Hail Bop! A Portrait of John Adams
2006 · 98m · Documentary
Shot over the course of a year, this intimate portrait of provocative composer John Adams presents scenes of the artist at work and at play against the backdrop of dramatic American landscapes that reflect the themes of his music. Though he has a number of credits to his name, Adams is best known for his unconventional opera "Nixon in China," which explores the former U.S. president's meeting with Mao Zedong in 1972.
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Super Duper Alice Cooper
2014 · ★ 7.1
Emerging from the Detroit music scene of the 1970s in a flurry of long hair and sequins, Alice Cooper restored hard rock with a sense of showmanship, while simultaneously striking fear into the hearts of Middle America with the chicken-slaughtering, dead-baby-eating theatrics that would cement his identity as a glam metal icon. Meticulously crafted from rare archival footage, Super Duper Alice Cooper tells the story of the man behind the makeup, Vincent Furnier, the son of a preacher, who got caught in the grip of his own monster.
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Orazio vola
2024
On the outskirts of Augusta lives Orazio: a mechanic by vocation. Due to countless misadventures he cannot open a workshop. To give vent to his anger, he transforms mopeds and scooters into “glittered motorized umbrellas.” Glitter helmets and hyper-colored decorations dress him up; thus begins his passion for “light” understood as a superior force.
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Whispering Revolution
2015
Whispering Revolution (2015) Shammi, age 21, is a tiny woman with big dreams. She has spend her life actively fighting the discrimination in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh lives around 11 tribes in an area called the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The indigenous are the victims of an ethnic cleansing and the Bengali settlers violate several human rights every day. Even though Shammi belongs to the Bengali people, she has decided to meet the indigenous women of Chittagong. We follow her first steps and though about starting a revolution to change the relationship between to two groups of people.
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Menstrual Man
2013 · ★ 7.5
Some folks squirm at mention of a woman’s period…not Arunachalam Muruganantham. Considered a madman and pervert by his community, he ignores his detractors and makes his dream—low-cost sanitary pads made by and for rural Indian women—a reality. Using manually operated machines, Muruganantham’s microbusiness model is focused on something more important than profits: providing sustainable employment, hygiene and emancipation to women who would otherwise go without. He’s a man with a million-dollar idea—except money has nothing to do with it. His goal is to make a livelihood, not to accumulate wealth; to operate at a human scale, not a multinational one. Menstrual Man is the inspiring story of a hero who rises above poverty and a lack of education to become a superstar social entrepreneur in the business of breaking cultural taboos and re-inventing the economic pyramid. Muruganantham is leading a movement, not a company. And it’s spreading.
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A Brief History of Time
1991 · ★ 7.2
This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.
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Paulo César Pinheiro - Letra e Alma
2021 · ★ 3.9
A prolific composer and one of the most celebrated poets in Brazilian music, Paulo César Pinheiro is the author of Canto das Três Raças and O Poder da Criação, among other samba, samba-enredo and song classics. Partner of Baden Powell, Tom Jobim and Edu Lobo, was created by Elis Regina, Clara Nunes and Maria Bethânia. Here, sitting on his couch, he reflects on human nature and leads a journey that evokes and involves big names in MPB, covering half a century of music, from the height of the festival era to the period of protest songs against the military dictatorship.
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David Stratton: A Cinematic Life
2017 · ★ 4.6
A compelling personal journey with David Stratton, as he relates the fascinating development of our cinema history. David guides us from his boyhood cinema experience of Australia in England, where he saw the first images of this strange and exotic landscape via the medium of film, to his migration to Australia as a ‘ten pound pom’ in 1963 and onto his present day reflections on the iconic themes that run through our cinematic legacy. All of this reflects a passionate engagement in a uniquely Australian medium. Parallel and at the heart of the series is the story of an industry whose growing pains David has witnessed over a lifetime. Alongside David, the protagonists of this history are the giants of Australian cinema – both behind the camera and in front of it.
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Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith
1984
Olivier Messiaen played a leading role in the evolution of 20th-century music. In this classic interview, the late composer talks on topics such as his love of nature and his fervent Christian faith, two themes that profoundly shaped his work; his views on rhythm and tonal color; his relationship with his mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage; and his professorship at the Paris Conservatoire. Film clips of Messiaen improvising on the organ and notating birdsong for his compositions—plus excerpts of his music, some of which are performed by his wife, the celebrated pianist Yvonne Loriod—provide a deeper appreciation of his special genius. (79 minutes)
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Diana: The Interview that Shocked the World
2020 · ★ 6
In one of the most memorable moments in TV history, Princess Diana candidly opens up about her marriage to Prince Charles and her life as a member of the royal family.
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Drawn from Memory
1995 · ★ 10
Fierlinger concentrates his considerable talents as an animator to recount through fragmented memories, vivid recollections, and the occasional evocative photograph his life as the rebellious son of Jan Fierlinger, Czechoslovakian career politician.
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The Bit Player
2019 · ★ 6.6
The Bit Player tells the story of an overlooked genius, Claude Shannon (the "Father of Information Theory"), who revolutionized the world, but never lost his childlike curiosity.
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