Mike Dibb
A documentary portrait of one of the world's superstars of Jazz, pianist Keith Jarrett, exploring his life and work.
Prominent Columbia University English and Comparative Literature professor Edward Said was well known in the United States for his tireless efforts to convey the plight of the Palestinian people, and in this film shot less than a year before his death resulting from incurable leukemia, the author of such books as {-Orientalism}, {-Culture and Imperialism}, and {-Power, Politics, and Culture} discusses with filmmakers his illness, his life, his education, and the continuing turmoil in Palestine. Diagnosed with the disease in 1991, Said struggled with his leukemia throughout the 1990s before refraining from interviews due to his increasingly fragile physical state. This interview was the one sole exception to his staunch "no interview" policy, and provides fascinating insight into the mind of the man who became Western society's most prominent spokesman for the Palestinian cause.
This British documentary shows the complex layers of legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, who was a major innovator in post-bop, cool jazz, hard-bop and fusion. Davis's raw-edged trumpet tones were some of the most evocative sounds ever heard. This profile captues the magnificent and mercurial artist -- one of the most identifiable and misunderstood pop icons of the 20th century -- through rare footage and interviews.
The first novel ever written, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, lives on in a thousand adaptations, in film, opera, art and even computer games. This film examines how the chivalrous knight and his sidekick have become enduring cultural icons around the world.
The rarely-seen 1994 BBC TV documentary on the legacy and influence of John Berger, featuring interviews with Alain Tanner, Geoff Dyer, Jean Mohr, Ernst Neizvestny and many more.
Appalachian Journey is one of five films made from footage that Alan Lomax shot between 1978 and 1985 for the PBS American Patchwork series (1991). It offers songs, dances, stories, and religious rituals of the Southern Appalachians. Preachers, singers, fiddlers, banjo pickers, moonshiners, cloggers, and square dancers recount the good times and the hard times of rural life there. Performers include Tommy Jarrell, Janette Carter, Ray and Stanley Hicks, Frank Proffitt Jr., Sheila Kay Adams, Nimrod Workman and Phyllis Boyens, Raymond Fairchild, and others, with a bonus of a few African-Americans from the North Carolina Piedmont. Narrated by Alan Lomax. The Association for Cultural Equity’s Alan Lomax Archive channel on YouTube additionally streams outtakes from this film: other strong performances by Sheila Kay Adams, Dellie Norton, and Cas Wallin, Lawrence Eller, the Hickses, Algia Mae Hinton and John Dee Holeman, Tommy Jarrell, John “Doodle” Thrower, and Nimrod Workman.
“Once upon a Time” was filmed entirely in different spaces in and around John Berger’s house in the Haute Savoie in France. It’s a moving and unusual meditation on our experience of time, as revealed through a careful selection of contrasting and thought-provoking time-centred ‘stories’, both old and new. And whether written by himself or others, all were read by John and beautifully edited, using only the filmed images of things found inside the house in books or on the walls, or outside in the surrounding countryside and nearest town.
From C. L. R. James in conversation with Stuart Hall, produced originally for Channel 4.
“Parting Shots from Animals” was inspired by essays by John Berger and developed in collaboration with Chris Rawlence. Shot entirely in the UK, it consists of a diverse series of arresting ‘films within a film’, each presented as if made about us from the perspective of the animals whose lives we may appear to celebrate, but continue to exploit and to destroy. While John Berger doesn’t appear in the film and wasn’t directly involved in it’s making, he narrates to great effect the text he co-wrote to accompany the film’s provocative opening sequence.
A translation to film of Raymond Williams’ 1973 book of the same title which traces images of ‘nature’ and ‘town’ through 200 years of English literature.
Short film, going behind-the-scenes of shooting for One Plus One (1968) in London, featuring an interview with Godard sitting beside a tree. Many crew members from this shoot were then borrowed by him, playing the press in the film's Eve Democracy sequence. Originally broadcast on the BBC programme 'Release' (30th Nov. '68).
In a brief life filled with prodigious artistic achievements, Federico García Lorca’s greatest legacy may well be his complex and compelling personality. Filmed on location in Spain, this program profiles the immortalized poet/dramatist, capturing the potent essence of Spanish culture in the process. Extracts from his poems, plays, and letters demonstrate his duende—burning passion—for the arts, while the details of his life and violent death, as told by his biographer Ian Gibson, contemporaries Rafael Alberti and Luis Rosales, and others, present a thoughtful perspective on Spain’s revered literary icon.
