Mimaroglu: The Robinson of Manhattan Island

A portrait of Ilhan Mimaroglu, the little-known composer of Turkish avant-garde and electronic music, and his wife, Güngör, who was an activist for the American civil rights movement, after emigrating to the country in 1959. The film is built through their home videos and other materials from their personal archives, as well as their reflections and other testimonies, and weaves a life-long adventure marked by companionship.

I’m Full of It!

The Portuguese punk scene portrayed in a documentary focused on João Pedro Almendra, former vocalist of the band Peste & Sida. In addition to testimonials from his companions and other bands, the film focuses on the Lisbon neighborhood of Alvalade, where Almendra has always lived and which was the territory of national punk bands such as Ku de Judas, Peste & Sida and Censurados.

Different Johns

John Cohen is a maverick and a multi-talent artist. Founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers as well as folk musician raved about by Patti Smith, photographer, anthropologist and filmmaker, Cohen played a singular role in registering figures from American popular culture, such as his portraits of Jack Kerouac, Kooning Willem, Robert Frank, Allen Ginsberg, Woodie Guthrie and a Bob Dylan about to make it into the limelight.

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché

Poly Styrene, from the English band X-Ray Spex, saw the Sex Pistols in 1976 and converted to punk rock. This film, directed by Paul Sng and the singer’s daughter, Celeste Bell, portrays a musical icon who has become a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements, having revolted against the racist, sexist and oppressive structures in England, at the end of the 20th century. The opposite of a cliché.

The Nowhere Inn

Bill Benz, in his first feature film, reunites with Carrie Brownstein (from the band Sleater-Kinney), with whom he worked on the comedy she created with Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live), Portlandia. Brownstein is the author of the script alongside Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent. The idea, in this mockumentary psychological thriller, is to explore who the “real Annie” is through the eyes of her best friend, Carrie.

Patrick

Luke Fowler continues to create posthumous portraits of relevant figures. In this film, he evokes the life of music producer Patrick Cowley, the pioneer of Hi-NRG, a genre of electronic music, in the late 70s, and a prolific artist of the San Francisco cultural scene.

The Sparks Brothers

Edgar Wright is known for films such as Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Baby Driver. Now he presents a documentary about The Sparks, an eclectic and eccentric musical duo who are described as “your favorite band’s favorite band”. To talk about the myth and let the world know about these two brothers, Wright gathers interviews with musicians and comedians, including Beck, Neil Gaiman, Björk, Patton Oswalt, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Jack Antonoff or even Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls).

Live from the Centre of the Earth

Live from the centre of the earth takes our primal bond to music back into the prehistoric cave. When the pandemic halted all tours, Jarvis Cocker’s new band, Jarv Is…, decided to perform their new album deep inside a cave in England. Captured by BAFTA nominated directors Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard (20,000 Days on Earth). THIS IS NOT A LIVE FILM – it’s an ALIVE FILM.

A Symphony of Noise

A film about and with Matthew Herbert, a British electronic musician and activist. In this documentary, the director accompanies Herbert through his creative process of an idiosyncratic project: writing a book in which each chapter painstakingly describes a piece of music and it’s up to the reader to imagine the symphony.

Ney under the skin

Anthological documentary that traces the impact of the music, performances and ideas by Brazilian singer Ney Matogrosso, from the second half of the twentieth century, through archival footage of his concerts and interviews over the decades.

Eram 27 Dias e Paraste

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the presentation of Noiserv’s latest album, Uma palavra começada por N, at Lisbon’s Teatro Tivoli BBVA, on November 13, 2020.

Caudal

After the year when the world stopped, Barcelo’s Solar Corona took advantage of the end of lockdown to return to the stage. The camera snakes between them, in a different concert format.

Other, Like Me

In 1970, in the city of Hull in England, an artistic collective was born that was about to challenge the world of art. COUM Transmissions was led by the artists Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti who worked on performance that challenged the limits imposed on themes such as violence, sex and pornography. When they turned to music, they created the band Throbbing Gristle, precursor to industrial electronica. This is a documentary about their work.

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In the year that the world saw the disappearance, at the age of 70, of Genesis P-Orridge, founder of the pioneers COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle, who assumed himself as a “pandrogynous” being following a peculiar body fusion surgical intervention with his wife , this film tells, for the first time, the history of these bands through the words of the elements themselves, for the fisrt time. The story of a group of artists and musicians who worked in different combinations over many years and who were at the origin of industrial music in England in the 70s. To fuse art with life and archive complete personal liberation – at whatever the cost – was the single idea. They adopted new identities, pushed art to its limits and invented a new genre of music, confronting assumptions aboux sex, morality and the dark side of human nature. Their work caused outrage and media scandal and politician denounced them as “the wreckers of civilization”. A film about an indisputable milestone in the genesis of industrial music and in the arts in general. (Helena César)

Ricardo

In 2014, a guy appeared on stage in colourful shorts, for an artistic performance during Sensible Soccers concert, at the Paredes de Coura festival. Since then he was never forgotten. But who is he? Ricardo is a mockumentary about Ricardo.

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Who is Ricardo? We don’t know much, although he is known as the guy in the colorful shorts. The story goes that in 2014 he appeared on stage in colorful shorts, for an artistic performance during a Sensible Soccers concert at the Paredes de Coura festival. Since then he has never been forgotten. Ricardo is a mockumentary about Ricardo Bueno and the drama of forgetting your dance moves. Suffering for you, Ricardo. (Carlos Ramos)

Show Me the Picture: The Story of Jim Marshall

Much of what we know about the musical mythology and counterculture of the 60’s we owe to the images and the photographic talent of Jim Marshall. He captured many important photos of musicians like Bob Dylan or The Rolling Stones and historical moments like The Beatles last concert, Johnny Cash’s concerts at Folsom prison or Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar. This film chronicles the life of a singular artist, behind and outside his camera.

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“I do see the music. This career has never been just a job, it’s been my life.”

Jim Marshall – rock n’roll photographer – is the author of emblematic images of the history of music. Jimmy Hendrix setting his guitar aflame at stage, Miles Davis sitting in a boxing ring, the boyish Bob Dylan following a stray tire down a New York street, Johnny Cash gesturing with his middle finger, Janin Joplin at home, or The Beatles in them last concert. There are countless moments captured by Marshall that became famous. A man of intense temperament, a life of excess and battling inner demons, who was loved or hated, there was no in-between. “If he loved you, he would lie down in front of a truck for you. If he hated you, he would happily drive the truck over you.”, says Amelia Davis, owner of Jim Marsall Photography LLC.

The portrait of the photographer who lived and died like an autentic rockstar that shows us his work and some of the most important moments in music. (Helena César)

SOA

We are surrounded by all kinds of sounds, but how far are we conscious about them? The director and investigator Raquel Castro has been working with the concept of sound landscape. And in particular the way sounds, silences, noises, frequencies and all spectral densities – infra or ultrasounds – can shape each place and all of us. This is also a film essay about citizenship, ecology, and the responsibility we have for the sounds we produce.

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Imagine a world without sound. Imagine at least that, as in our world, it was not the momentary absence of sound that defined it. This is how SOA challenges us: the ubiquity of sound, from the simplest human activity today to the oldest proof of the existence of life. After all, if God dictated let there be light, the sound of His voice would have preceded it. SOA is a journey of questioning about the heterogeneity of sound and, along with the geography of human complexity, about its itinerancies – and our ability to listen to it. (Filipa Henriques)

The Heart is a Drum

The German musician Klaus Dinger was one of the founders of NEU! and a drummer for Kraftwerk. He was also one of the creators for the Motorik beat, that influenced much of the German experimental music of the 60’s and 70’s and later artists and bands like Iggy Pop, Joy Division or Primal Scream. Jacob Frössén goes after Dinger’s story and the hypothesis that behind the creation of that famous beat there was a failed loved affair.

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The definition of the legendary german drummer Klaus Dinger’s apache beat could be the melodic pattern that outcomes from the infinite 4:4 loop; if we only used these words, we would reduce his music to its more mechanic sense. Through images as unusual (or even more) than Dinger himself, and the distinctive voice of Kim Gordon guiding us through these images, we are invited to uncover the love story that influenced some of the most important bands of the German rock scene from the 70s. The Heart is a Drum is not only a film about Dinger’s creative process through bands as Kraftwerk and Neu!, but also about the love (and the lack of it) that fed it. (Filipa Henriques)

White Riot

At the end of the 70’s, British National Front supported right wing extremist and xenophobic positions. As a response the movement Rock Against Racism was created, a central element to the British punk rock. Rubika Shah’s film portrays the beginning of this movement, under the impulse of the music photographer Red Saunders. Bands like The Clash or Sham 69 would join these protest years, in a moment where a youth generation defied the status quo.

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RAR – Rock Against the Racism – a political and cultural movement – emerged in 1976, in London, in reaction to a rise in racist attacks on the streets of the United Kingdom, increasing support for the neo-Nazi National Front at the ballot box, and the and support by some musicians for the idea of “Keep Britain White”. Relevant and timely, the award-winning White Riot blends interviews with archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches.As neo-Nazis recruited the nation’s youth, RAR’s multicultural punk, rock and reggae gigs were the resistance against the racism. Musicians not only played, but also participated in the organization of the actions.

The movement grew from fanzines to the huge Carnival Against the Racism, one of the RAR’s landmark, in April 1978, which saw 100,000 people march across London before attending an outdoor festival in Victoria Park featuring bnads like The Clash, Stell Pulse e X-Ray Spex. (Helena César)