A freewheeling portrait of Ken Kesey and the Merry Prankster’s fabled road trip across America in the legendary Magic Bus. In 1964, Ken Kesey, the famed author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” set off on a legendary, LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip to the New York World’s Fair. He was joined by “The Merry Band of Pranksters,” a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers, including Neal Cassady, the American icon immortalized in Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and the driver and painter of the psychedelic Magic Bus.
Having forged a 20-year run as one of the most innovative and influential hip hop bands of all time, the Queens NY collective known as 'A Tribe Called Quest' have kept a generation hungry for more of their groundbreaking music since their much publicized breakup in 1998. Michael Rapaport documents the inner workings and behind the scenes drama that follows the band to this day. He explores what's next for, what many claim, are the pioneers of alternative rap.
After a brush with the law, Maria has returned to her gritty Bronx roots to rebuild her life with nothing but a talent for street dance and a burning ambition to prove herself.
Three dance crews – one Latin American, one European and one Canadian – prepare to battle at the International Beat the World competition in Detroit. Along the way, they struggle with gambling debt, bad break-ups and their own egos. In the final showdown to become world champions they find that their lifelong hopes, dreams and even lives, are at stake.
On April 22 and 23, 2009, Death Cab for Cutie returned to Bellingham, WA, where they had formed over 10 years prior, to perform two sold out concerts at the historic Mt. Baker Theatre. This film features previously unreleased performances from these two very special nights as well as interviews with band members about the band's early days in Bellingham. 1. The New Year 2. WhyYou'd Want To Live Here 3. Crooked Teeth 4. President of What? 5. No Sunlight 6. Your Bruise 7. Grapevines Fires 8. I Will Posess Your Heart 9. Cath... 10. Soul Meets Body 11. Long Division 12. The Sound of Settling 13. Bixby Canyon Bridge 14. I Will Follow You Into the Dark 15. Title and Registration 16. Expo' 86 17. Transatlanticism
This documentary looks at the conception, design and live shows of The Wall performed by Pink Floyd in 1980 and 1981. It features in-depth 1980s era interviews with Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason and shows footage of The Wall performed at Earl's Court in 1980. It also features archival footage of the Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd and discusses how David Gilmour was brought into the band to initially augment their live shows when Syd became unreliable due to his drug problem and how Gilmour ultimately replaced him.
Primal Scream's seminal album "Screamadelica" defined a generation. It's mix of rock, dance, dub, gospel and more caught the zeitgeist of the early nineties to perfection and it went on to win the inaugural Mercury Music Prize in 1992 and consistently be named as "Best Album Of The Nineties" and appear in numerous "All Time Best Albums" lists. This latest addition to the acclaimed Classic Albums series tells the story behind the making of this legendary album. There are contributions from all the band members, main producer Andrew Weatherall, Creation Records founder Alan McGee and many others involved in the creation of this masterpiece.
As Bob Dylan turns 70, a true portrait of the reclusive "voice of the generation" is revealed through exclusive interviews, and never-before-seen photos and films of Dylan's 50-year career.
In an increasingly urban nation, Canada’s national parks are a treasured escape into extraordinary beauty and rugged wilderness. If the Group of Seven were an introduction to the landscape’s majesty, National Parks Project is the next logical chapter. Fifty-two contemporary artists from across the country, whose talents are as diverse as the parks they set out to explore, used their surroundings as a source of inspiration to blend musical and cinematic skills into collaboratively crafted vignettes. Epic in its ambition to celebrate these locales during Parks Canada’s centennial year, this omnibus film resonates with the knowledge that our unprotected land is more vulnerable than ever. Including films by Zacharius Kunuk, Peter Lynch, Sturla Gunnarsson and John Walker, and music by Sarah Harmer, Sam Roberts, Cadence Weapon and The Besnard Lakes, among many others, National Parks Project is a one-of-a-kind documentary experience.
Documentary follows Bobby Liebling, lead singer of seminal hard rock/heavy metal band Pentagram, as he battles decades of hard drug addiction and personal demons to try and get his life back.
Memphis is set in the places where rock and roll was born in the 1950s: the seedy nightclubs, radio stations and recording studios of the musically-rich Tennessee city. With an original score, it tells the fictional story of DJ Huey Calhoun, a good ole' local boy with a passion for R&B music and Felicia Farrell, an up-and-coming black singer that he meets one fateful night on Beale Street. Despite the objections of their loved ones (Huey's close-minded mama and Felicia's cautious brother, a club owner), they embark on a dangerous affair. As their careers rise, the relationship is challenged by personal ambition and the pressures of an outside world unable to accept their love. Originally shown in select theatres, then broadcast as an episode of the PBS series "Great Performances" (season 39, episode 11).
Mai, a ribbon dancer from the countryside arrives in Saigon and befriends Kim, a street dancer. A promise of a better life leads their dance crew to the big competition, but a romance with a rich kid threatens to derail Kim's plans.
After a talent scout spots her performing with her dog Boi at a charity gala, Sharpay Evans sets off for the bright lights of NYC, convinced instant fame and fortune are in the bag. But theatre's a dog-eat-dog world. Fortunately, Sharpay also meets Peyton, a handsome student filmmaker who finds Sharpay nearly as fascinating as she finds herself.
When five ragtag freshman first meet in detention, it seems they have nothing in common. But, through music, they form an unbreakable bond and discover they have the makings of the greatest high school garage band in history! In the face of incredible odds, Olivia, Stella, Wen, Mohini and Charlie find they can make a real difference when they learn to lean on each other and let go of everything holding back their dreams.
FOO FIGHTERS BACK AND FORTH chronicles the 16 year history of the Foo Fighters: from the band's very first songs created as cassette demos Dave Grohl recorded during his tenure as Nirvana's drummer, through its ascent to their Grammy-winning, multi-platinum, arena and stadium headlining status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.
For some aging music fans and kids with a passion for musical history, The Replacements are rock and roll defined. Gorman Bechard's remarkable history of the 'Mats takes us from their first show as the Impediments to their 1991 onstage breakup in Chicago, and everywhere in between. Bechard bravely eschews including the band's music, photos, and live footage, instead relying solely on the fans: their well-kept memories, hilarious anecdotes, and differing points of views about the foursome's wildly varied discography and infamous antics.
Miya Masaoka uses music to interact with plants and insects; Jon Rose turns fences into musical instruments with a violin bow in conflict zones ranging from the Australian outback to Israel; John Luther Adams translates geophysical phenomena in Alaska into music; and Bob Ostertag explores socio-political issues through processes as diverse as transcribing riots into string quartets, and creating live cinema with garbage. By contrasting the creative paths of these artists, and a connection between them by the world renowned Kronos Quartet, the film explores music not as a form of entertainment, career, or even self-expression, but as a tool to develop more deeply meaningful relationships with people and the complexities of the world they live in.
Recorded before 65,000 fans, World’s On Fire is the debut live film documenting The Prodigy’s Warrior's Dance festival from The National Bowl at Milton Keynes on July 24th, 2010.