianist, József, has a unique talent for fusing contemporary jazz with traditional Roma music. This new sound catches the attention of the acclaimed saxophonist Tim Ries and the two begin performing together. József dreams of escaping his humdrum life and making it big in the home of jazz: America. Along the way, he conquers his demons and learns that when shooting for the stars, success is not the destination, but the journey itself.

This Is It

A compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage of Michael Jackson as he prepared for his series of sold-out shows in London.

Britney Spears: Workin' It

With the release of her eighth studio album, Britney is back and she's workin' it! This documentary chronicles the career of international superstar from her more innocent years with the release of "Baby One more Time" to being the highest paid judge on US X Factor and collaborating with Will.i.am on her latest album. She is worldwide a pop icon, who continues to grow and deliver to her fans. This is her inside story.

Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me

Commemorating the centennial of Mercer's birth, this documentary is part biography, part archive, and part recontextualization, taking Mercer's tunes and putting them in the hands of modern singers like Jamie Cullum and Dr. John to show they are still relevant today. Host Clint Eastwood also interviews artists who collaborated with Mercer or performed his songs, including composer John Williams, Blake Edwards, Andre Previn, Tony Bennett, and Julie Andrews. (DVD Talk)

PLEH

An experimental journey through a year in the life of the director, using his always playing playlist to cross the boundaries of fiction and documentary. Through scenes of both comedy and tragedy, realistic documentary footage and experimental sequences of the director's environment and daily life we get a sometimes estranging image of a young man and also an intriguing insight in his mindset and how this translates to the imagery on screen.

Harry Styles: Behind the Album

Chronicles Harry’s musical journey while creating his much anticipated debut solo album. The film features exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage shot in Jamaica, Los Angeles and London during the making of the album and is complemented by Harry and his band performing songs from it for the first time at the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

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.

Electro-Pythagorus: A Portrait of Martin Bartlett

Electro-Pythagorus is an intimate and subjective portrait of the late Martin Bartlett, the Canadian electronic music pioneer who studied with Pauline Oliveros, David Tudor, John Cage, and Pandit Pran Nath. His contribution as an interdisciplinary composer, educator, and founding member of Western Front, though undoubtedly extensive, is in danger of being erased from cultural memory since his death from AIDS in 1993. Navigating an array of archival materials including letters, correspondences, notebooks, personal photos, and a huge body of unreleased music and field recordings held at the archives of Simon Fraser University, Electro-Pythagoras is a journey through the evolution of Bartlett’s musical time and space, softly guided by Luke Fowler’s insightful camera and montage—creating an experimental portrait that defies one-dimensionality.

Green Day: The Early Years

"Green Day: The Early Years" chronicles the rise of the world's most influential punk band, from their origins playing shows at Berkley's notorious Gilman Street venue in the late 80s, through the release of the platinum-selling Dookie in 1994.

Chinese Viola

The rare short film presents a curious dialogue between filmmaker Julio Bressane and actor Grande Otelo, where, in a mixture of decorated and improvised text, we discover a little manifesto to the Brazilian experimental cinema. Also called "Belair's last film," Chinese Viola reveals the first partnership between photographer Walter Carvalho and Bressane.

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché

The death of punk icon and X-Ray Spex front-woman Poly Styrene sends her daughter on a journey through her mother's archives in this intimate documentary.

Jeff Tweedy: Sunken Treasure - Live in the Pacific Northwest

Sunken Treasure follows Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy on his February 2006 solo acoustic tour. The footage was recorded over five nights and features songs from three of his current and former bands: Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, and Loose Fur, plus an unreleased track, "The Thanks I Get." The film is directed by documentarians Christoph Green and Brendan Canty, himself the former drummer of Fugazi.

The Last Waltz

Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

Your War (I'm One of You): 20 Years of Joan of Arc

Your War (I'm One Of You) chronicles the life and career of Chicago's Tim Kinsella, frontman of ever-shifting band Joan of Arc and '90's pioneers Cap'n Jazz. With appearances from Tim's friends, family, and admirers, we learn what has made his legacy so unique and enduring for more than 20 years.

Gimme Shelter

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Dreams adrift

Mike Porcel is the lost member of the Cuban Nueva Trova musical movement. His lack of “revolutionary spirit” condemned him to the scorn of his peers and made him a pariah for a decade, until he managed to go into exile. Without resentment, but without forgetting, the film reconstructs his story and revives a forgotten brilliance.

Eddie Cochran & Friends: C'mon Everybody

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The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir

Drop out of school to ride with the Merry Pranksters. Form America’s most enduring jam band. Become a family man and father. Never stop chasing the muse. Bob Weir took his own path to and through superstardom as rhythm guitarist for The Grateful Dead. Mike Fleiss re-imagines the whole wild journey in this magnetic rock doc and concert film, with memorable input from bandmates, contemporaries, followers, family, and, of course, the inimitable Bob Weir himself.

YMO JAPAN TOUR at Nippon Budokan

Yellow Magic Orchestra playing songs from the album Service in the Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan in the 22 Dec. 1983

The Making of Grace

A newly expanded version of the original Grace documentary, featuring new interviews with band members and producer Andy Wallace as well as unseen footage of Jeff and the band at Bearsville Studio recording Grace. Included in Grace (Legacy Edition), a newly remastered version of the album.

Into Great Silence

An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.