Johnny Depp: The Love of the Bizarre

Johnny Depp started off as a punk band guitarist, turning to acting to help pay the bills. But his dabbling catapulted him to global fame and there was no going back. Throughout his career, Depp has had fame and infamy in equal measure. His roles are often that of the isolated anti-hero: Edward Scissorhands, Donnie Brasco, Raoul Duke in Las Vegas Parano, and Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. His poetic outsider characters reveal a critical view of American society.

Mel Gibson: A Tormented Soul

Mel Gibson, Australian-raised US actor and film director, rose to stardom in the late 1980s, a privileged status he enjoyed for nearly two decades until his fall from grace due to his controversial opinions and scandals. Angel face, tormented soul: who is Mel Gibson really?

Beyond the mall

Is there an audience for Latin American movies? These are some of the questions posed by an Ecuadorian filmmaker whose latest movie was a commercial flop. He embarks on a query to find answers to his questions and relief for his despair. His research leads him to a giant contraband market in the port city of Guayaquil, where pirated movies from all over the world are sold for one dollar each. Here, he discovers a number of Ecuadorian low budget movies produced by amateurs, with titles he had never heard of before: from action packed productions to evangelical melodramas.

Amin

AMIN portrays Qashqai musician Amin Aghaie, a young modern nomad and his family who despite facing steep financial, cultural and political obstacles are dedicated to their art and culture. Amin travels to remote towns and villages to record the music of the surviving masters whose numbers decline each year. His nomadic family are selling their meager belongings to help support their son's education in performance and ethnomusicology at Tchaikovsky's Conservatory in Kyiv, Ukraine, but it is not enough. Amin, desperate to finish his academic education, sells his violins one at a time just to pay for his tuition.

Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown

Since the early days, Jerry Lewis—in the line of Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel—had the masses laughing with his visual gags, pantomime sketches and signature slapstick humor. Yet Lewis was far more than just a clown. He was also a groundbreaking filmmaker whose unquenchable curiosity led him to write, produce, stage and direct many of the films he appeared in, resulting in such adored classics as The Bellboy, The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, and The Nutty Professor.

mm 49: Vivian Fine Marathon!

"mm"s are m(usic(ian's))m(eetings) mostly held at the Who Unit? in Pittsburgh as a 21st century salon of sorts where formal interests can be broached casually. Attendees delight in sharing their sometimes obscure & sometimes popular musical (& otherwise) loves. For mm 49 (in the 37th month of "mm"'s history) a marathon listening party celebrating the music of Vivian Fine was decided upon. Fine was a dedicated composer who produced a variety of work over a 70 year career. This movie, of course, is not an imitation of Ken Burns style documentary movie-making. Instead, I gleefully mix the casualness & lively uninhibited conversation of mms with the formal exactitude of Fine's music. I hope you enjoy it as an upstanding example of Punk Classical. "Bah to the Bourgeoisie"! Note that I'm starting to disappear in this movie - will you miss me when I'm gone? This is my 111th feature & my 404th movie.

Claudia la mystérieuse

Jean Gabin, le dernier des géants

The Wandering Company

Documentary about Merchant Ivory Productions, including interviews with the principals of the film production company and actors which have appeared in their films.

Heidi's Alpine Dream

An account of the life and work of the Swiss writer Johanna Spyri (1827-1901), the barely known artistic mother of Heidi, her brave alpine heroine, who was first introduced to the world between 1880 and 1881, in a novel published in two parts, and became definitely immortal thanks to an anime series, released in 1974, directed by the Japanese genius Isao Takahata.

Beethoven na Slovensku

Mifune: The Last Samurai

An account of the life and work of legendary Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune (1920-97), the most prominent actor of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema.

This Is Sparklehorse

An comprehensive look at the life and music of Mark Linkous, a influential figure in the alternative music scene. Critically-acclaimed Linkous had a dramatic life that saw him battle with drug and alcohol addiction, paralysis, and debilitating depression that resulted in his eventual suicide. Mark's music was heralded by his peers and critics; a mix of delicate pop, discordant punk and melodic odyssey; it has been described as defiantly surrealist with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and celestial bodies. The film mines Marks life and music and navigates the sacrifices and highs and lows of his art.

Cinéma! Cinéma! The French New Wave

An intimate window into one of the great movements in film history that brought about an evolution in the art of cinema. The documentary portrays the movement with insight on the lives and works of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and other principal players in the New Wave.

La importancia de llamarse Ernesto y la gilipollez de llamarse Eric

He was born in Granada, the only city in the world with an explosive name. At the age of ten he joined the Falange because he wanted to play the drum. His biggest musical influences have been Holy Week and his first host, the one he was given at birth. It was produced at the age of sixteen. A little later he began using drugs to escape. he should have died before thirty. For forty years he has hit the drums as life has hit him, with all his might.

Steel Mask Versus Blue Abyss

A world of strong colours between documentary and fiction, centered on the life and work of modernist painter Amadeo de Souza Cardoso.