1950s Soho beats with far more energy than its 21st century counterpart in this vivid time capsule.
Merrilees Parker travels to Japan to learn about its unique food culture. She begins her journey in Tokyo, at Tsukiji, the world's biggest fish market. Master chef, Romeo teaches her how to make the ultimate sushi, an art that takes years to master. Then it's off to a ramen museum, where you can try various regional styles of the noodle soup. Escaping the city, Merrilees takes the bullet train to Matsusaka where she visits a farm that produces the most expensive beef in the world. She also visits Kyoto and Mount Fuji for the annual Summer Fire Festival to gorge herself on wonderful street food.
Toronto is regarded as the third largest jazz centre in North America. This film features a cross-section of jazz bands of that city: the Lenny Breau Trio, the Don Thompson Quintet and the Alf Jones Quartet. Their styles show creative self-expression, hard work, and improvisation.
Malaysia's multiculturalism is unrivaled throughout Southeast Asia and is reflected in its cuisine. Roving foodie Merrilees Parker begins her journey on the Malaysian peninsula with the native Orang Asli people of Kelantan She then heads off to the stunning Islamic East coast to cook a rich curry using freshly caught mackerel. In the ancient spice capital of Melaka, Merrilees cooks up a storm with fiery Laksa soup in the style of the Nyonya. In the Cameron Highlands, 5,000 feet above sea level, there is a notable English influence. The island of Penang is Merilees' next stop then she visits the capital, Kuala Lumpur, one of the fastest growing cities in Southeast Asia.
Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.
A scenes from a tour of Manipur State and a women's bazaar in Imphal.
This travelogue takes in some of the most important landmarks of Islamic power in India.
Luscious colour photography of the Taj Mahal and a Mediterranean cruise to Port Said.
Since the renewed Intifada began in 2000, there have been over 75 Palestinian suicide bombings. This is the story of 0ne-the bombing of bus 32 in Jerusalem in June 2002. The film connects the stories of a group of ordinary Israelis-Jews and Arabs. Each of them holds a clue to someone who died that day.
Stage: The Culinary Internship follows a group of interns during a nine month apprenticeship at one of the best restaurants in the world, Mugaritz. While the restaurant’s notorious avant-garde cuisine and creative working environment elevates these young hopefuls to think outside the confines of a kitchen, the extremely high standards prove to be mentally and physically exhausting. Ultimately, not everyone can handle the heat.
A 1962 West German documentary film directed by Hermann Leitner and Rudolf Nussgruber.
Roving foodies Angela May and Bobby Chinn embark on two culinary journeys across Asia. Angela travels to the western coast of India to sample the cuisine and culture of the thriving melting pot that is Goa. Meanwhile, Bobby travels to Manila where he discovers a passionate and humorous people, and their love of food.
A biographical film featuring the music and times of Bill Evans with interviews from Tony Bennett, Jack Dejohnette, Billy Taylor, Paul Motian, Jon Hendricks, Orin Keepnews, Bobby Brookmeyer, Pat Evans and more, including family and friends who knew Bill Evans well.
A short film about the changing face of London Soho and the implications of gentrification on Mimi, an aging transvestite.
A young girl has already seen everything there is to see and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her world and she finds herself in the universe of QUIDAM, where she is joined by a playful companion, as well as another mysterious character who attempts to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling and the terrifying.
Alegría is a mood, a state of mind. The themes of the show, whose name means "jubilation" in Spanish, are many. Power and the handing down of power over time, the evolution from ancient monarchies to modern democracies, old age, youth - it is against this backdrop that the characters of Alegría play out their lives. Kings' fools, minstrels, beggars, old aristocrats and children make up its universe, along with the clowns, who alone are able to resist the passing of time and the social transformations that accompany it.
From the Italian 'saltare in banco' – which literally means 'to jump on a bench' – Saltimbanco explores the urban experience in all its myriad forms. Between whirlwind and lull, prowess and poetry, it takes spectators on an allegorical and acrobatic journey into the heart and soul of the modern city.
Icarus is the main character of Varekai, who falls to the ground, breaking his legs as he does. He is suddenly in a strange, new world full of creatures he has never seen before. Parachuted into the shadows of a magical forest, a kaleidoscopic world populated by fantastical creatures, this young man sets off on an adventure both absurd and extraordinary.
Based on Geoffrey Fletcher’s book, this captivating documentary exposes the real London of the swinging sixties. Turning its back on familiar sights, the film explores the hidden details of a crumbling metropolis. With James Mason as our Guide, we are led on an tour of the weird and wonderful pockets of London from abandoned music-halls to egg breaking factories.
Stop for Bud is Jørgen Leth's first film and the first in his long collaboration with Ole John. […] they wanted to "blow up cinematic conventions and invent cinematic language from scratch". The jazz pianist Bud Powell moves around Copenhagen -- through King's Garden, along the quay at Kalkbrænderihavnen, across a waste dump. […] Bud is alone, accompanied only by his music. […] Image and sound are two different things -- that's Leth's and John's principle. Dexter Gordon, the narrator, tells stories about Powell's famous left hand. In an obituary for Powell, dated 3 August 1966, Leth wrote: "He quite willingly, or better still, unresistingly, mechanically, let himself be directed. The film attempts to depict his strange duality about his surroundings. His touch on the keys was like he was burning his fingers -- that's what it looked like, and that's how it sounded. But outside his playing, and often right in the middle of it, too, he was simply gone, not there."
Errol Morris’s Fast, Cheap & Out of Control interweaves the stories of four men, each driven to create eccentric worlds from their unique obsessions, all of which involve animals. There’s a lion tamer who shares his theories on the mental processes of wild animals; a topiary gardener who has devoted a lifetime to shaping bears and giraffes out of hedges and trees; a man fascinated with hairless mole rats; and an MIT scientist who has designed complex, autonomous robots that can crawl like bugs.