Music Films
23 Episodes
Crank up the volume on these musicals, concert docs, and more.
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loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies
Episode 1
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...
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1:49:07Episode 2
Artists and Models
Episode 2
Directed by Frank Tashlin • 1955 • United States
Starring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Shirley MacLaineFormer Looney Tunes animator Frank Tashlin brings his cartoon-crazy sight gags, eye-popping Technicolor art direction, and absurdist pop-culture commentary to perhaps the finest of the collaborat...
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2:28:18Episode 3
Sweet Charity
Episode 3
Directed by Bob Fosse • 1969 • United States
Starring Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Chita RiveraShirley MacLaine gives one of her most winning performances in this spectacular musical based on Neil Simon’s smash Broadway hit, which was in turn inspired by Federico Fellini’s NIGHTS OF CABIRIA...
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1:31:46Episode 4
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Episode 4
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell • 2001 • United States
Starring John Cameron Mitchell, Andrea Martin, Michael PittWith this trailblazing musical, writer-director-star John Cameron Mitchell and composer-lyricist Stephen Trask brought their signature creation from stage to screen for a movie...
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1:07:38Episode 5
Will-o’-the-Wisp
Episode 5
Directed by João Pedro Rodrigues • 2022 • France, Portugal
Starring Mauro Costa, André Cabral, Joel BrancoA rapturously queer, ecologically minded, antiroyalist musical fantasia, WILL-O’-THE-WISP finds the ever-audacious João Pedro Rodrigues (The Ornithologist) at his most playfully and pleasur...
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1:32:47Episode 6
Milford Graves Full Mantis
Episode 6
Directed by Jake Meginsky with Neil Young • 2018 • United States
Starring Milford GravesThis 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...
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34:26Episode 7
The Cry of Jazz
Episode 7
Directed by Edward Bland • 1959 • United States
Starring George Waller, Dorothea Horton, Melinda DillonFeaturing music by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, this landmark semi-documentary explores—via a heated conversation between a group of Black and white jazz aficionados—the relationship between jazz ...
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1:25:34Episode 8
The Flaming Lips Space Bubble Film
Episode 8
Directed by Wayne Coyne and Blake Studdard • 2022 • United States
Starring Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Jacob IngallsThis 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...
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56:33Episode 9
Songs for Drella
Episode 9
Directed by Ed Lachman • 1990 • United Kingdom, United States
Starring Lou Reed, John CaleNewly restored, this elegiac concert documentary captures the extraordinary 1990 reunion of estranged Velvet Underground bandmates Lou Reed and John Cale. The occasion for this landmark event was a live pe...
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1:27:38Episode 10
A Hard Day’s Night
Episode 10
Directed by Richard Lester • 1964 • United Kingdom
Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. A HARD DAY’S...
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53:04Episode 11
Original Cast Album: “Company”
Episode 11
Directed by D. A. Pennebaker • 1970 • United States
Starring Stephen Sondheim, Elaine Stritch, Donna McKechnieThis 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. ...
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1:21:41Episode 12
Space Is the Place
Episode 12
Directed by John Coney • 1974 • United States
Starring Sun Ra, Barbara Deloney, Raymond JohnsonAvant-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...
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1:31:42Episode 13
Gimme Shelter
Episode 13
Directed by David Maysles, Albert Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin • 1970 • United States
Called the greatest rock film ever made, this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour. When three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few d...
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1:17:26Episode 14
Ornette: Made in America
Episode 14
Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1985 • United States
Starring Ornette ColemanThis 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...
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1:36:13Episode 15
Dont Look Back
Episode 15
Directed by D. A. Pennebaker • 1967 • United States
Bob Dylan is captured on-screen as he never would be again in this groundbreaking film from D. A. Pennebaker. The legendary documentarian finds Dylan in England during his 1965 tour, which would be his last as an acoustic artist. In this wildly...
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Festival
Episode 16
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...
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1:45:19Episode 17
Buena Vista Social Club
Episode 17
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...
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44:10Episode 18
A Well Spent Life
Episode 18
Directed by Les Blank • 1971 • United States
A deeply moving tribute to the Texas songster, Mance Lipscomb, considered by many to be the greatest guitarist of all time.
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Trances
Episode 19
Directed by Ahmed El Maânouni • 1981 • Morocco
The beloved Moroccan band Nass El Ghiwane is the dynamic subject of this captivating musical documentary. Storytellers through song, with connections to political theater, the band became an international sensation (Western music critics have ofte...
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1:49:45Episode 20
Neptune Frost
Episode 20
Directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman • 2021 • United States, Rwanda
Starring Cheryl Isheja, Bertrand Ninteretse, Eliane UmuhireCodirected by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman, this visually wondrous sci-fi punk musical takes place in the hilltops of Burundi, where a group of escaped colt...
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2:00:11Episode 21
Quadrophenia
Episode 21
Directed by Franc Roddam • 1979 • United Kingdom
Starring Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, StingThe 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...
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54:37Episode 22
Hot Pepper
Episode 22
Directed by Les Blank • 1973 • United States
A companion piece to DRY WOOD that was filmed simultaneously, this is an energetic portrait of the Grammy-winning Creole musician Clifton Chenier, a.k.a. the King of Zydeco. HOT PEPPER brings viewers into the Louisiana juke joints where Chenier plays ...
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49:07Episode 23
Jimi Plays Monterey
Episode 23
Directed by D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus • 1986 • United States
Jimi Hendrix arrived in California virtually unknown. Returning stateside from London, where he had moved to launch his musical career, Hendrix exploded at Monterey, flooring an unsuspecting audience with his maniacal six-stri...