Joana Mallwitz – Momentum

Richard Hank Sciaroni: Shot Down

2015

Through the perils of air combat, and an emergency landing behind enemy lines in Italy, Hank Sciaroni utilized his capability to speak Italian to help get him and his men to safety as the Germans closed in.

1/2 Man

1986

A visual documentary of Einstürzende Neubauten, the German underground band, by Japanese cult director Sogo Ishii, made during their 1985 tour of Japan. The band makes an elaborate and remarkably choreographed appearance in the ruins of an old ironworks which was scheduled for demolition; footage of same was incorporated into the movie and a brief appearance on stage.

Igor Levit: No Fear

2022

Follows the artist over two years as he explores his „life after Beethoven“, as he searches for his next challenge, his identity as an artist.

Mike Garson and His 88 Friends

2019

An intimate documentary portrait of world-class improvisational and traditional pianist Mike Garson as he tours, performs, and teaches.

Horowitz: A Reminiscence

1993

Wanda Horowitz reminisces about her husband, the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz, with clips from his television appearances.

She Chef

2023

We’re travelling from luxury kitchen to luxury kitchen with Agnes, from Bergisch Gladbach via Barcelona to the Faroe Islands. The cook’s luggage always includes her backpack containing various knives, cleavers and tweezers. The camera watches over the inquisitive young woman’s shoulder as delicacies are being prepared. Our mouths water. At the same time, we get insights into the different ways of running a restaurant. It’s about team spirit and equality at the stove.

Bill Evans Time Remembered

2015

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.

Tango

1985

A brief history of the emergence and artistic innovations of tango in 19th-century Argentina and Europe. The film offers a mosaic of tango melodies, art works, dance performances, historical footage, photographs of Buenos Aires at the turn of the 20th century, and texts by Celedonio Flores and Enrique Santos Discépolo.

Artur Schnabel: No Place of Exile

2018

The exiled Austro-German musician and composer Artur Schnabel was a giant of his time, but in Germany today he is nearly forgotten. Pianist and Schnabel devotee Markus Pawlik (in collaboration with baritone Dietrich Henschel and the Szymanowski String Quartet) brings Artur Schnabel's greatest compositions back to Berlin with a filmed commemorative concert. Along the way, Pawlik visits the places, landscapes, and history that shaped Schnabel's life and music. "Artur Schnabel: No Place of Exile" rediscovers an essential artist displaced by the catastrophe of the two World Wars and the Holocaust and inspired by the possibilities of modernism.

Vince Guaraldi: The Maestro of Menlo Park

2009

A short documentary about Vince Guaraldi, the composer most well known for his work on several 'Peanuts' animated television specials.

Classic Albums: Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

2001

The worlds of glitz, glam, and pop-rock fused immortally on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, born of the formidable partnership of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. This 1973 double album may well have been the peak of their collaboration. Ranging from perennial favorites like "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and the Jets," and the title track to more ambitious compositions like "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and everything in between, Goodbye is unmatched in its depth and scope. This entry in the Classic Albums series of DVDs documents the often tumultuous writing and recording sessions for that masterpiece through vintage clips of the musicians in the studio and new interviews with Elton, Bernie, producer Gus Dudgeon, and the band members. We may never know how the John-Taupin team achieved their magic, but this release offers a both a peek at the process and a few reasons why the album endures today.

Magic Moments of Music – Horowitz in Moscow

2018

After more than 60 years, the uncrowned king of 20th century pianists returned to his freedom-torn homeland to perform his swan song in a piano recital. In the mid-1980s, a breathtaking concert took place in Moscow that many still recall with emotion. The great Ukrainian-American pianist Vladimir Horowitz performed there for the first time in more than half a century. At that time, the border between East and West was impassable. The Cold War was in full swing. The two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, considered each other enemies. The race to produce atomic weapons threatened everyone's lives. The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, then eighty-two years old, began one evening discussing with his concert agent Peter Gelb what he dreamed and wished for. One of the things was to look back to Russia.

Look Me Over: Liberace

2021

He was America's first idol, icon, pompous pianist, pop star, egomaniac and show giant. Liberace's life was a rush, always in the fast lane on the highways between Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Palm Springs. In the middle of the Californian desert, where Hollywood stars celebrated wild parties at their pools in their "private oasis", he led an ambivalent life between pomp and secrecy. Liberace knew the entire "who is who" of Hollywood. Some of them he needed as an alibi, some to admire, some to promote. This documentary focuses on his life and success story as part of the "American Dream" in the bigotry of a divided society.

Semjon Byčkov

2024

Fox & Penguin

2021

How do German couples communicate in private? What are they arguing about? Is the way to a man’s heart really through his stomach? This docu-fictional hybrid production discusses such questions with the help of authentic interview snippets that were edited under the staged plot. We get an insight into the life of an animal couple, who experience typical everyday situations on behalf of us humans. At first, our fox is emotionally contained, while the penguin lady may get wild as hell. With a wink, the filmmakers hold up a mirror to the audience in the cinema.