Director Mel Stuart, who died this year, was best known for Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, but a close second in his resume is this astonishing concert film known as the black Woodstock. Stuart interviewed Richard Pryor (still a rising comedian at the time) to interlace classic performances by The Staple Singers, The Bar-Kays, Albert King, Rufus […]
Bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane was at the center of glam rock as a member of the New York Dolls. But decades after the band’s break-up in 1975, he was barely scraping by working as a clerk in the Mormon Church. Then in 2004, rock star Morrissey organized a London concert for the surviving New York Dolls, reuniting singer […]
US PREMIERE For the first time, the greatest singer-songwriters, authors and performers from Greenwich Village reflect on how they collectively became the voice of a generation. Through poignant interviews with the likes of Pete Seeger, Carly Simon, Judy Collins, Kris Kristofferson, Arlo Guthrie, Peter Yarrow, Michelle Phillips, and many more, plus rare archival footage and new live performances, Greenwich […]
US PREMIERE Jonathan Demme has directed an impressively wide range of music documentaries, from Stop Making Sense to his collaborations with Neil Young. Now he follows his musical passions to Naples, Italy to document an extraordinary gathering of world musicians, led by Enzo Avitabile, the saxophonist and songwriter whose past collaborators include James Brown and Tina Turner. For anyone […]
US PREMIERE The legendary Memphis band Big Star, led by singer Alex Chilton, has been cited as an influence on REM, The Replacements, The Flaming Lips, and countless others—their song “In the Street” even served as the theme for the sitcom That ’70s Show. Yet the band’s short existence has made it obscure to larger musical history. This […]
US PREMIERE – The indelible music of Antony and the Johnsons has won the admiration of Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, and others. Turning captures the band in concert collaborating with the filmmaker Charles Atlas (The Legend of Legh Bowery), celebrating 13 women taking the stage who, like Antony himself, are not easily categorized personas. Whether they are […]