NYC PREMIERE The remote Ozark town of Branson, MO has long been a popular tourist attraction, drawing 7.5 million visitors to attend its more than 100 family-oriented musical/ variety shows. But as the economic crisis takes its toll on the traditionally middle-class clientele of the “Live Music Capital of the World,” Branson’s way of life […]
NYC PREMIERE China’s top drama academy stages the American musical Fame in the country’s first official collaboration with Broadway. During the eight-month rehearsal, five students compete for roles, struggle with pressure from family and authority, and prepare to graduate into China’s corrupt entertainment industry. Part of China’s single-child generation, they must confront complex social realities […]
NYC PREMIERE Kathleen Hanna, known to many as the lead singer of seminal bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, was one of the music world’s most outspoken performers and a pioneer of the riot grrrl movement—until she inexplicably vanished from the scene for several years. Sini Anderson’s candid and intimate portrait reveals why, while also […]
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 […]
NYC PREMIERE Before his untimely death last year, composer Marvin Hamlisch was a triple-threat in the worlds of music, film and theatre. A Juilliard prodigy, he developed into a hit-maker, creating instant classics like “The Way We Were” and the score for “A Chorus Line,” winning every major award—Pulitzer, Tony, Grammy, Emmy and Oscar. His […]
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 […]
US PREMIERE The World Famous *BOB*, Dirty Martini, Tigger!, Mat Fraser, Julie Atlas Muz, Bunny Love, Bambi the Mermaid, James Habacker and Rose Wood use satire and their own bodies to send up conventional notions of body image, gender, and sexuality in their modern burlesque performances. New York underground filmmaking legend Beth B enters their […]
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 […]