Saariaho: L'Amour de Loin

This is the 2004 version of Kaija Saariaho's opera performed by the Finnish National Opera and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Nabucco

St. Margarethen is a magnificent structure and a grand setting for Nabucco. This venue, along with the gorgeous costumes, spectacular lighting, lasers and pyrotechnics made for one grand, five star production! This is reason enough to see it and it must be an advantage to view it on DVD.--It would probably be harder to digest the whole spectacle if you were actually sitting in the audience, as there is so much to take in. The whole cast was in great form, both in singing and acting. Simon Yang as Zaccaria and Igor Morosow as Nabucco were excellent. Gabriella Morigi was a convincing Abigail who got better and better. Bruno Ribeiro as Ismaele and Elisabeth Kulman as Fenena were great, too.

Amadeus

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh

Opera lies at the heart of Rimsky-Korsakov's colourful idiom, but performances are few and far between; this realisation of his penultimate and grandest stage work is a very rare and special experience. Kitezh is known as "the Russian Parsifal", which encapsulates its mystical flavour and steady unfolding of a legend of redemption

Věčný Faust

Madama Butterfly

Opera at La Scala Milan

Aida - Arena di Verona

The grand scale and magnificent acoustics of the Roman arena in Verona are ideally suited to the pageantry of Verdi's Egyptian opera, presented here in a staging that is true to the original 1913 production, framed by obelisks and sphinxes and filled with chorus and dancers. Chinese soprano Hui He has won international acclaim for her portrayal of the eponymous slave girl whose forbidden love for the war hero Radamés (Marco Berti, the experienced Verdi tenor) brings death to them both.

Massenet - Thais

With the “Méditation”, Jules Massenet probably wrote one of the most famous melodies of our time. It originates from his comédie-lyrique Thaïs, which – unlike Massenet's operas Werther or Manon – never made it into the international opera repertoire. Presumably because the two main roles of Thaïs and Athanaël demand something almost superhuman from the singers. In the new production by Peter Konwitschny at the Theater an der Wien, the American soprano Nicole Chevalier is one of the most exciting singers currently on stage in the title role. At her side, the young Austrian bass-baritone Josef Wagner celebrates his house‍ debut. This is a fascinating and musically excellent performance of a timeless classic of the opera repertoire.

Gounod - Romeo et Juliette

Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story of all time. In Charles Gounod's operatic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona “Saimir Pirgu and Aida Garifullina mesmerize as the tragic lovers” (Euronews). Charles Gounod is one of the great representatives of French lyric drama and due to his famous aria “Je veux vivre”, ravishing melodies, magical duets and the unique ballet scene in Act IV, Roméo et Juliette continues to gain much popularity. This production by Stephen Lawless once again demonstrates the abundance of ideas that Shakespeare’s legendary tale is able to inspire, even in the 21st century. In addition to the lavish stage sets and the carefully chosen costumes and props, the production captivates the audience thanks to its refined dramaturgical logic

The Phantom of the Opera

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

Andrea Chenier

Although Domingo was younger and Banackova looked more like the sweet and innocent young Madalena than the one played by Tomowa-Sintow in the ROH production, this production was not as good. It was not as tight and neat. The tempo set was far too slow for the time-period of the story. The stage setting was distracting. The lighting was too dark. Except Domingo, a natural actor who was always into his role and sings and acts with passion, none of the other performers came up with a convincing portrayal of the role he/she played.

Royal Opera House: Turandot

In the court of Princess Turandot, suitors who fail to solve her riddles are brutally killed. But when a mysterious Prince answers correctly, suddenly he holds all the power – and a glorious secret. When life hangs in the balance, can love conquer all?

Così fan tutte

Who loves whom in Così fan tutte, Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s cruelly comic reflection on desire, fidelity and betrayal? Or have the confusions to which the main characters subject one another ensured that in spite of the heartfelt love duets and superficially fleetfooted comedy nothing will work any longer and that a sense of emotional erosion has replaced true feelings? Così fan tutte is a timeless work full of questions that affect us all. The Academy Award-winning director Michael Haneke once said that he was merely being precise and did not want to distort reality. In only his second opera production after Don Giovanni in 2006, he presents what ARTE described as a “disillusioned vision of love in an ice-cold, realistic interpretation”.

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten’s opera of the Henry James novel. An inexperienced governess is sent to a country house to care for two children, whom she is gradually convinced have been corrupted by the ghosts of a previous manservant and governess…

Strauss: Elektra

It's hard to imagine confirmed Straussians not wanting this starry Metropolitan Opera performance of Elektra. Strauss and his librettist, Hugo von Hofmannstahl, transformed Sophocles' take on Homer's tale into a harrowing opera noir. Elektra lives for one reason, to kill her mother, Klytämnestra, and her stepfather, Aegisth, the murderers of her father, Agamemnon. In contrast to Elektra's vengeful obsession, her sister Chrysothemis desires to get on with life. When their long-missing brother, Orestes, returns to do the deed, Elektra celebrates with a dance of death and, her sole purpose in life fulfilled, dies. Strauss joined the hermetic plot to music of the utmost opulence, violent and yearning by turns, evoking the cardinal principles of Greek tragedy - pity and terror.

The Metropolitan Opera: Roméo et Juliette

Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo are opera’s classic lovers in Gounod’s lush Shakespeare adaptation. Director Bartlett Sher’s “brilliant and inspired new production … is a revelation” (Huffington Post), and has already won acclaim for its vivid 18th-century milieu and stunning costumes during runs at Salzburg and La Scala. Emmanuel Villaume conducts the sumptuous score.

Rigoletto

Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851. This 1994 recording, directed by Riccardo Muti, stars Roberto Alagna, Renato Bruson and Andrea Rost.

Rusalka

Dvořák's "Rusalka" in a production by David Pountney at the English National Opera in 1986. Mark Elder conducts the orchestra, accompanied by the English National Opera Chorus in English.

Hippolyte et Aricie

In October 1733, the audience at the Académie Royale de Musique witnessed the birth of a revolutionary work: Hippolyte et Aricie. With its inventiveness and musical richness, Rameau’s opera marks a break in the history of French music. A similarly revolutionary duo – Jeanne Candel and Raphaël Pichon – get to grips with this work for the Opéra Comique.

let me come in

Bill Morrison’s experimental short features decayed film reels from the lost, German silent film Pawns of Passion (1928).

Giacomo Puccini - Il Trittico

Finding the right librettos was not easy, but one month after the end of the First World War, his triptych – the grim tragedy Il tabarro, the lyrical and sensitive Suor Angelica, and the comedy Gianni Schicchi – premiered in New York. Three different eras, three different settings, three different ‘colours’; though for Puccini, it is through the contrasts between them that the unity of the work is revealed. For his second time directing at La Monnaie, Tobias Kratzer preserves the original order of the pieces, while weaving them together to form a narrative whole, like a circle with no end. With a cast of artists from the extended La Monnaie family, Alain Altinoglu is the ideal conductor to meet the daunting challenges posed by this triptych.

Keka

Keka is a beautiful young woman working in a call center. Wanting to hunt down the killers and avenge her boyfriend's death, she undergoes rigid training. Everything has been going well until she meets the guy who makes her fall in love again.

Transformer

In the summer of 2015, former US Marine and world record weightlifter Janae Marie Kroczaleski was publicly outed as being transgender. The reaction was universal: her sponsors abandoned her, she was disowned by her parents and banned from competing. This film follows Janae as she attempts to find her place in society. Initially wanting to strip off the muscle and become a much smaller looking woman, she found herself unable to lose the muscle she so desperately gained. She now finds herself living one day as an alpha male and the next day as a delicate girl. Will Janae be able to handle her muscle relapses? Will her passage from being a male bring her the peace she's looking for? Will society accept a 250lbs muscular woman? Is her path personal redemption or physical and psychological disaster?

New Kids Nitro

Gerrie, Richard, Rikkert, Robbie and Barry from Maaskantje are in a big fight with the village of Schijndel. When a zombie kills someone from Brabant, things get out of hand.

10 Seconds to Win

The history of the famous Brazilian bantam and featherweight world champion Eder Jofre, who tries to deal with his personal life and the obligations of a world class athlete, with the mentoring of his trainer and father Kid Jofre.

Pyrotehnimata sto tsepaki mou

Recorded performance from the Minos Theater (1999-2000). An English couple, Stanley and Joan, go on a trip to a small village in France. Unable to find accommodation due to a local festival, they end up in a miserable suite in a dilapidated hotel. However, due to a mix-up, Claude, a French businessman who is in the area on business, also ends up in the same suite. Claude takes advantage of his wife's absence and invites a cabaret dancer, Simone, to the suite. But unexpectedly, his wife, Helga, suddenly shows up to surprise him for his birthday! The two couples and the cabaret singer are forced to share the suite and find themselves embroiled in a series of hilarious comic situations. The icing on the cake of their adventures is the crazy hotel owner, his wacky employee, and... a radiator that climbs up to the ceiling!

GCW Fight Club

GCW presents Fight Club straight from the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ! The event features the GCW World Championship match where Mox defends against Gage in a match that we have been waiting for during the last decade. Who will be the new GCW World Champion?

Avatar: Scene Deconstruction

The deconstruction of the Avatar scenes and sets

Star

When Ardra suddenly starts acting distant and cold with her family members, her husband Roy and others around her are puzzled and scared. Nobody in the family bothers to take her to a doctor and when they finally do, they learn the truth.

Six Weeks to Twelve Years

After the death of their abusive father, two estranged twin brothers must reunite and sell off his property.

Rate Me

A portrait of teen escort, 'Coco'.

Ten Little Gall Force

A super deformed parody which depicts the "making of " Eternal Story and Destruction. A very humorous behind-the-scenes look (if "Gall Force" were a live-action series instead of being animated).

Cine Gibi 7: Bagunça Animal

Trying to escape his bath, Monicão ends up hiding in the movie theater. Mônica can't find her pet in the dark, so she asks Franjinha to play some short films that might lure the dog out of hiding.

Mantovani, the King of Strings

Known for his unmistakable cascading strings and recordings such as Charmaine, Mantovani enthralled the world with his sublime arrangements. This is the story of the man and his music.

Tacoma

On their last night of spring break, four old friends, now all college freshmen, realize their small town has more meaning than they ever imagined.

Hannibal Brooks

A POW in World War II is put to work in a Munich zoo, looking after an Asian elephant. The zoo is bombed by the Americans and the director of the zoo decides it is not safe for his Asian elephant Lucy to remain there. So he sends Brooks to safety with Lucy. They escape and go on the run in order to get to Switzerland.

The Last Fall

An NFL journeyman struggles to deal with life's complexities after his professional career is over.

Vakvagany

Hungarian home movies are examined by the likes of James Ellroy and Stan Brakhage for evidence of family problems.

When Beckham Met Owen

Thirteen-year-olds David and Michael are brought together by their mutual love of soccer. United by their obsession with the game and idolization of British soccer stars, the boys build a strong friendship. But as puberty brings about changes, the boys start to grow in separate directions. While David loves to talk about sex and other raunchy topics, Michael tries to avoid such conversations. Eventually Michael must face what he's been avoiding for some time, that his feelings for David are becoming increasingly complex. In his interesting take on adolescent sexual awakening.

The Dream of the Red Chamber

The Ching Dynasty novel The Dream of The Red Chamber is not only the most widely read, but also the most filmed book in Chinese history. The sprawling love story has proven a challenge to many filmmakers, but this version is acclaimed as the most successful. A sumptuous feature which took three years of planning and another for production, it was a hugely popular and critical hit which still stands out as a classic of both 18th century literature and 1960s moviemaking.