Razing the Bar: A Documentary About the Funhouse

Razing the Bar documents the development and eventual demolition of a well-loved fringe punk rock Seattle venue through interviews of employees, friends, and a multitude of local musicians.

We Were There to Be There

On June 13, 1978, the punk bands the Cramps and the Mutants played a free show for psychiatric patients at the Napa State Hospital in California. We Were There to Be There chronicles the people, politics, and cultural currents that led to the show and its live recording.

Buenos Aires Hardcore Punk

Documentary about the Argentine punk and hardcore scene, from the early 80s to the mid-2000s. It includes interviews with various people in the environment, both musicians, producers and journalists, as well as archive material.

Anônimo e incomum

Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box

This is a 1991 documentary film about the legendary artist and filmmaker, Joseph Cornell, who made those magnificent and strange collage boxes. He was also one of our great experimental filmmakers and once apparently made Salvador Dali extremely jealous at a screening of his masterpiece, Rose Hobart. In this film we get to hear people like Susan Sontag, Stan Brakhage, and Tony Curtis talk about their friendships with the artist. It turns out that Curtis was quite a collector and he seemed to have a very deep understanding of what Cornell was doing in his work.

Everyday Life

Dialogue-free short detailing the daily tasks of a man and his wife.

Rumstick Road

A video reconstruction of the 1977 Wooster Group production Rumstick Road, an experimental theater performance created by Spalding Gray and Elizabeth LeCompte after the suicide of Gray's mother. Archival recordings are combined with photographs, slides, and other materials to recreate the original production.

Chinese Viola

The rare short film presents a curious dialogue between filmmaker Julio Bressane and actor Grande Otelo, where, in a mixture of decorated and improvised text, we discover a little manifesto to the Brazilian experimental cinema. Also called "Belair's last film," Chinese Viola reveals the first partnership between photographer Walter Carvalho and Bressane.

The Mentors: Kings of Sleaze Rockumentary

Documentary on the shock rock group "The Mentors".

Minor Threat - Live: DC Space-Buff Hall-930 Club

Minor Threat played one of its last shows at Washington DC's 930 Club in June of 1983; they would only play once more in DC. Two years later, the tapes from the 930 show were edited together and Dischord Records released them as the Minor Threat Live VHS video in 1986. Along with the 40 minute 930 performance, the DVD includes a 1982 Minor Threat show in Camden, NJ, a clip of Minor Threat's 2nd ever show at DC Space in December 1980, and excerpts from a 1983 interview with vocalist, Ian MacKaye.

The Five Obstructions

In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.

We Were Famous, You Don't Remember: The Embarrassment

Formed in 1979 in Wichita, Kansas, the so-called "blister pop" band the Embarrassment played major U.S. cities and garnered praise from the likes of Allen Ginsberg, John Cale and Jonathan Demme, but their refusal to compromise their vision made success elusive. Through archival interviews and concert footage, this documentary draws a portrait of the oft-overlooked post-punk legends.

The Akron Sound: It's Everything, and Then It's Gone

In the early 1970s, rubber was still king in Akron, Ohio. But just a few short years later, Akron's most important product was, ever so briefly, music. In the mid-1970s, a group of local bands took over an old rubber workers' hang-out in downtown Akron called The Crypt and created a mix of punk and art rock that came to be known as "the Akron Sound." And for a while, it was almost "the next big thing." Almost. It's Everything, and Then It's Gone, a Western Reserve PBS production written and directed by Phil Hoffman., takes viewers back to a time when the music really did mean everything. And for the men and women in these local bands, it was a way out of the factory.

-YAMASE-

Film by Kenji Onishi. With friends. Mr. Yamase as main character, Sasakubo and Shinojima. And the girls having a good time. The camera is all you need. Looking still at the Mt. Buko which is disappearing.

The New York Hardcore Chronicles Film

Director Drew Stone’s The New York Hardcore Chronicles Film is an incredible journey through the community and culture of the iconic New York hardcore scene. Not the typical history of a local music scene but so much more. Shot in an episodic format, the film contains over 60 interviews, never before seen footage, photos and a blazing soundtrack. With appearances by Roger Miret & Vinnie Stigma (Agnostic Front), Lou Koller, Craig Setari (Sick Of It All), Ray Cappo (Youth Of Today), Billy Graziadei (Biohazard), Billy Milano (S.O.D. / M.O.D.) and Mike Judge (Judge). The film addresses the community, culture, straight edge and DIY ethic of the hardcore scene in the greatest city in the world that is still vibrant, relevant and going strong to this day.

Every Wall is a Door

Drawing on VHS tapes of a programme hosted by her mother on Bulgaria’s national television, the filmmaker gives a pop-style and in-depth chronicle of the gentle – even “over-gentle” – 1989 revolution.

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

A rather incoherent post-breakup Sex Pistols "documentary", told from the point of view of Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, whose (arguable) position is that the Sex Pistols in particular and punk rock in general were an elaborate scam perpetrated by him in order to make "a million pounds."

American Hardcore

Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.

6-18-67

6-18-67 is a short quasi-documentary film by George Lucas regarding the making of the Columbia film “Mackenna's Gold”. This non-story, non-character visual tone poem is made up of nature imagery, time-lapse photography, and the subtle sounds of the Arizona desert.

Green Day: The Early Years

"Green Day: The Early Years" chronicles the rise of the world's most influential punk band, from their origins playing shows at Berkley's notorious Gilman Street venue in the late 80s, through the release of the platinum-selling Dookie in 1994.