Popular Music Movies on Kanopy - Page 24

Beware of Mr. Baker

2012

Beware of Mr. Baker

2012
7.4
Ginger Baker is known for playing in Cream and Blind Faith, but the world's greatest drummer didn’t hit his stride until 1972, when he arrived in Nigeria and discovered Fela Kuti's Afrobeat. After leaving Nigeria, Ginger returned to his pattern of drug-induced self-destruction, and countless groundbreaking musical works, eventually settling in South Africa, where the 73-year-old lives with his young bride and 39 polo ponies. This documentary includes interviews with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Carlos Santana and more. Beware of Mr. Baker! With every smash of the drum is a man smashing his way through life.
Wild Women Don't Have the Blues

1989

Wild Women Don't Have the Blues

1989
Recaptures the lives and times of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters, and the other legendary women who made blues music a vital part of American culture. The film brings together for the first time dozens of rare, classic renditions of the early blues.
Once Aurora

2018

Once Aurora

2018
8.5
This is the third documentary of Norwegian singer AURORA. It will follow the production of her second album. Filmed in La Fabrique, France.
To Breathe as One

2013

To Breathe as One

2013
In 2009 Maureen & James Tusty, filmmakers for The Singing Revolution, produced a second film out of Estonia. Seen nationally on U.S. Public Broadcasting, this one hour documentary tells the history of Estonia’s massive Song Festival, and the role music plays in Estonian culture, even today.
Ouzeri Tsitsanis

2015

Ouzeri Tsitsanis

2015
5.8
During World War II in Greece, under the submission of Germans, one Christian, Giorgos, falls in love with a Jewish, Estrea, something completely forbidden. Can they and their families overcome all the obstacles, along with racial discriminations and hardship? The story mainly takes place in an ouzeria, in which Tsitsanis works, one of the greatest Greek composer, librettist and singer in the 20th century.
African Jim

1949

African Jim

1949
Jim decides to leave his tribal area to seek his fortune in Johannesburg. As soon as he arrives, three gangsters mug him. When he regains consciousness, a friendly night watchman takes care of him. With the watchman's help, Jim gets a job in a nightclub as a waiter.
A Chance Encounter

2022

A Chance Encounter

2022
5.1
In the Sicilian town of Taormina, Italy, an aspiring writer in search of inspiration meets a folk singer trying to write a follow up to her breakout hit. Their chemistry sparks collaboration, challenging each other to express their thorniest secrets.
Stupid for You

2022

Stupid for You

2022
Like mother like daughter. Punk rock one-hit wonder Dani Destroyer and her punk-playing daughter Kat (played by a real-life mother-son duo) transform their angst into lyrics, as they navigate intimacy issues and the tendency to ruin perfect moments in their search for true love. This music-inflected movie centers around two twisty love triangles.
Memphis

2011

Memphis

2011
8.3
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).
The Klezmer Project

2024

The Klezmer Project

2024
8.3
A Jewish wedding cameraman falls in love with a klezmer clarinetist and pretends to be making a documentary in order to spend time with her. His fake project leads to a real journey through Eastern Europe in search of lost klezmer melodies and the remnants of Yiddish culture. A documentary-fiction hybrid. Winner of the Best First Feature Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
Rock Camp: The Movie

2021

Rock Camp: The Movie

2021
6.3
Summer camp meets Spinal Tap as we journey to Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, where dreamers from across America and around the world gather to shred with their heroes - and learn to rock like the legends. Rock Camp is an institution and cultural phenomenon that has been going on in Los Angeles, New York and other cities since 1996. The brainchild of music producer David Fishof, Rock Camp boasts a jaw-dropping array of rock star "counselors" that include Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Nancy Wilson, Joe Perry, Jeff Beck, Slash and countless other rock legends. The counselors teach, inspire and jam with the campers over the course of four days. Each Rock Camp concludes with all of the counselors and their respective campers, performing together.
A Cowgirl's Song

2022

A Cowgirl's Song

2022
5.5
An aspiring but adrift teen singer goes to live with her grandmother, once a country music legend, but has fallen on hard times after the death of her husband five years earlier. Together, they overcome adversity and find redemption through their love of music.
Great World of Sound

2007

Great World of Sound

2007
5.2
When a man answers an ad to train as a record producer, he's excited by the prospect of signing undiscovered artists only to discover his new job isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Brambletown

2024

Brambletown

2024
1
A musical film about Fox and Badger, lifelong friends coming home to Brambletown. As they discover new sides of themselves, their friendship, and the community, they learn that even in the darkest moments, they still have the power to heal.
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami

2017

Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami

2017
5.7
The life of the magnetic Jamaican musician, actress, model and party queen Grace Jones featuring concert performances and intimate, personal footage.
From Nothing, Something: A Documentary on the Creative Process

2012

From Nothing, Something: A Documentary on the Creative Process

2012
Everyone has ideas. But what where do they come from? And what ensures they keep coming? How do you sort the genius ideas from the useless ones? Why invest all this hope and energy into making things in the first place? From Nothing, Something profiles creative thinkers across a variety of disciplines and finds common methods, habits, mindsets and neuroses that help bring breakthrough ideas into being. This is a thoughtful, intimate, often funny look at the creative process—straight from the brains of some of our culture's most accomplished and inspiring talents.
Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk

2017

Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk

2017
7.4
Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk spans over 30 years of the California Bay Area’s punk music history with a central focus on the emergence of the inspiring 924 Gilman Street collective. This diverse group of artists, writers, organizers and musicians created a do-it-yourself petri dish that changed the punk scene... and the world at large.
T'Ain't Nobody's Bizness: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s

2013

T'Ain't Nobody's Bizness: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s

2013
The 1920s saw a revolution in technology, the advent of the recording industry, that created the first class of African-American women to sing their way to fame and fortune. Blues divas such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter created and promoted a working-class vision of blues life that provided an alternative to the Victorian gentility of middle-class manners. In their lives and music, blues women presented themselves as strong, independent women who lived hard lives and were unapologetic about their unconventional choices in clothes, recreational activities, and bed partners. Blues singers disseminated a Black feminism that celebrated emotional resilience and sexual pleasure, no matter the source.
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune

2011

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune

2011
6.6
From civil rights to the anti-war movement to the struggles of workers, folksinger Phil Ochs wrote topical songs that engaged his audiences in the issues of the 1960s and 70s. In this biographical documentary, veteran director Kenneth Bowser shows how Phil's music and his fascinating life story and eventual decline into depression and suicide were intertwined with the history-making events that defined a generation. Even as his contemporaries moved into folk-rock and pop music, Phil followed his own vision, challenging himself and his listeners. Not one to pull punches, Ochs never achieved the commercial success he desperately desired. But his music remains relevant, reaching new audiences in a generation that finds his themes all too familiar.
Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet

1982

Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet

1982
Through interviews, archival footage, photos and classic tunes, learn about the remarkable career and troubled life of legendary jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, who influenced countless musicians before alcoholism lead to his premature death. Close friends and associates such as Hoagy Carmichael, Charlie David and Louis Armstrong share their memories of Bix's abilities, playing style and personality.