The Velvet Underground: A Documentary (2021)

The Velvet Underground is a 2021 American documentary film directed and produced by Todd Haynes that chronicles the life and times of the rock band the Velvet Underground. Click on the image for the full film.

The Rise and Fall of The Fall

The Fall were a groundbreaking band who created some brilliant music. They combined a poetic aesthetic with the gritty anti-authoritarianism of Punk. This was accomplished under the leadership of the late Mark E. Smith (1957 - 2018). But we need to examine how Smith worked and what his motivations were. This short documentary does that by looking at how he managed the band, leading it for more than 40 years with many different members.

In April 1998, Manchester band The Fall played a live show at Brownie's in New York City, where chaos reigned from the very first song. There was an on-stage brawl, most of the band quit after the gig, and frontman Mark E Smith was arrested by the NYPD. This is the story of what happened at that concert, and why.

Good Vibrations

Engaging biopic of punk pioneer Terri Hooley, who opened a record shop in 1970s Belfast and helped foster the city's underground music scene.

Good Vibrations is a 2013 comedy-drama film written by Colin Carberry and Glenn Patterson and directed by Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn. It stars Richard Dormer, Jodie Whittaker, Adrian Dunbar, Liam Cunningham, Karl Johnson and Dylan Moran. It is based on the life of Terri Hooley, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk rock scene. The film was produced by Chris Martin, with Andrew Eaton, Bruno Charlesworth and David Holmes. Holmes also co-wrote the soundtrack score.

Click on the image above to be taken to the full film.

Ghosts......of the Civil Dead

The inmates and guards of a modern, clean and efficient maximum security wing are slowly and increasingly brutalised until they erupt in violence. Dark and macabre, and based in truth, the story is told in a traditional dramatic style combined with telephone interviews and narration.

More than ever, this dark postindustrial vision of the cacereal society, where one man is imprisoned in order to lock up the minds of the entire world, is relevant. The cruel and brutal inevitability of the prison system, where boys are mutilated into men, with violence and fear, power and intimidation. Everything has a price, and a cost. In this savage account of an isolated maximum security prison in the Central Australian desert that is in lockdown. Pressure is building in the facility and the weak will not survive what is coming. It is almost like the screws are making it happen. Boiling the pot hotter and hotter, until it boils over. And it will.....Welcome to Hell.

Ghosts... of the Civil Dead is a 1988 Australian drama-suspense film directed by John Hillcoat. It was written by Hillcoat, Evan English, Gene Conkie, Nick Cave, and Hugo Race. It is partly based on the prison diaries of Jack Henry Abbott.

The story is set in Central Industrial Prison, a privately run maximum security prison in the middle of the Australian desert. An outbreak of violence within the prison has resulted in a total lockdown. A committee is appointed by the prison's governors to investigate the cause of the outbreak, but their findings are in stark contrast to the facts behind the riot.

It is revealed that both the prisoners and the guards are slowly and deliberately brutalised, manipulated and provoked into the forthcoming eruption of violence by the government and the private company that runs the prison, in order to justify the construction of a new and more "secure" facility.

The script was based on the book In the Belly of the Beast by Jack Henry Abbott and research done with David Hale, a former prison guard at Marion, Illinois. who features as a character in the film.

A BAND CALLED DEATH - The Pioneers of Punk Rock

Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was a band called Death. Punk before punk existed, three teenage brothers in the early '70s formed a band in their spare bedroom, began playing a few local gigs and even pressed a single in the hopes of getting signed. But this was the era of Motown and emerging disco. Record companies found Death’s music— and band name—too intimidating, and the group were never given a fair shot, disbanding before they even completed one album. Equal parts electrifying rockumentary and epic family love story, A Band Called Death chronicles the incredible fairy-tale journey of what happened almost three decades later, when a dusty 1974 demo tape made its way out of the attic and found an audience several generations younger. Playing music impossibly ahead of its time, Death is now being credited as the first black punk band (hell...the first punk band!), and are finally receiving their long overdue recognition as true rock pioneers.

Oscar Wilde Vs Charles Baudelaire - Dandies of Darkness

Two literary rebels. Two unforgettable lives.
In this documentary, we explore the brilliant yet turbulent journeys of Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire—two iconic writers who defied convention, embraced beauty, and paid a heavy price for their genius.

From Baudelaire’s provocative Les Fleurs du mal and his battle with censorship, to Wilde’s meteoric rise in Victorian society and his tragic downfall, this video delves into their personal struggles, controversial works, and the cultural legacies they left behind.

B-Movie - Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 [2015]

B-MOVIE: LUST & SOUND IN WEST BERLIN is a documentary about music, art and chaos in the Wild West Berlin of the 1980s. The walled-in city which became the creative melting pot for a special kind of sub and pop culture, attracting ingenious dilettantes and world famous celebrities alike. However, before the iron curtain would fall, artists and communards, squatters and hedonists of all kinds would enjoy Berlins unconventional lifestyle. It was not about long-term commercial success, but about living for the moment - the kick - the here and now. With mostly unreleased TV and film footage, photos and original interviews, B-MOVIE tells the story of life in the divided city, a cultural interzone in which everything and anything seemed possible in a place unlike anywhere else in Europe. It's a fast-paced collage of stories from a frenzied but creative decade, starting with punk and ending with the Love Parade, all from a city where the days are short and the nights are endless. This is a time when Berlin was like a B-MOVIE: Colourfully cheap and trashy, threatened and thrown together, anxious and ambitious, clubbed and caned, stoned and strung out, drunk, drugged and - just very special. Click on the image above to be taken to the film.

„B-Movie“ ist eine Dokumentation über Musik, Kunst und Chaos im wilden West-Berlin der 80er Jahre. Bevor der eiserne Vorhang fiel, tummelten sich hier Künstler und Kommunarden, Hausbesetzer und Hedonisten.

Andra takter (1985)

Sixten är punkare och spelar i bandet Anti-Cimex. Filmen följer honom och hans vänner - unga människor som inte vill leva det vanliga Svensson-livet, de vill festa och protestera mot svensk vapenexport.

Swedish film about punk culture and the band Anti-Cimex. The film follows Sixten and his friends, young people who will not live the orginary suburban life, and will party and protest against the Swedish weapons industry.

Ort

Göteborg

Längd

27 minuter

Medverkande

Sixten Andersson, Marie-Louise Waldestam, Subhumans, Peter and the Testtube Babies

Regi

Benny Frick

Manus

Benny Frick

Foto

PeO Olsson

Musik

Anti-Cimex

Producent

Benny Frick

Rättigheter

Tenfilm

Produktionsbolag

Frick Film

Produktionsland

Sverige

Utgångsmaterial

16 mm, normalbild (1,37:1), optisk mono, färg

Arkiv

Svenska Filminstitutet Läs mer om filmen i Svensk Filmdatabas

Musik delas ofta upp i kategorier och subkategorier. I slutet av sjuttiotalet exploderade punken i Sverige och övergick snart i postpunken, som inte var lika kompromisslös, men desto viktigare för svenskt musikliv på åttiotalet. Men det fanns de som höll sig kvar vid den hårda punkmusiken och mer anarkistiska livsideal. I Sverige kom en sådan kategori att kallas kängpunk och där brukar gruppen Anti-Cimex placeras. 

Detta är en kort bakgrund till musiken i Andra takter. Fast filmen handlar mindre om kängpunk och den svenska musikscenen på åttiotalet, och mer om två unga människor som inte kände sig bekväma med det vanliga Svensson-livet med arbete från åtta till fem. De ville inte arbeta, de ville festa och protestera mot svensk vapenexport. De ville åka till Jönköping och spela på en musikfestival, där bland andra det engelska bandet Peter and the Test Tube Babies stod på scen. 

Att frivilligt ställa sig utanför, att med dagens terminologi vara del av utanförskapet, var vid den tiden och i den miljön inte nödvändigtvis något negativt, ibland till och med ideologiskt förankrat. Rädslan för det vanliga knegarlivet och viljan att revoltera mot den äldre generationen är återkommande i andra svenska skildringar av punken, som Stig Larssons halvtimmesdokumentär Punkrock från 1978 och Johan Donners Ebba-the movie om punkbandet Ebba Grön

NickCave - Straight To You - documentary

Spanning Nick Caves career from Birthday Party to 1993. First authorized Nick Cave documentary. Broadcasted on TV stations in various countries (Germany, Australia, Israel, Switzerland, Austria, Italy).

"D.I.Y. or Die How to Survive as an Independent Artist"

 

D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist is a low-budget documentary film released by Music Video Distributors in 2002. The film is a "celebration of the underdog" and deals with why artists do what they do, regardless of the lack of a continuous paycheck.

The film features some artists that define the DIY ethic and speaks to the overall DIY culture. It features interviews with Steve Albini, Lydia Lunch, Ian MacKaye, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr, Jim Rose, J. G. Thirlwell of Foetus, Mike Watt, Eric McFadden, Richard Kern (filmmaker), Ron Asheton of The Stooges, Madigan Shive of Bonfire Madigan, Lynn Breedlove of Tribe 8 and Dave Brockie of Gwar, among others.

Alicia Dattner appears in the credit sequence as a punk street artist stapling DIY flyers. Original artwork for the credits drawn by Attaboy, co-founder of Hi-Fructose Contemporary Art Magazine.

The DVD was released (under the title "D.I.Y. or Die: Burn This DVD") with no region restrictions or copy protection. Director Michael W. Dean allowed and even encouraged people to make copies for non-commercial use.

Punk 76: The Birth of Anarchy

Punk 76: The Birth Of Anarchy (2013) is one of the best docu/films about the Punk Rock explosion circa 76. Too many productions of this type fail to acknowledge and interview many of the big players outside of the usual suspects (Clash/Pistols), but this gets it right.

Outsiders - Freaks - Runts.

Enter a roll call featuring Gene October, Steve Severin, Tony James, Marco Pironi, Viv Albertine, Rat Scabies, Jah Wobble and Charlie Harper. While the literary aspects are covered by luminaries such as Caroline Coon and John Savage.

We are taken through the journey via the fashion side of things - from the safety pin/bondage era - to the leather jackets and the shock tactics involved. The social period is captured, with caustic asides to the music of the time and thus why these punkers felt a change was needed.

"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers" (Voltaire)

Of course much of the thrill for old punks and prospective newbies, comes with the live clips we get. Always great to see the likes of Chelsea, The Lurkers, Subway Sect and The Adverts get an airing, while there's a lovely bonus that sees The Electric Chairs as well. While naturally the big players are of course featured prominently.

There's something of a hard sell going on as regards The Great Rock "N" Roll Swindle, which annoys since it's awful and full of untruths. While more time could have been afforded the rivalry with the Teddy Boys and the future influences of Punk. But this film gets pretty much most things right.

Because Gene October and the gang here are correct, Punk never went away, you see it every day, coloured hair, piercings and studs were once not the norm, and this film shows how that wave in 76 is still being felt today. 9/10

The Comic Strip Presents - War

 

The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents..., which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene.

1985:- England has been invaded by the Warsaw Pact countries and middle-class couple Hermine and Godfrey retreat to their rural hide-away but after witnessing a bunch of incompetent commandos kill each other, they get separated.

In keeping with the war theme of the episode, Hermine is reading a copy of The Sun from the time of the Falklands War. The headline "GOTCHA" was from 4 May 1982, about the sinking of the Argentine warship ARA General Belgrano.

With - Robbie Coltrane, Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Daniel Peacock, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders.

The Filth and the Fury - Sex Pistols Documentary

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Assembled from unseen archive footage, rare offcuts and masses of hilarious junk-culture detail from the pre-punk '70s, this inspired collage is as much passionate social history as rockumentary. Intercutting a touching, never-before-seen Sid Vicious interview with contemporary quotes from the surviving Pistols -- wittily filmed, like renegade villains, in silhouette -- Temple exposes the band's human side as never before.

Suburbia (1984)

Runaways, punks and outcasts calling themselves The Rejects group together in an abandoned house just outside of town. It explores many things people would assume to be covered in this kind of film. Cast consists of real punks and Flea from RHCP. Also live performances by TSOL, D. I. and the Vandals.

Trouble (1993)

Berlin, 1992 - squats, music and the global mind.

Trouble (1993)

The story centers on a young Canadian woman who lives in a politically active flat-sharing community in Kreuzberg Berlin and works in a squat bar whilst also singing in a rock band. Due to the new capital situation, occupied buildings suddenly become sought-after investments. The living and working situation of the musicians and other scene-people deteriorates massively. The band wants to draw attention to their situation with a street concert, so the apartment community hijacks the entire broadcasting van of a television station. The film was broadcast on TV on 23 March 1993 and was released on DVD a few years later. The film culminates in an act of broadcast signal intrusion. An authentic neighborhood portrait of Berlin at the time with an excellent soundtrack. The 'Rockhaus' squat of the film is actually the Køpi squat at 137 Köpenicker Straße in Mitte, that was first occupied in 1990 and continues today. 

Køpi was squatted on 23 February 1990 by Autonomen from West Berlin . Despite the terrible state of the building, the squatters were attracted by the large rooms. The police did not attempt to evict the occupation, which marked the first time people from West Berlin had squatted in East Berlin. The squatters legalized their occupation with the district council of Mitte in 1991.

From the very beginning, Køpi was a radical left space where anarchists , socialists , queers and musicians were welcome. The building itself is covered in banners and graffiti. It became known as Køpi because the squatters chose to use the Danish ø despite the name coming from the name of the street (Köpenicker Straße). Køpi is also spelled Koepi, Köpi and even occasionally Kopi in English or Spanish texts. Køpi has become an important symbol for the radical left in Berlin, linked to projects elsewhere such as the Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen and Rozbrat in Poznań.

"Whoever buys Køpi, buys trouble".

Director - Penelope Buitenhuis

Writers - Penelope BuitenhuisMaureen KelleherIlja Schellenschmidt

Stars - Yvonne Ducksworth, Jan Erik Engel, Gode Benedix

German with English subtitles. 

Unmade Beds (Amos Poe, 1976)

The film debut of Blondie¨s Debbie Harry. Rico is a cool photographer who pretends he’s a bigshot Hollywood director. He imagines New York is Paris. His inner world of mission, fantasy and obsessions are magnified when he falls in love with the adorable Blondie, played by Debbie Harry. America’s answer to France’s Jean Luc Godard, this film parallels the French movie Breathless.

King Street Newtown 1995 - full documentary

 

A 25 minute documentary focusing on the characters that inhabit King Street in Newtown, Sydney Australia - aired on ABC TV 9.2.95. Newtown at the time was a 19th century workers suburb that had been taken over by diverse counter culture, artistic, punk and outsiders in the 1980s. By 1995 it was in full bloom and was about to enter a 5 year decline of gentrification and real estate market ethics. I highly recommend this film to capture something of the energy and spirit that was the inner city of Sydney in the 1980s and 90s. The film was raised in a Senate committee hearing regarding its rating, as it features some queer content.

Anarchy in the UK: The New Underground Cinema (2016)

The definitive documentary that chronicles the UK's 'Misrule Cinema Movement' boom from (2010-2016) This period of social revolution and unrest gave birth to a new wave of pent-up creative energy and determined filmmakers who started shaking the chains of the mainstream film industries rigid cage, by making movies on mobile phones and using Youtube and Facebook to promote their films. Building their own cinemas and staging guerrilla-style movie screenings throughout the country.

Intrépidos Punks (1980 Eng Subs)

 

Hard to describe this surreal Mexican movie about a outlaw gang of 'punks' who ride motorcycles, rob and party. The music, the costumes and the hairstyles are on another level. It is difficult to imagine this film was intended to be a serious work with shock value. Today it comes across as funny and over the top. Brilliant.

Hype!

 

Hype! (1996) is a documentary directed by Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge rock in the early to mid-1990s United States. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the development of the grunge scene from its early beginning in neighborhood basements to its emergence as an explosive pop culture phenomenon. Hype! attempts to dispel some of the myths of the genre promulgated by media hype by depicting the grunge subculture from the point of view of people who were active in the scene. The film generally portrays this mythos in a satirical way while acknowledging that it was media hype that helped propel some of these obscure bands to fame.

Hype! includes interviews and performances from bands (primarily oriented with the Sub Pop Records axis) such as TAD, Blood Circus, Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Coffin Break, The Gits, Love Battery, Flop, The Melvins, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Mono Men, Supersuckers, Zipgun, Seaweed, Pearl Jam, 7 Year Bitch, Hovercraft, Gas Huffer, and Fastbacks. It also features interviews with band manager Susan Silver, record producers Jack Endino and Steve Fisk, and photographer Charles Peterson.

It is one of the few films to contain video footage of Nirvana's first performance of their breakthrough hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

In the film, Seattle producer/engineer Jack Endino is humorously referred to as "the godfather of grunge."