Appalachian Journey

Appalachian Journey is one of five films made from footage that Alan Lomax shot between 1978 and 1985 for the PBS American Patchwork series (1991). It offers songs, dances, stories, and religious rituals of the Southern Appalachians. Preachers, singers, fiddlers, banjo pickers, moonshiners, cloggers, and square dancers recount the good times and the hard times of rural life there. Performers include Tommy Jarrell, Janette Carter, Ray and Stanley Hicks, Frank Proffitt Jr., Sheila Kay Adams, Nimrod Workman and Phyllis Boyens, Raymond Fairchild, and others, with a bonus of a few African-Americans from the North Carolina Piedmont.

It's A Mean Old World

By the time "It's A Mean Old World" was filmed, Reverend Pearly Brown had been struggling to survive singing gospel music for nearly 40 years. While the rough sound of his bottleneck playing has the feel of a life spent scuffling on the street, the poignancy of his voice is a better measure of the gentle spirit and inner strength of the man.

Herb Ellis: Swing Jazz Soloing and Comping

"Comping (an abbreviation of accompanying) is a term used in jazz music to describe the chords, rhythms, and countermelodies that keyboard players (piano or organ) or guitar players use to support a jazz musician's improvised solo or melody lines. The term is also used for the action of accompanying, and for left hand part of a solo pianist."

Amadeus

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Viennese composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Blues Brothers

Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.

Hockshop Blues

Musical performers put on a show in a pawn shop to convince a man to give them the money they need to buy back their instruments.

One Ticket Please

A documentary about a 78-year-old Indian woman in New York who is the world's most passionate theatergoer. Nicki Cochrane has been seeing a play every day for more than 25 years, acquiring free tickets using a variety of ingenious means.

Psycho Path

Documentary on the making of Gus Van Sant's "Psycho."

You've Been Trumped Too

A timely film exploring the confrontation between a feisty 92-year-old Scottish widow and her family and a billionaire trying to become the most powerful man in the world.

Selena Live! The Last Concert

The concert was recorded on February 26, 1995, at the “Houston Astrodome” and was televised live on Univision. The singer shared the concert with Tejano singer “Emilio Navaira” and performed to 66,994 people, which broke the previous attendance record held by Selena in the previous year. Selena's performance at the Astrodome became her final televised concert before she was shot and killed on March 31, 1995. The set list mostly included material from her "Amor Prohibido" (1994) album and a medley mashup of disco music songs.

Wanda Gosciminska - wlókniarka

The life of a female weaver is thrown onto the socio-political canvas of pre-war and post-war communist Poland through the use of expressive allegorical and symbolic imagery in this imaginative take on the documentary form.

Chopin, Chopin!

He is the talk of the town, the most romantic figure of decadent Parisian nights. When his lungs start bleeding, Chopin knows his days are numbered. Composing becomes his only obsession. The ticking clock rushes him to revolutionize music.

Earl "Fatha" Hines - Blues Alley, Washington DC

A 1975 documentary on the great Blues pianist Earl Hines, one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano.

Nos Interstícios da Realidade, ou O Cinema de António de Macedo

He was the most prolific within the New Portuguese Cinema generation. He would try western spaghetti, esoteric allegory, supernatural, and science-fiction. Without state subsidies, he would quit filmmaking in the 1990s. Who remembers António de Macedo?

Tiermythen - Im Auge des Löwen

Wicker Kittens

Every January, the country's largest jigsaw puzzle contest is held in St. Paul, Minnesota. Choose your favorite team and watch them try to put the pieces back together.

Barbarossa: Hitler Turns East

Hitler's invasion of Russia was one of the landmark events of World War II. This documentary reveals the lead-up to the offensive, its impact on the war and the brinksmanship that resulted from the battle for Moscow. Rare footage from both German and Russian archives and detailed maps illustrate the conflict, while award-winning historian and author John Erickson provides insight into the pivotal maneuvers on the eastern front.

Jazz Legends - Chet Baker Quintette

Baobab Play

Children and teenagers throw sticks, berries, and leaves at each other from perches in a large baobab tree.

Dont Look Back

In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.