In the year that marks 10 years since MC Daleste's murder, Sobre Funk produced an exclusive documentary about the artist's history and impact on the Brazilian music scene.
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The faces, the gestures and speech of beggars, madmen and revelers passing through the streets of São Paulo. The sounds and images are illustrated with Frantz Fanon extracts.
We start in Rio de Janeiro, with the statue of Cristo Redentor on Mount Corcovado, the avenue along the beach, the beauty of an historic city, and the landmark, Sugarloaf. Brazil's 47 million people celebrate racial diversity. From the Copacabana, we travel 40 miles to a resort, Quitandinha, where President Truman spoke. Then it's on to Sao Paulo, a modern, industrial city, and finally to the spectacular waterfalls of Iguazu on the border between Brazil and Argentina.
During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.
Don Letts's hilarious and colourful profile of the godfather of funk, whose 50-year career has defined the genre. From his 1950s days running a doo-wop group out of the back of his barber store, through the madness of the monster Parliament/Funkadelic machine of the 70s to his late 90s hip-hop collaborations with Dre and Snoop, George Clinton has inspired generations of imitators. Contributors include Outkast's Andre 3000 and Macy Gray.
Comedian/filmmaker Camille Solari spends the last year interviewing the legendary musical icon James Brown before his untimely death on Christmas 2006. The documentary includes interviews with his band members and many celebrity musicians who have been influenced by James Brown, including Patti Labelle, Chuck D (Public Enemy), Doug E Fresh, Emcee Lyte, Bobby Brown, Fergie, Wil.I.Am.
Who are the chicks that make up the funk movement, and where are they? Funk has always been a form of protest, just as being a woman is. BEAT IS PROTEST: FUNK FROM A FEMALE PERSPECTIVE depicts the last decade underground scene of the funk women protesters in São Paulo. The testimonies come from transgender and cisgender women who navigate this universe in different roles, such as singers, DJs, beat-makers, producers, entrepreneurs, rappers, and dancers, and also from drag queens.
Documentary about punks of the city of São Paulo and its difficulties, struggles and ideals, the importance of music in the universe of its ideology, interviews and images of shows of some musical groups like Ratos de Porão, Inocentes and Fogo Cruzado.
A documentary on funk and P-funk and the bands and artists that made it all happen: James Brown, Sly Stone, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Maurice White and his Earth Wind & Fire, Average White Band, Kool & The Gang and lots more. It tells the story of black American music and how it evolved from funk to more main stream to disco to hiphop to contemporary R 'n B and its impact on society. Music and live footage from the bands, interviews with artists and band members of Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind & Fire, George Clinton and lots more.
The James Brown Story
Footage from the first ever São Paulo LGBTQ Pride Parade, which took place on the 28th of June 1997 on Avenida Paulista. The annual event would go on to become the largest pride parade in the world.
'OG' is a film about a legendary, Brazilian born, NYC skateboarder, Harry Jumonji. In the course of telling his story, through his triumphs and travails, Jumonji emerges in this portrait as an adolescent innocent, much like skateboarding itself. He is irrepressible, manically energetic and ultimately, pure. He has a transcendent presence, well beyond charm or charisma, of such unalloyed joy that nothing he does is unforgiveable. This is fortunate because, as a drug addict, unsurprisingly, he lies, cheats and steals. Harry is rendered as the poet, the sprite, the artist and the street saint he is.
In the racially turbulent UK of the early 70s, a group of black musicians came together in South London with a common love of rhythms and a message of peace. Cymande – with the dove as their symbol – combined jazz, funk, soul and Caribbean grooves to form a unique sound. Despite success in the USA they faced indifference in their native Britain, becoming disillusioned and disbanding. But the music lived on, as new generations of artists imbibed and reworked their pioneering sounds in fresh ways. From Soul II Soul to De La Soul, MC Solaar to The Fugees, the Dove had spread Cymande's message far and wide, prompting their return after forty years. This is their story.
The story of Ayahuasca, from its emergence in the Amazonian Forest, to its popularity with the Santo Daime religion, and on to its arrival in urban centres. Combining scientific, religious and anthropological perspectives on the use of Ayahuasca in modern society, and in parallel with the director own healing process, for the first time, a holistic, yet balanced view of this controversial subject.
Funk legend Sly Stone disappeared from the limelight for more than 20 years. Musicians and the media tried to find the recluse but failed. In 2005 Willem Alkema started searching for Sly. Sly didn't want to be found or filmed, but Willem didn't give up and finally followed Sly in his first steps on stage in decades.
Finding the Funk is a road trip in search of the past, present and future of Funk music. Starting with Funk's roots in Jazz and the James Brown bands of the '60s we travel to the Bay Area to celebrate Sly & the Family Stone, then to Dayton the birthplace of so many of Funk's originators, then onto Detroit where from the ashes of Motown, P-Funk's Mothership arose, and then to LA where a new crop of musicians are creating their own Funk history. On our journey into Funk, we talk to legends Sly Stone, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Nona Hendryx, Maceo Parker, Bernie Worrell, and Steve Arrington and their descendants Mike D, D'Angelo, Sheila E, Shock G and Sade's Stuart Matthewman. Narrated by Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson of the Roots.
One Nation Under A Groove - P-Funk Documentary 2005 Known to its legions of fans simply as P-Funk, Parliament Funkadelic has had a profound impact on the development of contemporary music, aesthetics and culture. PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC: One Nation Under a Groove chronicles the unique alchemy of the musical influences that fed into the band`s singular approach to music, documenting P-Funk`s continuing influence on today`s artists and musicians and featuring an in-depth look at the musical and entrepreneurial mastermind of its leader George Clinton.
Resonating Surfaces is triple portrait, of a city, a woman and an attitude to life. For the personal story of Suely Rolnik, who is a Brazilian psychoanalyst currently living in São Paulo, involves the Brazilian dictatorship of the sixties as well as the Parisian intellectual climate surrounding Deleuze and Guattari in the seventies. The film is woven through by different themes: the other and the relation to otherness, the connection between body and power, the voice and, ultimately, the micropolitics of desire and of resistance.
Daft Punk Unchained is the first film about the pop culture phenomenon that is Daft Punk, the duo with 12 million albums sold worldwide and seven Grammy Awards. Throughout their career Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have always resisted compromise and the established codes of show business. They have remained determined to maintain control of every link in the chain of their creative process. In the era of globalisation and social networks, they rarely speak in public and neither do they show their faces on TV. This documentary explores this unprecedented cultural revolution revealing a duo of artists on a permanent quest for creativity, independence and freedom.
A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
Live Aid was held on 13 July 1985, simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, United States. It was one of the largest scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: watched live by an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations. "It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid...!"
JB Smoove and Martin Starr host a celebration of 20 years of "Spider-Man" movies, from the Sam Raimi trilogy to Marc Webb's movies and the trio from Jon Watts.
A filmed version of David Byrne's Broadway show, a unifying musical celebration that inspires audiences to connect to each other and to the global community.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
A documentary focused on plastic pollution in the world's oceans.
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
A primetime special with performances from the superstar including Adele’s first new material in six years plus her chart-topping hits. The special will also feature an exclusive interview with Adele by Oprah Winfrey from her rose garden, in Adele’s first televised wide-ranging conversation.
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
Cristiano Ronaldo: The World at His Feet follows the footballer from his beginnings in Portugal, breakthrough start with Manchester United and current career at Real Madrid.
The Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.
Explore the evolution of Buzz Lightyear from toy to human in the making of Pixar’s Lightyear. Dive into the origin and cultural impact of everyone’s favorite Space Ranger, the art of designing a new “human Buzz,” and the challenges faced by the Lightyear crew along the way.
A documentary about ten very different lives connected by having appeared onscreen wearing masks or helmets in Star Wars.
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Grammy® winner singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo takes a familiar road trip from Salt Lake City, where she began writing her debut album “SOUR,” to Los Angeles. Along the way, Rodrigo recounts the memories of writing and creating her record-breaking debut album and shares her feelings as a young woman navigating a specific time in her life. Through new live arrangements of her songs, intimate interviews and never-before-seen footage from the making of the album, audiences will follow Olivia along on a cinematic journey exploring the story of “SOUR.”
Documentary about the arena-packing Swedish DJ, chronicling his explosive rise to fame and surprising decision to retire from live performances in 2016.
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the recording of Aretha Franklin's best-selling album finally sees the light of day more than four decades after the original footage was shot.
A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.
A special celebrating the origins and legacy of Star Wars' legendary bounty hunter, Boba Fett.