Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Their music is famous around the world, though their names are not. Known as the Funk Brothers, they put the backbeat - the soul - into the hits of Motown Records, for such legendary performers as Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and many others. Creating music that helped to define the era of the 1960s and has remained a vital influence to this day, these musicians played on more #1 records than the Beatles, the Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley combined. Now the new documentary Standing In The Shadows Of Motown tells their story, combining exclusive interviews, archival footage, re-enactments, reminiscences, and thrilling new performances by the reunited Funk Brothers.

Genre: Documentary and Musical/Performing Arts
Starring: Andre Braugher, Joe Hunter, Joe Messina, Johnny Griffith, Richard Allen
Director: Paul Justman
Release Date: November 15, 2002 (LA/NY).

Kill Your idols

A documentary on thirty years of alternative NYC rock 'n roll.

Genre: Documentary and Musical/Performing Arts
Starring: Arto Lindsay, Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth , Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Director: S. A. Crary

The Fearless Freaks (the flaming lips documentary)

This must-be-bought documentary on Flaming Lips is presented by the tenacious Bradley Beesley. It features never-before-seen footage, new interviews and performances. Beesley reveals the band's deep-set Oklahoma roots; early punk/noise phase; the experimental parking lot/boom box 'Zaireeka' era; and endless touring days. It also conveys the Flaming Lips' live shows which are full of bizarre projections/animal suits/hand puppets/confetti and simulated head wounds.

Genre: Documentary, Musical
Starring: Beck, Bradley Beesley, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Steve Burns
Director: Bradley Beesley
Release Date: March 2005

I'll Sing for You

In the early 1960s, Mali radio broadcast the melancholy voice of Boubacar Traore, better known as KarKar, who sang of love and independence. After Malian independence, however, KarKar disappeared from public life. This film, which reveals his fate, is ultimately a portrait of Mali, painted with intertwining discussions of politics and religion, reminiscences of notable Malian musicians including, Ali Farka Toure, Madieye Niang, and Ballake Sissoko, and moving musical performances.

Genre: Art/Foreign, Documentary and Musical/Performing Arts
Duration: 1 hr. 16 min.
Starring: Boubacar Traore, Ali Farka Toure, Madieye Niang, Ballake Sissoko, Blaise Pascal,
Director: Jacques Sarasin
Producer: Jacques Sarasin
Distributor: First Run Features
Release Date: March 26th, 2004 (Washington, DC).
Writer: Jacques Sarasin

End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2004)

In 1974, the New York City music scene was shocked into consciousness by the violently new and raw sound of a band of misfits from Queens called the Ramones. Playing in a seedy Bowery bar to a small group of fellow struggling musicians, the band struck a chord of disharmony that rocked the foundation of the mid-seventies music scene. This quartet of unlikely rock stars traveled across the country and around the world connecting with the disenfranchised everywhere, while sparking a movement that would resonate with two generations of outcasts across the globe. Although the band never reached the top of the Billboard charts, they managed to endure in face of fleeting success and crushing interpersonal conflicts by maintaining a rigorous touring schedule for twenty-two years. Tracing the history of the band, from its unlikely origins, through its star-crossed career, bitter demise and the sad fates of Joey and Dee Dee, End of the Century is a vibrant, candid document of one of the most influential groups in the history of rock.

Genre: Documentary, Musical
Duration: 1 hr. 52 min.
Starring: Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, Tommy Ramone, Marky Ramone,
Director: Michael Gramaglia, Jim Fields
Producer: Jan Rofekamp, Diana Holtzberg, Andrew Hurwitz
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: August 20, 2004

Mayor of the Sunset Strip

Mayor of the Sunset Strip tells the story of music and fame through the eyes of pop impresario Rodney Bingenheimer, and his friends David Bowie, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, Courtney Love, Oasis, Brian Wilson, The Doors, Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Mick Jagger, Brooke Shields, among many others. From the Monkees to Van Halen to No Doubt and beyond, Rodney Bingenheimer, a.k.a. “Rodney on the ROQ,” has been a cherished figure not only in Los Angeles, but the entire music community, for over 2 decades. Motivated by his love for music and the allure of Hollywood, Rodney first hit the infamous Sunset Strip as a teenager during its psychedelic 1960s heyday. A constantly evolving fixture as scenester, journalist, promoter and club owner, Bingenheimer was deemed “Mayor of the Sunset Strip.” He began spinning records on Los Angeles’ cutting-edge radio station KROQ, and soon became one of the country’s most well known DJs. Rodney was the first to play songs by many California pop, glam, punk, goth, new wave and alternative bands who have since become some of the most celebrated and influential bands in history, including David Bowie, Blondie, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Van Halen, The Go-Go’s, Joan Jett, Dramarama, No Doubt, Coldplay Oasis, to name a few. Mayor of The Sunset Strip depicts the unusual life of a man who was taken in by Sonny and Cher as a teenager, was a stand-in for Davie Jones on the Monkees, and went on to launch the careers of a multitude stars who clearly have not forgotten what Rodney’s done for them.

Genre: Documentary and Musical
Duration: 1 hr. 34 min.
Starring: Cher, Courtney Love, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Tori Amos,
Director: George Hickenlooper
Producer: Christopher Paul Carter, Greg S. Little, Tommy Perna
Distributor: First Look Pictures
Release Date: March 26, 2004 (limited)
Writer: George Hickenlooper