Landfill Harmonic is an upcoming feature-length documentary about a remarkable musical orchestra in Paraguay, where young musicians play instruments made from trash. For more information go here!
windowmagic: Found footage tape 3/4… ”Ghost Photography” is out tomorrow!
Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters, a feature length documentary capturing the greatest world record Tetris players as they prepare for the Classic Tetris World Championship. Enjoy the trailer.
(Source: youmightfindyourself)
Sufjan Stevens has contributed music to MAKE, a documentary about four self-taught outsider artists from directors Scott Ogden and Malcolm Hearn. Stevens’ 2010 album The Age of Adz was inspired by the documentary. The cover of the album is a painting by Prophet Royal Robertson, one of the artists featured in the film, and Stevens also partially built the album around Robertson’s life story. On June 21, Stevens’ label Asthmatic Kitty will release MAKE on DVD. Besides Robertson, the film also profiles fellow outsider artists Hawkins Bolden, Judith Scott, and Ike Morgan. In a press release, Stevens calls the film “a beautiful and insightful look at the sublime task of making art when nothing else will do.” Check out the trailer above. Via P4K.
More Beastie action… Watch the awesome trailer for the upcoming “Fight For Your Right Revisited” movie which will be out alongside their new album “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two” in May. The movie features Elijah Wood, Danny McBride, Seth Rogen, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and Jack Black playing older and younger versions of Mike D, Ad-Rock, and MCA, all at the same time. There are also appearances by Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, and Jason Schwartzman. Pre-order here! Whahey!
Michael Jackson’s Vision is released on November 22, making available for the first time ever the entire library of short films produced by Michael Jackson during his career as a solo artist.
Packaged as a deluxe boxed set, Michael Jackson’s Vision contains more than four-and-one-half hours of content across three DVDs, capturing the entire spectrum of Michael’s pioneering short films that transformed the entertainment industry.
You can pre-order it here.
As previously reported, filmmakers Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara (of Chickfactormagazine) spent a decade filming Stephen Merritt and his Magnetic Fields, getting behind-the-scenes access to a famously private man. Later this year, the resulting documentary, Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, will get a nationwide theatrical release via Variance Films. The movie will open October 27 at New York’s Film Forum, and it’ll expand across the nation’s movie palaces throughout the fall and winter. (via pitchfork)
Bill Hicks is my favorite comedian for more than ten years now. After so much time i spend listening to his albums, show bootlegs, after all these documentarys and tv broadcasts i just discovered there will be a full length documentary about him. Maybe i am a bit late on this, but i have to share the trailer with you…
Three years in the making, AMERICAN: The Bill Hicks Story brings the tale of one of modern culture’s most iconic heroes to the big screen. Much more than a comedian, Bill Hicks was and still is an inspiration to millions. His timeless comedy tackled the contradictions of America and modern life head on. But his unique gift was to tease apart the essence of religion, the dangers of unbridled government power and the double standards inherent in much of modern society, using nothing but his hilarious ideas and the uncompromising observational style that continues to resonate with successive generations. Like many who have a strong sense of their place in history, Hicks left a large unseen legacy; his collection of video recordings and hundreds of photographs and these became the starting point for this feature-length animated documentary. But why animation? Bill Hicks’ complex story had never been adequately told and this demanded pushing documentary storytelling in a new direction to boldly recreate the key unseen scenes of Bill’s life and, for the first time fully reveal the worlds that shaped his character and his comedy. Real locations, such as the bedroom window he snuck out of to perform with comedy partner Dwight Slade, the dark alleys of Houston where he nearly met his end, and the spellbinding theatre auditoriums where he played his most famous concerts; are all meticulously recreated in stunning three dimensional photorealism to provide a fresh new sense of the challenges the lone comedian faces and a real sense of what his journey was like. Bill’s story is told by the 10 people who knew him best; his family and closest friends who recount the twists & turns of his life with a freshness that hasn’t faded in 15 years. From Kevin Booth, Bill’s talented lifelong friend to the Outlaw Comics who introduced Bill into their heady world of drugs & alcohol, to photographer David Johndrow who perceptively captures some of the most revelatory moments of Bill’s life, each speaker is a compelling narrator who still carries a piece of Bill with them and, woven together, they bring a palpable sense of Bill’s presence to the screen. Their story provides the platform for Bill’s own voice and for the first time, his 17 years of material are combined in a powerful chronology with his offstage journey. With each of his routines now bedded in the context of his life, a fascinating insight into the growth and development of an artist is revealed, as Bill’s early character work found first a comedic aim and then a truly powerful voice when he beat addiction to enthrall and challenge audiences, often touring 300 nights a year. Recreating Bill’s story has been a journey all of it’s own; traveling all across America to record extensive new interviews, watching hundreds of performances and developing the animation technique over thousands of hours to fully realize the cinematic vision required. With a little help and a few orbits of the sun, these raw materials – video clips, photographs & personal recollections – have now been put together to recreate a full sense of Bill’s life, ambitions and achievements and a lasting testament as to why he will remain one of the enduring cultural cornerstones of our age. i can’t wait! this book is also great, if you want to learn more about him.
a video introduction to jamie lidell’s “compass” album… (via warp)
