A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.
Andy Warhol described Jackie Curtis as “A pioneer without a frontier.” In this biographical documentary, Curtis’s co-workers and friends speak of her work and her influence, along with clips from Curtis’s Warhol films as well as never-before-seen footage from her stage shows.
Filmmaker Christopher Browne documents the mission of a group of middle-aged bowlers as they attempt to revitalize the sport and get the television-watching public interested in it again.
This documentary focuses on the sacred sites in and around Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in central Australia, and the struggle of the Arrernte people to identify, document and preserve these sites in the face of rapid urban expansion and property development.
This moving documentary is a record of a few hours in the life of a small 7 year old boy, Ricco, from Hidden Valley, one of the many town camps on the outskirts of Alice Springs. He has lived in the camp for most of his life, and is looked after by his three older sisters and his foster mother, Nanna Maudie.
Ross McElwee travels through the North Carolina tobacco belt in search of the ancient southern traditions associated with tobacco growing and use, while comparing his filmmaking to commercial cinema, represented by Bright Leaf, a melodrama directed by Michael Curtiz in 1950, starring Gary Cooper, apparently based on the life of his great-grandfather.
During WWII, the U.S. formed an elite intelligence unit -- mostly German Jewish academics -- at Camp Ritchie, Maryland. Tasked with devising ways to break the morale of the SS, these men are often credited with bringing an early end to the war. Some of these heroes, who are now in the eighties, are reunited in this documentary.
Can one person really make a difference? This documentary explores the work of two non profits started by women in Recife, Brazil. Through their grassroots efforts, they help kids get off the streets and women break the cycle of domestic violence, to find a second chance.
The Landau String Quartet come together to rehearse. Together they make wonderful music and yet each has traveled a very different path to become a musician. This dramatised documentary reveals each musician's intimate story centred around the long journey they have traveled with their instrument. Leon, the first-born son of Polish Jewish migrants to Australia is destined to become a great violinist, but his life moves in unexpected directions under the influence of his abusive teacher. Julia loses her innocence and discovers her own deep sensuality through her experience with music, and a handsome conductor. Richard plays the violin to escape his stifling suburban family. He encounters the dark and fearful world of his own psyche on his travels to the city to play.. Christie, a young cellist, throws off the shackles of her disciplined musician's life and escapes on an adventure with a handsome stranger, a journey that ultimately brings her face to face with herself.
For his five Cremaster films Matthew Barney's created a multitude of sculptural forms and structures. Recently both the sculptures and the films traveled to museums in Cologne, Paris and New York's Guggenheim. In THE CREMASTER CYCLE: A Conversation with Matthew Barney, the artist guides the camera through this remarkable creation at the Guggenheim Museum while being questioned by Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic of the New York Times.
In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad successfully accomplished the enormous engineering feat of building tunnels under New York City's Hudson and East Rivers, connecting the railroad to New York and New England, knitting together the entire eastern half of the United States. The tunnels terminated in what was one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station. Penn Station covered nearly eight acres, extended two city blocks, and housed one of the largest public spaces in the world. But just 53 years after the station’s opening, the monumental building that was supposed to last forever, to herald and represent the American Empire, was slated to be destroyed.
This documentary exploration of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, answers questions: What exactly was Leonardo da Vinci trying to tell us in his coded paintings? Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene? Who were the Knights Templar? What is the secret of the mysterious church at Rennes-le-Château? What is the Priory of Sion? What secret did the real life Saunière know that threatened the Church? What are the Gnostic Gospels? Did Roman emperors rewrite the New Testament to control the population?
An Orthodox Jewish father tries to alert his adult sons to the dangers of creating impenetrable barriers between themselves and those outside their faith. He takes them on an emotional journey to Poland to track down the family who risked their lives to hide their grandfather for more than two years during World War II. Like many children of survivors, the sons feel that Poland is a country that is incurably anti-Semitic, but it is precisely here that they meet people who personify the highest levels of compassion
BRAVE NEW YORK is a free-form documentary that loosely chronicles the last twelve years of intense change in the East Village "hood." From the reopening of a newly curfewed Tompkins Square Park and Wigstock in '92 to the destruction of the cherished Loisaida Community Gardens, beyond the yuppie invasions of the "dot com" years to the present era, indelibly stamped with post 9/11 grief, this durable, lusty neighborhood survives in spite of a real estate gold rush that has excluded all but the well-to-do. The movie's main voices are those of the artists and street people whose wisdom and commentaries upon the dominant culture give us pause amidst the speedy approach of a "Brave New World." This Overview was taken from Fandor, where this film is available. 2004.
Molly & Mobarak is a 2003 Australian documentary directed by Tom Zubrycki. It follows a Hazara asylum seeker, 22-year-old Mobarak Tahiri, as he falls in love with 25-year-old Molly Rule, and faces possible deportation as his temporary visa nears expiration.
Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a diet based only on McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days without exercising to try to prove why so many Americans are fat or obese. He submits himself to a complete check-up by three doctors, comparing his weight along the way, resulting in a scary conclusion.