The Road Forward

The Road Forward is an electrifying musical documentary that connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today. Interviews and musical sequences describe how a tiny movement, the Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood, grew to become a successful voice for change across the country. Visually stunning, The Road Forward seamlessly connects past and present through superbly produced story-songs with soaring vocals, blues, rock, and traditional beats.

Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician's Life in Peshawar, Pakistan

Amir, shot during the height of the Afghan civil war in the 1980s, investigates and portrays the life of Afghan refugees living in and around the city of Peshawar in northern Pakistan through the experiences of the musician Amir. The aspirations of Afghan refugees are expressed through their political songs dealing with the civil war in Afghanistan, with exile, with Afghan nationalism and with the Islamic revolution. In highly charged and tragic circumstances, music can be used in very direct ways, both to promote solidarity and as an agent of catharsis.

Rock School

It is about a music school in Philadelphia, The Paul Green School of Rock Music, run by Paul Green that teaches kids ages 9 to 17 how to play rock music and be rock stars. Paul Green teaches his students how to play music such as Black Sabbath and Frank Zappa better than anyone expects them to by using a unique style of teaching that includes getting very angry and acting childish.

Dial Diali

Dial Diali slightly lifts the veil behind which Senegalese women secretly hide traditional artifices (small loincloths, pearl belts, henna and incense) that highlight their charm and eroticism, to accentuate their power of seduction on men. In Africa, a therapeutic and symbolic aspect of things is often hidden behind aesthetics. Olaf Diali pays tribute to the beauty, grace, finesse and intelligence of African women.

The Concert for Bangladesh

A film about the first benefit rock concert when major musicians performed to raise relief funds for the poor of Bangladesh. The Concert for Bangladesh was a pair of benefit concerts organised by former Beatles guitarist George Harrison and Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. The shows were held at 2:30 and 8:00 pm on Sunday, 1 August 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, to raise international awareness of, and fund relief for refugees from East Pakistan, following the Bangladesh Liberation War-related genocide.

The Dark Side of Chocolate

A team of journalists investigate how human trafficking and child labor in the Ivory Coast fuels the worldwide chocolate industry. The crew interview both proponents and opponents of these alleged practices, and use hidden camera techniques to delve into the gritty world of cocoa plantations.

Togo, le foot et la politique ne font qu'un

Milford Graves Full Mantis

Weaving blistering performance footage from Europe, Japan, and the U.S. with a sublimely restrained, intimate glimpse into a world-renowned jazz percussionist’s singular voice and complex cosmology.

Herzschlag der Kontinente

La importancia de llamarse Ernesto y la gilipollez de llamarse Eric

He was born in Granada, the only city in the world with an explosive name. At the age of ten he joined the Falange because he wanted to play the drum. His biggest musical influences have been Holy Week and his first host, the one he was given at birth. It was produced at the age of sixteen. A little later he began using drugs to escape. he should have died before thirty. For forty years he has hit the drums as life has hit him, with all his might.

Nana Benz

Nana Benz is the story of the legendary queens of the West African mercer, self-made women, coming out of nowhere, building empires. These women were heroes to the people, Mercedes driver at the West African coast. They influenced the history of Togo and were witnesses of the fights for independence, the dictatorship till the globalization nowadays. Thomas Böltken manages to establish closure to the protagonists by letting their heirs - grandchildren, widows, lovers - speak.

Heavy Heart

Documentary film Heavy Heart arose as a part of ethnomusicological research Silalo panori / Cold water (2014 – 2017) of ancient Roma songs. These songs are usually connected with memories and experiences of their interprets. Documentary in a mosaic-like way traces the way of the original Roma music transport to the next generation or also how it ceases to exist under the influence of social changes.

Soldier

A young man decides to join the army. He becomes the drummer in the military band, and his everyday life is now a combination of military training and music. What does the Argentine Army do these days, more than thirty years after the dictatorship? What does it mean to be a soldier in a country without wars?

El Batería

Cuban drummer Elvis García reflects on his journey from Havana to Miami, struggling to make his way in the American city as a professional musician.

Shady Chocolate

Ever since it was revealed that the chocolate industry is involved with child slavery in the Ivory Coast, the industry has been busy – due to consumer demands – explaining what exactly it does to actively fight trafficking and child labour. But does the industry live up to its own promises?In this investigative film, director Miki Mistrati tries to find out, if the chocolate industry – which is one of the largest corporations in the world – speak the truth, when they say that they provide education, medical care etc for the children of the Ivory Coast. But the project runs into trouble already from the get-go, because the embassy of the Ivory Coast won’t let Miki enter the country until he has an invitation – from the chocolate industry.

Nothing Else Matters

A story about love, found family, friendship, hope, and the healing power of music. Nothing Else Matters investigates the importance of found family, the beauty of unlikely friendships forged on the road and the extraordinary power of music to heal even the deepest of wounds. Filmed by a father and his two teenage sons, across 12 countries and more than 40 shows on Metallica’s Met72 2023-2024 world tour and told through the deeply personal stories of fans from across the spectrum of age, nationality, colour, gender and experience, this film explores what is it about Metallica’s music and the band’s own story that has resonated so powerfully with millions of people around the world for almost 45 years. The film mixes intimate footage of fans at home and on the road with visceral live footage of Metallica filmed by fans around the world

Pigface: Free for All

Join drummer Martin Atkins and his industrial rock band Pigface for this document of their epic 2005 tour of the United States. Visits backstage and interviews with the band meld with the concert footage to create the ultimate Pigface experience. Witness rehearsals, life on the road, collaboration with Nocturne and Sheep on Drugs and the challenges of setting up and tearing down the stage as the band hits venues from New York to San Diego.

Fred the Film

Presenting Goose's 'Fred The Film', a 2 hour music documentary showcasing some of the band's favorite moments and songs from Goose's first festival, Fred! Enjoy behind-the-scenes footage, as well as 7 song selections from the weekend.

The Drunkmen’s Marseillaise

In the summer of 1961, a group of young Italian anthropologists made a clandestine journey through Spain, in order to record popular songs that supported anti-Franco resistance. As a result of their work, they were prosecuted and their recordings were censored. Sixty years later, and guided by Emilio Jona, aged 92, the last living member of that group of travellers, we recover the unpublished recordings and reconstruct the journey, today, across an emotional and political landscape, regaining historical memories through these songs, as relevant today as they were then.

Art Blakey: The Jazz Messenger

A portrait of inspirational jazz drummer and teacher Art Blakey with Dizzy Gillespie, many pupils including Wayne Shorter, the Marsalis brothers, and a surprising new generation of musicians and dancers.