WORLD PREMIERE Emerging from the first blast of 1977 U.K. punk rock, the Mekons were notorious, as critic Greil Marcus notes, for being “the band that took punk ideology most seriously.” Charting the group’s progression from socialist art students with no musical skills through its reinvention as rabble-rousing progeny of Hank Williams, the film reveals […]
NYC PREMIERE With millions of records sold, thousands of concerts all over the world, and countless fans (and detractors), Mercedes Sosa left behind an indelible legacy. Featuring unforgettable performances that span Sosa’s 60-year career and interviews with musicians like Pablo Milanés, Chico Buarque and David Byrne, this stirring portrait takes us on an in-depth, intimate […]
WORLD PREMIERE The Reverend Gary Davis, blind since infancy, honed his music in North Carolina’s blues scene before moving to Harlem in the 1940s, preaching and performing on street corners. The 1960s folk revival saw a renewed interest in the virtuoso guitarist, culminating in a memorable performance at the Newport Folk Festival. This tribute gives […]
NYC PREMIERE A love letter to a musical genre and an intimate portrait of working artists in America, Sara Terry’s film explores the understated but thriving subculture of folk music. While its mass appeal peaked in the 1960s, musicians like Raina Rose, Hilary Claire Adamson, and Dirk Hamilton—ranging in age from 30 to 60—are still […]
NYC PREMIERE Sonia runs the Okutiuka orphanage in Huambo, Angola’s second largest city, nearly decimated by decades of civil war. Her boyfriend, Wilker, is a death metal guitarist. To raise awareness and funds for the orphanage, the industrious couple organizes the country’s first-ever national rock concert, tapping into the unexpected healing power hardcore music can […]
WORLD PREMIERE Musicwood is a documentary that needs to be seen by anyone who cares about guitar music. For hundreds of years guitars have been made the same way, but now, that could all change. A band of famous guitar-makers (Bob Taylor, Chris Martin and Dave Berryman of Gibson) travel together into a primeval rain forest. Their mission: […]
A guitar prodigy, Jason Becker burst onto the music scene at the tender age of 13, garnering notice from major industry players. In 1991, at age 19, Jason was hired as the lead guitarist in David Lee Roth’s band, the most coveted guitar gig at the time, but he never made it on tour. Doctors diagnosed him with […]
An intimate “fly on the wall” documentary about iconoclastic rocker Bobby Bare Jr., son of country music legend Bobby Bare, and his struggles dealing with the repercussions of a perpetual life on the road – the constant separation and the disconnect from loved ones back home. This documentary unveils a side of the music industry that […]
David Bromberg is a musician’s musician who collaborated with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jerry Garcia and other greats. But Bromberg stopped performing publicly in the 1980s and turned to violin making. Director Beth Toni Kruvant, who won acclaim for Heart of Stone about Newark’s Weequahic High School, follows Bromberg as he helps to revitalize an urban community and makes […]
A decade after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Kiki Katese, a pioneering theatre director, founded Ingoma Nshya, the country’s first female drumming troupe, offering healing for women from both sides of the conflict. When Kiki met the owners of Brooklyn’s Blue Marble Ice Cream, she invited them to help Ingoma Nshya open Rwanda’s first local ice cream shop. Sweet […]