THE HISTORY OF JAZZ. WHAT IS JAZZ? (Documentary)

At the beginning of the 20th century, a new direction in music appeared in America. Although the word "jazz" came into use only in 1913, this music, distinguished by its loudness, audacity, and riot, was heard on the streets of New Orleans at least ten years earlier. Jazz possessed special rhythmic energy never seen before in folk music. In addition, jazz was bold and unpredictable - the same song sounded different with each performance, and this only made jazz attractive. The musicians improvised, following the inspiration and adapting the melody to the sounds of other instruments playing with them on stage.

Home Again

Rolland, a 70 year-old man, exiled by his family due to his sexual orientation, makes peace with the past by finding himself in a small ghost town in the western part of Jalisco, San Sebastián del Oeste. Almost 40 years later, he wants to go back to his hometown, try to regain his daughter's love and be a part o his granddaughter's life.

Eighteen fragments from Malcolm Le Grice’s After Leonardo

"This installation or performance work puts my own earlier film of the Mona Lisa (1973) through another stage of transformation – my own irretrievable self of some 34 years ago is now also part of the subject I first saw the ‘actual’ ‘Mona Lisa’ when I was about thirteen. Of course I had seen dozens of reproductions in books and postcards by then and the popular mythology of the enigmatic smile was already well engrained in my mind. My strongest impression, as I recall, was how small and unsurprising it was – a heavily protected cultural icon – no longer really a picture – and I was much more excited by the painting of the distant landscape than by the face. My own ‘version’ of ‘la Giaconda’ was never an homage, nor like Marcel Duchamp’s ‘L.H.O.O.Q’, an attack on its cultural power. Instead it came from a fascination with change and transformation – maybe also with arbitrary appropriation." Malcolm Le Grice

Tre gatti

A man tells the story of his three cats.

Una película de policías

This documentary walks the line between fact and fiction, delving into corruption in the Mexican police through the experiences of two officers.

Resilience: The Story of Ryan Porter

A short documentary on jazz trombonist, Ryan Porter.

Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool

A musical documentary accompaniment to the 1994 benefit compilation album concerning AIDS in the African-American community.

Echos aus einem düsteren Reich

Documentary examining Bokassa's rule in the Central African Republic using the testimony of witnesses and visits to key sites.

Banksy Most Wanted

Banksy is a household name, but behind this name hides a multitude of stories, artworks, stunts, political statements and identities, leading to one of the art world's biggest unanswered questions- who is Banksy?

Oltre la crosta

Maurizio is a young university student living in Zürich, with a passion for diseases. Unlike many others, he can see an inherent beauty in them. Afterall, what difference can exist between a flower and an infection, if they are both a gift of nature?

Les dieux de Molenbeek

Lo Steinway

Stop-motion short by Massimo Ottoni. Follows the story of some soldiers during the Great War in an Austrian trench on the Italian front.

Sing! Fight! Sing! Fight! From LeRoi to Amiri

The story of how Everett Leroy Jones became Amiri Baraka, from his childhood to the mid '60s, is told through interviews recorded in the late '90s.

Sur les pas de Robespierre

Black Journal: 26; Alice Coltrane

In this intimate portrait—produced for a segment of National Education Television's "Black Journal" television program—legendary jazz musician Alice Coltrane plays the harp and discusses her thoughts on music, spirituality, family, and the legacy of her late husband, John Coltrane.

How It Breathes

Elijah Jamal Balbed grew up in Washington DC in the midst of one of its most difficult eras, as its identity was being tested. As the city changed around him, his budding career as a musician exposed him to the people and music providing a voice and an outlet to the people of DC. Now tasked with preserving and sharing that tradition, Balbed reflects on balancing that responsibility with creating a musical identity of his own.

Jan Fedder - mit Ecken, Kanten und ganz viel Herz

Cool

Documentary exploring the meaning and history of cool through the American music that started in the 1940s in the bars of New York and LA, and became known as cool jazz.

Finde Vogel

Annedore takes care of orphan birds. They give her that which humans througout her turbulent life could never give her: love.

The Last of the First

The Harlem Blues & Jazz Band during its sunset years: 87-year-old Al Casey, who had worked closely with Fats Waller throughout the 1930s; guitarist Lawrence Lucie, 95 years young, from the bands of Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter and Duke Ellington; saxophonist Bubba Brooks, 79, who was with Bill Doggett; Edwin Swanston, 80, pianist with Louis Armstrong's Orchestra; 91-year-old drummer Johnny Blowers, ex-Bunny Berigan, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra; Ivan Rolle, 85, bassist with Jonah Jones; and 88-year-old Laurel Watson, one-time vocalist with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Baron's cameras record the musicians through their tours and concerts, capturing their joy in performing together. A celebration of the jazz spirit.