Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker

Don't Fall in Love with Yourself(en)

A documentary about the life and music of Justin Pearson. An enigmatic underground musician and owner of Three One G records.

Assolo(it)

Danny 'Sweet Touch' Caputo is a young sax player on the verge of crowning his life's dream, to play in the festival that will send him to the top amongst the jazz greats. With just 50 minutes standing between him and his consecration, as he runs over his last simple question more to pass time than anything else. Danny tries to answer, but instead finds himself projected into another world, one populated by the sensual and very real ghosts of his past...

Andrea Motis, The Silent Trumpet(es)

This film by director Ramon Tort documents a unique moment in the life and career of Andrea Motis: the months preceding the recording of her first album in New York as well as what followed. A time filled with changes and emotions; from leaving her parents’ home for the first time and start living by herself to embarking in a world tour that would take her to places like Japan, United States, Asia and Europe. A crucial time in a young woman's life, who is about to make the big leap…, but is she interested in success or fame? Andrea is not a conventional artist. She lives in the moment, enjoying the small things in life, every day in the most simplest way possible… An entire magical process that can only be understood through her music.

The Musicians' Green Book: An Enduring Legacy(en)

Stories and music of Black artists who relied on an underground travel guide to navigate the injustices of racial segregation while on the road. The Negro Travelers’ Green Book was a directory of lodgings, restaurants, and entertainment venues where African Americans were welcomed. Features performances and interviews with vocalists, musicians, activists, historians, and others.

Spaceways(en)

A music documentary made with Sun Ra.

Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast(en)

In the late 1990s, iconic photographer Bruce Weber barely managed to convince legendary actor Robert Mitchum (1917-97) to let himself be filmed simply hanging out with friends, telling anecdotes from his life and recording jazz standards.

Filthy Betrayal(en)

On the eve of graduation, a high school student finds herself dealing with both college applications and an unfaithful boyfriend.

Stop for Bud(da)

Stop for Bud is Jørgen Leth's first film and the first in his long collaboration with Ole John. […] they wanted to "blow up cinematic conventions and invent cinematic language from scratch". The jazz pianist Bud Powell moves around Copenhagen -- through King's Garden, along the quay at Kalkbrænderihavnen, across a waste dump. […] Bud is alone, accompanied only by his music. […] Image and sound are two different things -- that's Leth's and John's principle. Dexter Gordon, the narrator, tells stories about Powell's famous left hand. In an obituary for Powell, dated 3 August 1966, Leth wrote: "He quite willingly, or better still, unresistingly, mechanically, let himself be directed. The film attempts to depict his strange duality about his surroundings. His touch on the keys was like he was burning his fingers -- that's what it looked like, and that's how it sounded. But outside his playing, and often right in the middle of it, too, he was simply gone, not there."

Kids on the Slope(ja)

Two different students—a successful but aloof academic and a rebellious but kindhearted delinquent—form a friendship through their love of jazz music.

Let's Get Lost(en)

Ozzy, beset on all sides by the eccentricities of the artists around her, meets Jack, a city-dwelling forest sprite jazz singer. Together, they escape Dante's, the jazz club Ozzy manages, and losing herself, Ozzy finds something else.

What a Team!(fr)

Hubert Franier, an honest hospital extern, should never had got into trouble had he not been infatuated with Véra, a beautiful but stupid creature, who led him down the wrong path. Because of her and her friends, Hubert, who naively thought he was taking part in a practical joke, was actually a party to a car theft. Because of him, Monsieur Pierre, a good-natured caretaker, is in hospital. Racked with remorse, Hubert decides to hide from the police and finds refuge at his friend Louis'. Louis is a very sociable artist and his flat is the meeting place of many a colorful character. There, Hubert gets to know Candy, a Black American saxophonist, as well as Boubou, a Black little boy. He also meets Marie-Lou, a bar girl who dreams of becoming a nurse.

Sonic Mirror(en)

The multi-award-winning Finnish documentarian Mika Kaurismäki, brother of Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past), helms the nonfiction work Sonic Mirror -- a protracted exploration of rhythm as one of life's driving forces. Revered drummer Billy Cobham serves as host, taking the audience on a long musical journey around the world and through a myriad of musical genres and styles. Cobham, Kaurismäki, and co. segue from Western concert halls and stages to the music of African tribes performed by Brazilian street children to the distinct music of autistic patients. Along the way, the filmmakers raise serious questions about the function of music as an identifying force, a means of communication, and an emotional release; they also probe the enduring connections between group awareness and self-awareness. The film ultimately builds to a hugely affirming and cathartic expression of music as collective expression that unifies its performers in spirit.

Soul(en)

Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.

Amy(en)

A documentary on the life of Amy Winehouse, the immensely talented yet doomed songstress. We see her from her teen years, where she already showed her singing abilities, to her finding success and then her downward spiral into alcoholism and drugs.

Queens of Jazz: The Joy and Pain of the Jazz Divas(en)

The documentary tracks the diva's difficult progress as she emerges from the tough, testosterone-fuelled world of the big bands of the 30s and 40s, to fill nightclubs and saloons across the US in the 50s and early 60s as a force in her own right. Looking at the lives and careers of six individual singers (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone and Annie Ross), the film not only talks to those who knew and worked with these queens of jazz, but also to contemporary singers who sit on the shoulders of these trailblazing talents without having to endure the pain and hardship it took for them to make their highly individual voices heard above the prejudice of mid-century America.

The Manhattan Transfer & Take 6 - The Summit(en)

Pop and jazz fusion vocal quartet The Manhattan Transfer is one of the most celebrated a cappella groups in history, with ten Grammys to their name. They have performed with a cornucopia of the biggest names in music - now including the innovative R&B and gospel a cappella group Take 6. Soundstage brings together these two wildly talented ensembles for the very first time - an unforgettable cross-cultural exchange that will test the limits of the unaccompanied voice!

Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes(en)

Explore the vision behind the iconic American jazz record label. Since 1939, Blue Note artists have been encouraged to push creative boundaries in search of uncompromising expressions. Through current recording sessions, rare archive and conversations with iconic Blue Note artists, the film reveals an intimate perspective of a legacy that continues to be vital in today’s political climate.

Miles Ahead(en)

An exploration of the life and music of Miles Davis.

Born to Be Blue(en)

Jazz legend Chet Baker finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.

Show Girls(en)

Show Girls celebrates Montreal's swinging Black jazz scene from the 1920s to the 1960s, when the city was wide open. Three women who danced in the legendary Black clubs of the day - Rockhead's Paradise, The Terminal, Café St. Michel - share their unforgettable memories of life at the centre of one of the world's hottest jazz spots. From the Roaring Twenties, through the Second World War and on into the golden era of clubs in the fifties and sixities, Show Girls chronicles the lives of Bernice, Tina and Olga - mixing their memories with rarely seen footage of the era.

Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday(en)

Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday integrates film and video performances, recordings, words from her controversial autobiography (read by actress Ruby Dee) and interviews with artists who played with her (pianist Mal Waldron, trumpeter Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison), Milt Gabler (owner of Commodore and a producer at Decca), author Albert Murray and vocalists Carmen McRae and Annie Ross.

Muxˣ(de)

Mux spent many years in a coma in a clinic with a constant stream of television. But at least he survived a serious car accident! Now he has woken up, and he has a plan: during his time in hospital, he came up with the idea of a fairer society. From now on, Mux sees it as his task to save the world from neoliberalism and goes to France, the motherland of revolutions, with his long-term nurse Karsten and a self-written manifesto.

Peripheria(fr)

This haunting, beautifully crafted animation is set in a not-so-distant dystopia where lonely, suspicious pack dogs set the boundaries of their world amidst the remains of human presence. Within the confines of this border, the best and worst of animal behavior begin to manifest.

The Blood Bond(en)

In a war-torn Asian land, peace lies in the hands of the Bagwun, a revered religious leader. When he is wounded in an assassination attempt, his sworn protector, Deva, sets out on a dangerous journey to find the one man who can provide the rare blood type needed to save her master's life. The potential donor is John Tremayne (Biehn), an embittered form US Special Forces operative. Together, this unlikely pair must run the gauntlet laid down by rebel leader Lompoc (Yam) and his aide Guang Di (Pei).

Epidemic(en)

A deadly pathogen is unleashed and unknowingly carried to Dana Overbeck's 30th birthday party, where her estranged father, Rufus, is coming to make amends.

Bridge of Time(en)

Mónica y el Profesor(es)

Monica is a rich swiss girl who is kidnapped with a university teacher. Together they discuss their future and their ideas about life.

The Jungle Fight(en)

The Jungle Fight is an action-packed love story about courage, trust, and the triumph of good over evil. David, a handsome football player, and Victoria, a talented singer, are a couple living in the United Kingdom. One day, they decide to go for a long walk in a serene jungle to enjoy nature. David drives them there and brings a black bag filled with essentials like water, fruits, and snacks. Unbeknownst to them, a gang led by Captain and his friends Billy, Rosy, and Spike is lurking in the jungle, searching for monkeys to trade for weapons. Billy mistakenly believes David's black bag contains money and informs Captain. The gang decides to follow David and Victoria. When they finally confront the couple, Captain demands the bag, but David refuses to hand it over. A fierce fight ensues, with David taking on the gang members one by one.

Balochistan Hotel(en)

A casual day in Balochistan Hotel is turned upside down after a robbery and a chaotic musical night.

The Making of Casino Royale, 1967(en)

Interviews and overview of the making of the original 1967 James Bond film.

Doll Boy(en)

When a brutal daylight massacre leaves them bound and gagged in a remote, abandoned warehouse, eight young West Texans soon realize their minutes are numbered.

Gunpowder(ru)

At the end of September 1941, Soviet artillery troops in besieged Leningrad realize that pretty soon they will fire their last shot, and after that the defense of the city will be doomed. The film is based on a true event: a small group of fearless soldiers transported a large supply of gunpowder through enemy lines to Leningrad.

Charlotte Salomon: Life and the Maiden(fr)

In 1940, the German artist Charlotte Salomon (1917-43) undertook an extraordinary artistic adventure, during which she combined painting, text and music: in only eighteen months, she painted more than a thousand paintings. In 1943, she was arrested by the Nazis and sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp.

Inshallah, Kashmir(hi)

Testimonies of ordinary Kashmiris recount a brutal militancy and its terrible response. Dodging agents of Indian armed-forces, the filmmakers were able to obtain rare testimonials in the highest militarized zone in the world. The film tells how freedom is conceded and replaced by fear, governance by institutionalized oppression and a paradise made desolate on the watch of India : a secular, democratic republic. - Written by Anonymous

¡Qué viva el merengue y la lambada!(es)

A Carioca woman is confused with a businesswoman on the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean.

The Death of Mr. Fawkes(en)

A young woman, after her fiancée’s death, cannot understand her feelings about the socially-motivated engagement’s end. Parents apathetic, cousin overwhelmingly sympathetic, only a reemerging suitor’s advances allow her to understand— what she feels is grief.

Children of the Arctic(en)

Children of the Arctic is a portrait of five Native Alaskan teenagers growing up in Barrow - the northernmost community in the United States. As their climate and culture undergo profound changes, they strive to balance being modern American kids and the inheritors of an endangered way of life.