When Chen's estranged wife reappears asking for a divorce, their music-loving daughter decides she will live with the parent that can provide her with a piano. After efforts to borrow money and even steal a piano fail, Chen concocts a preposterous plan – he'll make a piano from scratch! He persua...

Amid the ashes of post-WWII Japan, the bittersweet sounds of American traditional country music drifted through the radio airwaves. Although intended for the U.S. occupying forces, a vast "ghost audience" of young Japanese quickly warmed to the soothing, yet foreign, sounds.

Since falling in lov...

In 1979, Ukrainian-American violinist Isaac Stern made an unprecedented tour of China, the first such tour by a Western musician in a country still reeling from the effects of the Cultural Revolution. On hand to document the historic event was filmmaker Murray Lerner, who gathered footage of Ster...

Gathered together for a once-in-a-lifetime musical celebration, the biggest stars of reggae and beyond met at Fort Charles, Jamaica for a history-making concert event. Featuring two generations of legendary talent, the night included performances by Jimmy Cliff, Toots Hibbert, I-Three, Ziggy Marl...

Re-released in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the of Madonna's seminal 1991 documentary TRUTH OR DARE!

In 1990, seven young male dancers – 6 gay,1 straight – joined Madonna on her most controversial tour. On stage and in the iconic film TRUTH OR DARE, they showed the world how to expre...

Despite its genesis in the Bronx, hip-hop has become a universal language spoken across all cultures. This inspirational documentary pays tribute to the uplifting power of music and movement, chronicling three different breakdance crews from the slums of Uganda, Yemen and Cambodia, where hip-hop ...

Alliance of Women Film Journalists Selection! Read an excerpt from Pam Grady's AWFJ review: "Punk rock met political activism when Rock Against Racism rose up in Britain, pushing back at the rise of racism, xenophobia, and the far-right National Front movement in the 1970s. It might seem like anc...

The year is 1826. Ludwig van Beethoven (Tobias Moretti) faces the final stanza of his storied career. Deaf and defiant, he recalls memories of his youth, when as an eight-year-old prodigy he comes under the tutelage of the Bonn court organist, Christian Gottlob Neefe. Years later after an encount...

Anat (Naama Preis, Best Actress winner at the Jerusalem Film Festival) has never been able to reach her father’s exacting musical standards, so the family's hope of producing a talented composer rests on her unborn son. After giving birth to a deaf child, Anat takes drastic measures to ensure tha...

In the 18th century during Handel's time, no man was more famous or more celebrated than the castrato, Farinelli. The incredible, true story of the world famous opera singer - who was castrated during childhood in order to preserve his voice - comes to life in this Oscar-nominated drama of high n...

Aretha Franklin, the Bee Gees, Bette Midler and Norah Jones are just a handful of the iconic artists produced by 12 time Grammy Award-winning producer/arranger Arif Mardin. The Grammy nominated film, The Greatest Ears In Town: The Arif Mardin Story, chronicles the life and career of the man who p...

For decades, Japanese ex-pats and best friends Kengo Hioki and Kotaro Tsukada have wowed audiences with their singular band Peelander-Z. Based in New York City and described as a "Japanese Action Comic Punk Band," Peelander-Z combines performance-art and audience participation in their shows, pus...

I AM THE BLUES takes the audience on a musical journey through the swamps of the Louisiana Bayou, the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta and Moonshine soaked BBQs in the North Mississippi Hill Country. The film visits blues musicians rooted in the genre's heyday, many in their 80s, still living...

The story of the iconic renegade cult band The Residents. From the group’s formation in Shreveport to their success in the burgeoning San Francisco avant-garde music scene of the 60s and 70s, The Residents redefined what a rock band could be. With the advent of music videos in the 1980s, these ma...

Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza sets out to realize his dream of cooperation and dialog between Israelis and Palestinians through music. During 8 days and nights of joint creation by his mixed Jewish and Muslim band in an East Jerusalem studio, a hopeful message of equality and unity arises...

For most of his life, Ignacio traveled the villages of Colombia, playing songs on his accordion, a legendary instrument said to have once belonged to the devil. He eventually married and settled in a small town, leaving his nomadic life behind. But after the death of his wife, he vows to never pl...

The struggle of five artists for success at the International Conductors' Competition in Frankfurt provides real-life drama that tests not only their musical ability but their personal character. Told against the backdrop of this career-defining event, CONDUCT! EVERY MOVE COUNTS documents the fri...

Since 1990, Benjamin Bagby has been performing the great epic Beowulf around the world. While Beowulf lives on in literature as a written poem, its pre-literate medieval audience knew it through the performance of a scop, a bardic storyteller, as Bagby presents himself as here. In this one-man to...

Sweeping in scope yet full of intimate moments, The Paris Opera offers a candid look behind the scenes of one of the world's foremost performing arts institutions. Over the course of one tumultuous season, director Jean-Stephane Bron nimbly juggles multiple storylines - from ballet and opera rehe...

Somewhere in Latin America a family of musicians and modest farmers join a fearless guerrilla movement attempting to overthrow the brutal and sadistic government. When the military seizes their village, they flee to the Sierra hills, forced to leave behind their stock of ammunition. While the gue...

Singer, songwriter and social activist Holly Near has been performing for over 50 years and in the process created what Gloria Steinem called, “the first soundtrack of the women’s movement.” From sold-out shows on iconic stages to million-person peace marches, this career-spanning documentary ele...

Sarah is the harpist of the Jerusalem Philharmonic. Her husband Abraham is its almighty conductor. When Hagar, a young horn player from East Jerusalem joins the Western Side Orchestra, she forms a unique bonds with Sarah. Hagar, feeling Sarah’s pain from not having children, offers to carry the c...

In the Paris of 1978, old formulas do not charm listeners anymore in a male-dominated music industry. Until Ana (Alma Jodorowsky) uses her synthesizers to make herself heard, creating a new sound that will mark the decades to come: the music of the future.

An Official Selection at the SXSW Film ...