A film dedicated to the career of violinist, improviser, instrumentalist and composer Carlos “Zingaro”, who is one of the most important names in Portuguese experimental music, as well as one of the great figures of European improvised music.
Secção: IndieMusic
Courtney Barnett, a leading figure in Australian contemporary rock and usually very private, is the focus of this intimate, almost suffocating, portrait of an artist who reveals herself in all her vulnerability and anxiety. Danny Cohen takes out his 16mm camera to follow Barnett over three years — on tour and in the studio, recording her latest album — as she narrates the documentary herself, through small audio notes that punctuate the film.
The “barefoot diva”, the iconic Cesária Évora in a documentary that shows never-before-seen footage and offers a never-before-explored view of the life of the Cape Verdean singer who, though not corresponding to the normal model of success, was able to overcome all the conditions that would normally keep her out of the limelight. This is the story of a black African woman, over fifty years old and from a poor background, whose only dream was to be free.
When the dance floors were still taken for granted, Pedro Coquenão (also known as Batida) begins with a satirical portrait of a(n almost) perfect DJ, then takes us on a tour of the alternative music scene of a multicultural Lisbon.
The Lost Record is a documentary but also an essay, a fantastic tale that brings together rock’n’roll and science fiction. Alexandra Cabral and Ian F Svenonius, former lead singer of The Make-up and Nation of Ulysses, offer this meditation on the power of objects that we think are important. What do we do when we find something that is lost and that fascinates us? Do we keep it to ourselves or do we give it to the world as well?
Italo disco has synthesizers, catchy melodies and chaotic English lyrics. It is the music of Sabrina and La Bionda, possessing an idiosyncratic imagery that has benefited from a recent revival. It may not have been the coolest genre of the 1980s, but it was influential and underrated. Taking it not too seriously, this film looks at all aspects of this phenomenon.
Turkish emigration to Germany leads the community forming in the new country to create its own cultural and musical scene, far from the eyes of popular culture and the media. This documentary gives space to the stories and icons that shaped the voice of expatriates. But it also unravels the financial, political and social complexities that have affected this subculture.
Patti Smith is now 74, has lived several lives as an artist and continues to test the limits of her work. Poet, writer, singer, musician, there are countless facets to her. And her stamp is felt, even without much fuss. A punk at heart, with only one commercial success in her pocket but a lot of rock’n’roll in her baggage, Smith is literally a living legend, full of stories to tell.
A concert film, from 1990, now in a restored version. Ed Lachman captured, three years after Andy Warhol’s death, a stage performance by Lou Reed and John Cale of the album they wrote together in honor of their mentor — Drella, a combination of Dracula and Cinderella, which was a nickname used by his crowd. The songs on the album talk about his perspective, his life and the relationship between the two musicians and Warhol himself.
The avant-garde duo Telectu, composed of Vítor Rua and Jorge Lima Barreto, is accompanied in their life on the road, on trips around the world, throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The architecture of the documentary is the result of the curatorship of a vast archive of images, from which the current Telectu, Rua and Ilda Teresa Castro, created its operatic structure.
Laurent Garnier is described as being the Pope or “a DJ’s DJ”. This documentary offers an insight into the long career of the French DJ and producer, one of the biggest names in the techno music explosion of the 90s. A walk through dance floors so full of people dancing that it rains with the condensation resulting from the heat.
This documentary, based on the book of the same name by Lizzy Goodman, brings to the cinema the rebirth of rock’n’roll in the first decade of the 2000s, after 9/11, with the explosion of bands such as The Strokes, LCD SoundSystem, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio or Interpol. These bands and the alchemy of music they made in those years transformed New York and influenced a generation globally. For those who remember Napster, Vice and hipsters.
Director Alain Gomis delves into the archives to show us a visit by Thelonious Monk, the American jazz composer and pianist known for his style of improvisation, to Paris in 1969. The starting point is a raw interview that Monk gives to French television and the clash with the stereotypes he encounters. The result is a candid, improvised mosaic portrait of the jazz master.
Sinead O’Connor. The name conjures up an image of a girl with a shaved head, or a girl tearing up a photograph of the then Pope, John Paul II, or a singer who has been pushed out of the spotlight of pop music for her uncompromising personality. Through a contemporary feminist lens, this documentary looks at a five-year period, linking the singer’s career to the complex and eventful past of Ireland, where she was born.
In this film the spotlight is on Shane MacGowan, the leader of the punk Irish band Pogues. MacGowan turned out to be a difficult character to interview, according to the director, but that made room for the film to portray his irreverence and essence, using archival footage and testimonies from people like his sister, Siobhan, his father, Maurice, and Gerry Adams, the former president of the Sinn Féin political party, in inventive and playful ways.
A portrait of the new flamenco in Seville, through nine protagonists, including the dancer Javiera de la Fuente, the poet David Pielfort, the gypsy lawyer and feminist Pastora Filigrana or the actress Rocío Montero. Includes performances by Israel Galván, Alfredo Lago, Inés Bachan, Rocío Márquez, Cantizano Raul, Loyal Leonor, Tomás de Perrate, Niño de Elche, Silvia Pérez Cruz and Rosalía.
Leiria’s band First Breath After Coma had a full 2019. The excitement came not only due to recording an album, locked in a house, to concerts and collaborations, but also due to the fact that they had their movements followed by a film crew.
A healthy historical review, narrated by Laurie Anderson, that puts “girls to the front” when it comes to the impact and contributions of women in the history of electronic music. The contributions of the experiments by Clara Rockmore, Daphne Oram, Bebe Barron, Delia Derbyshire, Maryanne Amacher, Pauline Oliveros, Wendy Carlos, Eliane Radigue, Suzanne Ciani and Laurie Spiegel are mapped throughout this documentary – contextualizing their work regarding the political, cultural and social movements of the 20th century.