Social & External
The people behind it
Joëlle Léandre
When two buskers find themselves situated on the same busy street corner, a musical battle ensues when the musicians realise that the lively city isn't big enough for the both of them
Joseph Zitt’s film dreamtext דברי חלום is a feature-length dream of coming to life in Israel. Four images of dancer Cheryl Nayowitz move past and through images of Israel and words spoken by the Holon Scratch Orchestra, along with music by the ensemble Gray Code. The film and its music are anchored by the song “Sachki Sachki,” sung by Vered Forbes. The film has no story, dialogue, or characters (other than the dancer). While there is text in Hebrew and English, you don’t need to know either language to enjoy the film. The English is a dreamlike text scrambled to approximate what you might hear while falling asleep. The Hebrew words which are heard and seen onscreen during much of the film are streams of consciousness, improvised by women’s voices on the themes of segments of the film. When we hear the song “Sachki Sachki,” the words appear onscreen both in the original Hebrew and in an English translation.
Blue for a Moment is a documentary portrait of Swedish-born, Berlin-based musician Sven-Åke Johansson, a key figure in European improvised and experimental music. Active as a jazz drummer, composer, poet and visual artist, Johansson has spent decades challenging artistic conventions and genre boundaries. Born in 1943, he moved to Berlin in the late 1960s and became involved in the city’s experimental scene, including the Zodiak Free Arts Lab. During the 1970s and 1980s he played an important role in the West Berlin free jazz movement around the FMP/SÅJ label, collaborating with musicians such as Alexander von Schlippenbach and Rüdiger Carl. Influenced by Fluxus and modernist traditions, Johansson developed a distinctive approach based on noise, reduction and the use of everyday materials, anticipating the Echtzeitmusik scene that emerged in Berlin after 1990. The film explores his creative process, artistic philosophy and lasting impact on contemporary experimental music.
When young musicians come together to play classical music, they send out a strong signal to our today’s world. The film follows talented young Swiss musicians as they work, search for inspiration, but also expose their thought how to play nowadays the “old” Classical music.
Two young strangers meet in Naples and begin to flirt and dance in the street.
Aspiring director Corky St. Clair and the marginally talented amateur cast of his hokey small-town musical production go overboard when they learn that Broadway theater agent Mort Guffman will be in attendance.
Cecil Taylor was the grand master of free jazz piano. "All the Notes" captures in breezy fashion the unconventional stance of this media-shy modern musical genius, regarded as one of the true giants of post-war music. Seated at his beloved and battered piano in his Brooklyn brownstone the maestro holds court with frequent stentorian pronouncements on life, art and music.
Two college students set out to capture a ghost on film to make millions instead of doing their finals.
Filmed in and around percussionist Milford Grave’s last public concert in his neighborhood of Jamaica, Queens.
An intimate documentary portrait of world-class improvisational and traditional pianist Mike Garson as he tours, performs, and teaches.
In 1989, a collective of young hip hop artists gathered at a health food café in South Central Los Angeles. Their mandate? To reject gang culture and expand the musical boundaries of hip hop. DuVernay's documentary chronicles the historic legacy of the Good Life Cafe — the open mic nights that became an L.A. institution, the eclectic array of talented young MCs that emerged there, the alternative hip hop movement they developed, and their worldwide influence on the artform.
Live archive release from the Jazz legend. Thelonious Monk Paris 1969 is a fascinating and important late-career document of the legendary Jazz pianist and composer in performance with his Quartet at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris, France on December 15, 1969. The concert also featured a surprise guest appearance from renowned drummer Philly Joe Jones. Filmed in Black & White.
An experimental music ensemble is recording an album. They want a very specific sound: the sound of thick air. The sound engineer struggles to understand and to find that sound. A tale of sleepless nights and loud music, a noise-injected collage composed of diaristic footage, a found narrative (memories of a popular 60s band), original music and field recordings.
Shirley Clarke's frenetic documentary about multi-talented musician Ornette Coleman.
The bold and ferocious harmonic imagination of John Coltrane is laid bare in this concert, captured at the Comblain-La-Tour Festival in Belgium, 1965. Alongside his famed quartet, he delivers a transcendent performance that is marked by the total physicality of the music – four sets of hands moving with restless vigour as vapour literally rises from their shoulders and into the night sky.
Angel Bat Dawid - one of the great jazz discoveries of recent years as a guest at Chassol in Ground Control. Chicago-native Angel Bat Dawid is one of the many talents tracked down by the US label International Anthem. Together with trumpeter Jaimie Branch and drummer Makaya McCraven, Angel Bat Dawid ensures that the "Windy City" is on the radar for jazz all over the world. The musician switches between vocals, clarinet and piano with amazing ease. But apart from that, Angel Bat Dawid is able to breathe a highly spiritual dimension into her music like no other, so that her jazz almost borders on gospel. Listening to the multi-instrumentalist therefore sometimes has something of a transcendental experience, at times reminiscent of the music of Sun Ra. This concert at Ground Control reveals all the artistic glory of their music. Recording of July 4, 2022 at Ground Control, Paris.
This early travelogue film, made in a Kenyan train station, captures an impromptu musical performance. Some passengers eagerly join in while others sleep—blissfully unaware of the performance taking place around them.
An important audio-visual record of a landmark series of four concerts staged in London in 2022 when more than 30 musicians joined improviser, percussionist and animateur Eddie Prévost to mark his 80th birthday. The film takes a close look at improvisers who create music in the moment, free from the authority of a composer, score or conductor. Ranging from profound delicacy to subversive atonality, the “awkward wealth” of this music raises vital questions about artistic freedom, individual responsibility and what it means for people to make music together in the 21st Century. Featuring performances by John Butcher, Sue Lynch, Ute Kanngiesser, Marjolaine Charbin, Nathan Moore, Seymour Wright, Veryan Weston, Alan Wilkinson, John Tilbury and Eddie Prévost amongst others. Plus readings by musician and author David Toop. The film includes the last ever concert by AMM, the pioneering improvising group co-founded by Eddie Prévost in the mid-1960s.
A perspective and reflection on the work of Gabriel Ferrandini.
This fantastical movie inspired by the music of Michael Jackson features imaginative interpretations of hit tracks from the iconic 1987 album “Bad”.
The Immaculate Collection is the first commercially released greatest videos compilation by singer Madonna. Released on November 13, 1990 to accompany the audio CD, it contained hits spanning 1983-1990. The collection won "Best Long Form Video" category at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. Includes the following videos: 1. Lucky Star 2. Borderline 3. Like a Virgin 4. Material Girl 5. Papa Don't Preach 6. Open Your Heart 7. La Isla Bonita 8. Like a Prayer 9. Express Yourself 10. Cherish 11. Oh Father 12. Vogue 13. Vogue (1990 MTV Awards Show Performance)
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld looks down from heaven and ordains a new revue in his grand old style.
During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.
Celebrating the 30 year anniversary of Michael Jackson's solo career, this legendary performance took place on September 10, 2001.
A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.
Zander Raines, a dazzling and tempestuous young choreographer, gives the break of a lifetime to two hopeful artists when he casts a stunning contemporary dancer, Barlow, and innovative pianist, Charlie, in New York’s most-anticipated new Broadway show: Free Dance. But the move throws off the show’s delicate creative balance when Charlie falls hard for Barlow, while Zander embraces her as his muse.
Queen Poppy and Branch make a surprising discovery — there are other Troll worlds beyond their own, and their distinct differences create big clashes between these various tribes. When a mysterious threat puts all of the Trolls across the land in danger, Poppy, Branch, and their band of friends must embark on an epic quest to create harmony among the feuding Trolls to unite them against certain doom.
A pair of star-crossed dancers in New York find themselves at the center of a bitter rivalry between their brothers' underground dance clubs.
Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.
A look at the work of director Michel Gondry, through his music videos, short films, and commercials.
In a short musical film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Thom Yorke of Radiohead stars in a mind-bending visual piece. Best played loud.
An intimate look into the life of icon Quincy Jones. A unique force in music and popular culture for 70 years, Jones has transcended racial and cultural boundaries; his story is inextricably woven into the fabric of America. Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor before working on pop music and film scores. He moved easily between musical genres, producing major pop hits of the early 1960s and serving as an arranger and conductor for several collaborations in the same time period.
With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.
XOXO follows six strangers whose lives collide in one frenetic, dream-chasing, hopelessly romantic night.
This compilation features 10 of Michael Jackson's greatest video hits, including "Billie Jean," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Black or White," "Rock With You" and others. -Includes the never before seen 18 minute version of "Bad". Directed by Martin Scorsese. Featuring Wesley Snipes. -9:30 Long Version of "The Way You Make Me Feel". -"Black Or White"- short film "Panther" version -"thriller"- "monstrous masterpiece" the ultimate "music movie" 14 minutes of horrific fun by director John Landis. -"remember The Time"- directed by John Singleton (Higher Learning, Boyz N The Hood, Shaft),features Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson.
A documentary chronicling the Beatles' rehearsal sessions in January 1969 for their proposed "back to basics" album, "Get Back," later re-envisioned and released as "Let It Be."
Ariana Grande takes the stage in London for her Sweetener World Tour and shares a behind-the-scenes look at her life in rehearsal and on the road.
A life in one-hundred-sixty-four moments.
