When Nirvana burst onto the scene in 1991, the music they played spoke directly to an angry and disenfranchised generation. As grunge took over MTV and radio, the music industry was transformed overnight. But just three years later, the drug-related deaths of several musicians, capped by the suicide of Kurt Cobain, closed the books on an all too brief era. Hit So Hard follows the rise to fame (and the near-fatal fall from it) of Patty Schemel, drummer for Courtney Love’s seminal rock band, Hole. Given a Hi-8 video camera just before Hole’s infamous Live Through This world tour, Patty captured stunningly intimate footage of the scene that has never been seen… until now. Not just an all-access backstage pass to the music that shaped a generation, Hit So Hard is a harrowing tale of overnight success, the cost of addiction, and ultimately, recovery and redemption.
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This two-hour film will examine the tragic lives and deaths of the mysterious Hart family, exploring the void between their idyllic online persona and the heart breaking reality in which their children lived – calling into question a system that critically failed to protect six innocent children.
Terry Jones presents Boom Bust Boom. The result of a meeting between writer, director, historian and Python Terry Jones and economics professor and entrepreneur Theo Kocken. Co-written by Jones and Kocken and featuring John Cusack, Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman, Robert J Shiller and Paul Krugman, the film is part of a global movement to change the economic system through education to protect the world from boom and bust. A unique look at why economic crashes happen, Boom Bust Boom is a multimedia documentary combining live action with animation and puppetry to explain economics to everyone.
Long a dream, the quest for immortality has shifted from the metaphysical to the technical and the scientific. With cryonics technology improving, human cloning, mind uploading and digital brain simulation, and reversing the aging of cells feasible, immortality may seem right around the corner.
Illusionist Derren Brown concocts a psychological experiment in which he tries to manipulate an ordinary person into taking a bullet for a stranger.
In 1985, 46 music icons, including Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder, came together for the most star-studded recording session in history. This is the untold story of the legendary global pop song “We Are the World” — which very nearly didn’t happen.
“If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?” CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual style and artistic approach to the project. Buildings, they show us, are material manifestations of human thought and action: the Berlin Philharmonic, an icon of modernity; the National Library of Russia, a kingdom of thoughts; Halden Prison, the world’s most humane prison; the Salk Institute, an institute for breakthrough science; the Oslo Opera House, a futuristic symbiosis of art and life; and the Centre Pompidou, a modern culture machine. CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE explores how each of these landmarks reflects our culture and guards our collective memory.
Seven transgender and gender nonconforming individuals share their unique experiences with Silas Howard.
Orson Welles’ final film documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.
The iconic Carlyle hotel has been an international destination for a particular jet set as well as a favorite haunt of the most discernible New Yorkers.
Clarence Reid is a musician who wrote and produced romantic and spiritual songs for some of the greatest Southern soul and R&B acts of the 1960s and ’70s. He is also the gonzo performer Blowfly, Clarence’s freaky alter ego and the original X-rated rapper. “The Weird World of Blowfly” explores both sides of this hilarious and controversial artist, providing a rare, inside peek at the infamous linguist’s daily life. Now 69-years-old, with a gold-spangled superhero costume and a catalog of the world’s raunchiest tunes, Blowfly tours the world, still struggling for success and recognition after 50 years of making music. The film highlights both Clarence’s and Blowfly’s unique contributions to music history, including Top-10 R&B hits and what might be the world’s first rap song, recorded in 1965.
Dive into our planet’s greatest mysteries with a team of international underwater cinematographers as they explore the breathtaking bond between humanity and the ocean.
Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger go to Antarctica to meet people who live and work there, and to capture footage of the continent’s unique locations. Herzog’s voiceover narration explains that his film will not be a typical Antarctica film about “fluffy penguins”, but will explore the dreams of the people and the landscape.
