life is cool

Mystify: Michael Hutchence

April 2019 •English

Michael Hutchence was flying high as the lead singer of the legendary rock band INXS until his untimely death in 1997. Richard Lowenstein’s documentary examines Hutchence’s deeply felt life through his many loves and demons.

Symphonie Atonale

February 2024 •French

Video Nasties: Draconian Days

March 2014 •English

The highly anticipated follow-up to their critically acclaimed VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP & VIDEOTAPE documentary, director Jake West and producer Marc Morris continue uncovering the shocking story of home entertainment post the 1984 Video Recordings Act. A time when Britain plunged into a new Dark Age of the most restrictive censorship, where the horror movie became the bloody eviscerated victim of continuing dread created by self-aggrandizing moral guardians. With passionate and entertaining interviews from the people who lived through it and more jaw dropping archive footage, get ready to reflect and rejoice the passing of a landmark era.

Trespassing Bergman

August 2013 •English

In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, left Stockholm and went to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special cinephiles, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An abridged version of Bergmans video, 2012.)

La belleza en el mundo

April 2024 •Spanish

Werner We Love You

October 2017 •German

When Werner Herzog was still a child, his father was beaten to death before his eyes. His mother was overwhelmed with his upbringing and thereupon shipped him off to one of the toughest youth welfare institutions in Freistatt. This was followed by a career as a bouncer in the city's most notorious music club and an attempt to start a family. Today, the 77-year-old from Bielefeld lives with his dog Lucky in a lonely house in the country. Despite adverse living conditions, he has survived in his own unique and inimitable way.

Battle at Kruger

May 2007 •English

An eight-minute amateur wildlife video that depicts a confrontation between a herd of Cape buffalo, a small group of young lions from a pride, and one crocodile.

Hold mig fast. Før jeg forsvinder

April 2023 •Danish

Éramos Livres

May 2024 •Portuguese

Five inmates recite poetry while time keeps passing by.

Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen

May 2022 •English

The story of Queen Elizabeth II in her own words, featuring never-before-seen home movies.

Cleanflix

September 2009 •English

When a small Utah-based edited movie company is caught sanitizing Hollywood's copyrighted material, the film industry strikes back with a devastating blow.

Chuck Norris vs Communism

November 2015 •Romanian

In late eighties, in Ceausescu's Romania, a black market VHS bootlegger and a courageous female translator brought the magic of Western films to the Romanian people and sowed the seeds of a revolution.

Collinsville Trade Day, 1988

April 2015 •English

In 1988, Keener's grandfather Charles took his video camcorder to Collinsville Trade Day to document the popular outdoor market for posterity. Twenty-six years later, Keener found the tape buried in a box in his living room closet. He took the liberty to edit this footage and the resulting film is a very personal collaboration with his grandfather about a small town’s culture.

Super Mario Bros: This Ain't No Video Game

November 2014 •English

A documentary about the making of the live-action Super Mario Bros. movie.

Everything to Entertain You: The Story of Video Headquarters

August 2023 •English

A 60 minute documentary on one of the greatest video stores in the country, Video Headquarters, from Keene, New Hampshire that existed for 32 years from 1983-2015. It's owner, Ken McAleer, was a prominent figure among independent video store owners and the documentary examines how one man, with a single video store, can have such a big impact in the industry. A labor of love from a first time filmmaker and former employee, this nostalgic look back at the video store era includes interviews with VHQ owner Ken McAleer, employees, comic artist and former video store owner, Stephen Bissette, and a treasure trove of archival photographs and documents from the store.

Ban the Sadist Videos!

September 2005 •English

An in-depth analysis of the "Video Nasty" scandal of the early 1980s in Britain.

Quarantine

May 2021 •Spanish

A short film of the first weeks of strict national lockdown, filmed in Barcelona on a classic home video camera Hi8. Narrates the story of three women who share a flat and who create a microworld not only to survive the global pandemic but also to survive themselves.

SHRED

September 2024 •English

A group of queer Latinx skaters struggle with crippling mental health and societal expectations in Southern California. In their local skate community, they find cathartic release, chosen family and mastery of empowerment.

Videosyncracy

September 2010 •English

As the dissociated convenience of the Internet and globalized corporate culture continue to shut down brick-and-mortar video stores, what will happen to the longstanding, local hangouts with their rugged individuals known as clerks and the communities who love them? Videosyncracy follows three very different video rental stores as they negotiate their survival in three distinct Los Angeles neighborhoods: Old Bank DVD in the Downtown arts district, Vidiots in sunny seaside Santa Monica, and Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee in bustling North Hollywood. Their stories chronicle not only the birth and twilight of a particular kind of corner store, but also decades of personal lives intertwined with those of their communities, the new challenges and facilities of a rapidly changing world, and an enduring love of the movies, a slice of Americana on the brink of disappearance yet defiant to the end.

A Poem for My Blanket

October 2024 •English

Through a collection of home video footage, the filmmaker undergoes a journey of reconciliation and healing, grappling with their identity in the face of the past.