Before the Music Dies

Funny Up North

July 2011 •English

Documentary featuring a cavalcade of Northern comedy stars including the great Frank Randle, George Formby, Arthur Askey, Norman Evans and many more. The North of England has always enjoyed its own very particular brand of comedy, best seen today in Coronation Street. 80 years ago however Mancunian Studios produced feature films for the northern masses. Funny Up North tells the story of the Mancunian Studios, its eccentric owner John E Blakeley and its cavalcade of stars including such household names as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Jewell, George Formby and the legendary Frank Randle. Hosted by Professor Chris Lee, the authority on northern cinema, Funny Up North takes you on a journey from its humble beginnings to its sad demise in the 1960s.

The Wild Blue Yonder

September 2005 •English

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

Dogtown and Z-Boys

May 2002 •English

This award-winning, thrilling story is about a group of discarded kids who revolutionized skateboarding and shaped the attitude and culture of modern day extreme sports. Featuring old skool skating footage, exclusive interviews and a blistering rock soundtrack, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS captures the rise of the Zephyr skateboarding team from Venice's Dogtown, a tough "locals only" beach with a legacy of outlaw surfing.

Into Great Silence

September 2005 •German

An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.

Mercy of God

August 2020 •English

A silent portrait of the devastated condition of coastal Odisha after the cyclone 'Fani'

No End in Sight

July 2007 •English

Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 - and the backgrounds of those making decisions - immediately following the overthrow of Saddam: no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over.

WISHBONER: Making an Awkward Thanksgiving

August 2016 •English

A feature length documentary look at the making of the independent comedy Awkward Thanksgiving. See the trials and tribulations of making a no-budget independent comedy in a 5 day shooting schedule! Lot's of laughs ensue. A must have for fans of the infamous indy comedy favorite!

Kayfabe

April 2007 •English

The TCICWF is shutting down forever, and these colorful, eccentric, clueless, indie wrestlers have one last chance to show the world that they belong in the big leagues.

No tan nuestras

March 2005 •Spanish

The Falklands/Malvinas War has proved a powerful motif in contemporary Argentine film-making and Ramiro Longo's new documentary offers a unique take on the conflict and its pervasive legacy. While Argentina suffered 649 casualties during the War, subsequently over 350 ex-servicemen have committed suicide while attempting to come to terms with civilian life in the aftermath of the 1982 defeat. Longo's film is structured around an extended interview with War veteran Sergio Delgado who provides a moving testimony on the conflict and the ways in which it has subsequently haunted his life and aspirations. As much an insider's view of the conflict as a tale of the legacy of trauma, Not Really Ours offers a reflection on memory, fear and the shaping of a nation's psyche. Longo's deft editing juxtaposes telling footage alongside Delgado's story. The result is both a moving tapestry of war and its scars and a telling reflection on the ways in which official history is constructed.

Ciclo da Reciclagem

January 2019 •Portuguese

Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan

April 2007 •Dutch

Near-silent and shot via a cell phone, a war veteran observes the world which has been colored by his experiences in Afghanistan.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

August 2006 •English

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust, and ran without gasoline... Ten years later, these cars were destroyed.

Fuel

November 2008 •English

Record high oil prices, global warming, and an insatiable demand for energy: these issues define our generation. The film exposes shocking connections between the auto industry, the oil industry, and the government, while exploring alternative energies such as solar, wind, electricity, and non-food-based biofuels.

Cirque du Soleil: Quidam

December 1999 •English

A young girl has already seen everything there is to see and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her world and she finds herself in the universe of QUIDAM, where she is joined by a playful companion, as well as another mysterious character who attempts to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling and the terrifying.

Up the Yangtze

September 2007 •Chinese

A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze - navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as "The River." The Yangtze is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history. At the river's edge - a young woman says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. The Three Gorges Dam - contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle - provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China.

Macheads

January 2009 •English

A exploration of the fanaticism that surrounds the Apple brand, featuring interviews with Mac evangelists and members of the Mac community.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

March 2006 •English

This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.

The Order of Myths

July 2008 •English

In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated... and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.

Man on Wire

August 2008 •English

On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.

Your Mommy Kills Animals

January 2007 •English