The Latvian underground icons Dambis' portrait - reflections on the past and today. The film includes video material from the musician's personal archive.
Social & External
Dambis
"The End of the Line - Rochester's Subway" tells the little-known story of the rail line that operated in a former section of the Erie Canal from 1927 until its abandonment in 1956. Produced in 1994 by filmmakers Fredrick Armstrong and James P. Harte, the forty-five minute documentary recounts the tale of an American city's bumpy ride through the Twentieth Century, from the perspective of a little engine that could, but didn't. The film has since been rereleased (2005) and now contains the main feature with special portions that were added as part of the rereleased version. These include a look at the only surviving subway car from the lines and a Phantom tun through the tunnels in their abandoned state, among others, for a total of 90 minutes of unique and well preserved historical information.
A 2004 documentary on thirty years of alternative rock 'n roll in NYC.Documenting the history from the genuine authenticity of No Wave to the current generation of would be icons and true innovators seeing to represent New York City in the 21st century
This movie chronicles the life and times of R. Crumb. Robert Crumb is the cartoonist/artist who drew Keep On Truckin', Fritz the Cat, and played a major pioneering role in the genesis of underground comix. Through interviews with his mother, two brothers, wife, ex-wife and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, we are treated to a darkly comic ride through one man's subconscious mind.
A video about Neo-Nazis originating in Sweden provides the starting point of an investigation of extremists' networks in Europe, Russia, and North America. Their propaganda is a message of hatred, war, and segregation.
A strange story from Somerset, England about a filmmaking farmer and the inspiring legacy of his long-lost home movies.
This documentary follows the lives and careers of a collective group of do-it-yourself artists and designers who inadvertently affected the art world.
The film is an emotional story about fateful historical events in the 20th century, which took place in three Baltic countries- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The story is also about their efforts to gain independence.
Four artists - born in the same city - dig deep to reveal their connection with music. They are modern troubadours. Music is their soul - their lyrics transmit an intimate, sincere and unconventional message. A superb portrait of underground artists.
Documentary about seminal garage-rock band, The Seeds, that uses vintage footage, rare photos, memorabilia and audio, plus fresh interviews with band members and associates as well as notable fans and observers, Pushin’ Too Hard relates the bizarre rage-to-riches-to-rags tale of the rock quartet who took Los Angeles by storm in the mid-60s.
Jack Rebney is the most famous man you've never heard of - after cursing his way through a Winnebago sales video, Rebney's outrageously funny outtakes became an underground sensation and made him an internet superstar. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer journeys to the top of a mountain to find the recluse who unwittingly became the "Winnebago Man".
Ilze Burkovska, a little girl who is obsessed with stories of World War II and will be a filmmaker in a distant future, lives in Latvia under the totalitarian boot of the Soviets and the ominous shadow of the many menaces and horrors of the Cold War.
This is the first generation of Russian youth to have grown up after the fall of the Soviet Union, and are looking inwards to the Eastern Bloc for inspiration, rather than the wider Western world. With designers like Gosha Rubchinskiy popularising post-Soviet style around the world, we discover what effect the former Soviet Union has had on modern creativity, the impact of this cultural explosion on the rest of the world, and what it is to be young in Russia today.
Long considered a cult classic, "Mondo Hollywood" captures the underside of Hollywood by documenting a moment in time (1965-67), when an inquisitive trust in the unknown was paramount, hope for the future was tangible and life was worth living on the fringe. An interior monologue narrative approach is used throughout the film, where each principal person shown not only decided on what they wanted to be filmed doing, but also narrated their own scenes. The film opens with Gypsy Boots (the original hippie vegan - desert hopping blender salesman), and stripper Jennie Lee, working out 'Watusi-style' beneath the 'Hollywood' sign -- leading into the 'sustainable community' insight of Lewis Beach Marvin III, the S&H Green Stamp heir, who lived in a $10 a month garage while owning a mountain retreat in Malibu.
A young woman wanders around New York City and stumbles across a number of strange characters and settings that represent the "underground" areas of the city. She sees stand up comedy in Central Park, a prostitution auction, a voodoo ceremony, an S&M club, and a number of very interesting performance artists. These are just a few of the sights and sounds of New York that she encounters.
This documentary short tells the story of cartoonist David Boswell and his greatest creation: Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman. In the late '70s, David Boswell birthed Reid Fleming, a counterculture icon in the form of a comic book anti-hero. Fast forward to the '80s, Warner Brothers aimed for a Hollywood film. Today, three decades later, Reid Fleming remains stuck in a contractual quagmire. Jonathan Demme, Academy Award-Winner (The Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense), narrates "I Thought I Told You To Shut Up!!" This documentary blends stop-motion animation with interviews from Boswell, Hollywood cohorts, and fans, exploring the enduring allure of the indomitable Reid Fleming, the World's Toughest Milkman.
An ode to stillness, in the form of an experimental documentary miniature, inspired by Vitosha mountain and Sofia
The documentary BERLINIZED describes this very Berlin-specific attitude in a reflection on and a journey to mid-1990s' Berlin. Filmmaker Lucian Busse, an active protagonist of the period, documents the transformation of Berlin after the Wall. But Berlinized represents more than just the 1990s - it is a metaphor for this virally catching creative feeling, the slightly rough directness, spiced up with a big dash of typical Berlin humor. Berlinized lets the former protagonists reflect how that temporary feeling of freedom shaped their individual lives, and to what degree that freedom can still be found among the neat order of today's Berlin. These reflections are as diverse as the interviewees and as multifaceted as the changes in those times.
A countercultural icon, Hoffman is remembered as one of the greatest radicals of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the sixties. In this film, which documents the first interview he gave in 1980 when he decided to reveal his identity after spending seven years in hiding, he traces the evolution of political activism in America. "My name is Abbie... orphan of America."
Video accompaniment to the book of the same name released by RE/SEARCH magazine, featuring interviews with Survival Research Lab's Mark Pauline, Joe Coleman, Karen Finley, Boyd Rice, and Frank Discussion. "Five Fabulously Funny Interviews with Fiendishly Flamboyant Pranksters discussing diabolical (and sometimes illegal) deeds. Dazzling deceptions and put-ons from some of the most outrageous artists living today."