Directed by Ethan Hawke • 2018 • United States
Starring Ben Dickey, Alia Shawkat, Josh Hamilton

He was the greatest country singer you’ve (probably) never heard of: a genius, a loser, a philosopher, a drunk, a poet, a rebel, and a ramblin’ man who lived each day of his too-short life on his own ...

Directed by Lech Kowalski • 1980 • United States

A groundbreaking documentary about the origins of punk rock, D.O.A.: A RIGHT OF PASSAGE is centered around the Sex Pistols’s 1978 tour of the United States, which ended with the group breaking up. Following the band with handheld cameras through t...

Directed by Julien Temple • 2007 • Ireland, United Kingdom

Legendary frontman of the Clash Joe Strummer was one of rock’s most magnetic and complex figures—an electrifying performer who brought an explosive political edge to the punk movement. In this visually dynamic documentary, veteran chroni...

Directed by Neo Sora • 2023 • Japan
Starring Ryuichi Sakamoto

A celebration of an artist’s life in the purest sense, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS is the swan song of one of the world’s greatest musicians. As a parting gift, in late 2022, Ryuichi Sakamoto mustered all of his energy to leave us with on...

Directed by Jesse Lauter • 2021 • United States

In 1970, Joe Cocker undertook what became a storied musical experiment—a traveling rock ’n’ roll commune that crisscrossed the country on a private jet. This meteoric tour came and went over a magical two months, and as a one-time-only experience i...

Directed by Matthew Galkin and Steven Cantor • 2006 • United States

An intimate, authentically raw portrait of indie legends the Pixies captures their trying, tense, and ultimately triumphant return as one of rock music’s greatest bands. A decade after their turbulent breakup in 1993, the band’s...

Directed by Nicolas Roeg • 1980 • United Kingdom
Starring Art Garfunkel, Theresa Russell, Harvey Keitel

Amid the decaying elegance of cold-war Vienna, psychoanalyst Dr. Alex Linden (Art Garfunkel) becomes mired in an erotically charged affair with the elusive Milena Flaherty (Theresa Russell). W...

Directed by Phil King • 2024 • United Kingdom
Starring Miki Berenyi, Emma Anderson, Chris Acland

One of the defining bands of the shoegaze wave that washed over the indie-rock world in the 1990s, Lush mesmerized with their otherworldly vocals set against a swirling wall of sound. Assembled by fo...

Directed by John Carluccio • 2019 • United States
Starring Maurice Hines, Debbie Allen, Cheryl Davis

This intimate, emotionally engaging portrait of the charismatic song-and-dance virtuoso Maurice Hines (1943–2023) follows him from his tap-dancing childhood into his late ’70s. Maurice and friend...

Directed by Ryan Daly and Will Oldham • 2023 • United States

This visual accompaniment to the 2023 album of the same name by revered indie-folk wizard Will Oldham (aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy) invites us not only to hear but to watch the music in a new way. Assembled by filmmaker and archivist Rya...

Directed by Josell Ramos • 2003 • United States
Starring Larry Levan, David Mancuso, Frankie Knuckles

The origins of New York City’s legendary underground dance-club culture are explored in this kinetic cult documentary—a vivid chronicle of a scene that became an oasis for the city’s queer and B...

Directed by Adepero Oduye • 2017 • United States
Starring Adepero Oduye

In this soul-stirring short featuring stunning cinematography from Bradford Young, PARIAH actor Adepero Oduye takes the stage as the great Nina Simone for an intimate, defiant performance.

Directed by Darol Olu Kae • 2023 • United States

The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (The Ark) has been a legend in Los Angeles’s avant-garde jazz community for over sixty years. But since the death of its founder, pianist and composer Horace Tapscott, the band has spent the last three decades ebbi...

Directed by Wayne Coyne and Blake Studdard • 2022 • United States
Starring Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Jacob Ingalls

This blissful concert documentary tells the story behind an ingenious spectacle devised by psych-roch legends the Flaming Lips in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: the Space Bubbl...

Directed by Jake Meginsky with Neil Young • 2018 • United States
Starring Milford Graves

This portrait of renowned percussionist and founding pioneer of avant-garde jazz Milford Graves finds him exploring his kaleidoscopic creativity and relentless curiosity. The film draws the viewer through th...

Directed by Tom Surgal • 2021 • United States
Starring John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra

Although the free-jazz movement of the 1960s and ’70s was met with heated controversy, its pioneers—brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane—are toda...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1985 • United States
Starring Ornette Coleman

This freewheeling documentary captures Ornette Coleman’s evolution over three decades. Documentary footage, dramatic scenes, and some of the first music-video-style segments ever made chronicle his boyhood in segregated T...

Directed by Murray Lerner • 1967 • United States

Before WOODSTOCK and MONTEREY POP, there was FESTIVAL. From 1963 through 1966, Murray Lerner visited the annual Newport Folk Festival to document a thriving, idealistic musical movement as it reached its peak as a popular phenomenon. Joan Baez, Bo...

Directed by John Coney • 1974 • United States
Starring Sun Ra, Barbara Deloney, Raymond Johnson

Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It’s a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social comment...

Directed by Franc Roddam • 1979 • United Kingdom
Starring Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Sting

The Who’s classic rock opera “Quadrophenia” was the basis for this invigorating coming-of-age movie and depiction of the defiant, drug-fueled mod subculture of early-1960s London. Our antihero is Jimmy (Phi...

Directed by Wim Wenders • 1999 • Germany, United States

Traveling from the streets of Havana to the stage of Carnegie Hall, this revelatory documentary captures a forgotten generation of Cuba’s brightest musical talents as they enjoy an unexpected encounter with world fame. The veteran vocalists...

Directed by D. A. Pennebaker • 1970 • United States
Starring Stephen Sondheim, Elaine Stritch, Donna McKechnie

This legendary, long-unavailable documentary from Direct Cinema pioneer D. A. Pennebaker captures the behind-the-scenes drama that went into the making of a classic Broadway recording. ...