SAMBANCESTRAL

Your War (I'm One of You): 20 Years of Joan of Arc

February 2017 •English

Your War (I'm One Of You) chronicles the life and career of Chicago's Tim Kinsella, frontman of ever-shifting band Joan of Arc and '90's pioneers Cap'n Jazz. With appearances from Tim's friends, family, and admirers, we learn what has made his legacy so unique and enduring for more than 20 years.

The Rise of K-Pop

August 2020 •English

BTS, BLACKPINK, iKon, EXO, VIXX, G-idle, NCT. The Korean wave has arrived. K-pop has officially taken over the world. Now some of the biggest artists in the world are the result of a booming idol culture that has brought incredible songs, unmatched choreography and high concept production to a music revolution.

Havalina And The Creaky Old Bridge

July 2002 •English

Havalina and the Creaky Old Bridge is a rockumentary chronicling Havalina’s 2002 tour in the lead-up to their pivotal album, Space, Love & Bullfighting. This album—a unique fusion of Latin rhythms, nostalgic 60s love tunes, and whimsical space-pop—is Havalina’s most mainstream work, capturing their eclectic sound at its peak. The film dives into the band’s journey, challenges, and musical experimentation, making it essential viewing for fans and newcomers alike.

La bande son des années 90

July 2025 •French

Ensamble Patagonia

July 2024 •Spanish

Through moving and detailed testimonies, the documentary explores the significant Chilote heritage in the architecture of an emerging Patagonia at the end of the 19th century.

Sound Pictures by Music

October 2020 •English

Larion Dyakov is a painter, but he doesn't use paint; instead, he "paints pictures through music." He plays the viola and connects it to a chain of various effects devices to loop his phrases and alter the original sound of his classical instrument. The result is a mixture of classical and modern ambient music that can transport you to another world and paint a new picture in your mind's eye, if you let it.

Understanding Lennon/McCartney

December 2018 •English

This 5-part series is the most intimate, comprehensive biography ever made on John and Paul. Told almost entirely through their own words and music, with information culled from a variety of direct sources and compiled in a way that has never been done before, it directly challenges many of the dominant narratives in Beatles mythology.

Drugged and Abused: No More Shame

January 2025 •French

Caroline Darian, Gisèle Pelicot's daughter, looks back on the tragedy that shook her family: for ten years, her father drugged her mother to subject her to rapes committed by strangers recruited on the Internet. This case exposes the scandal of chemical submission, a practice where attackers, generally close to the victims, use prescription or over-the-counter medications to commit their crimes. This phenomenon, far from being marginal, affects victims with varied profiles...

Miss Italia Mustn't Die

February 2025 •Italian

Behind the glitz of Miss Italia, director Patrizia Mirigliani fights to save the iconic pageant, now wavering amid scandals and changing beauty standards.

DFW Punk

August 2008 •English

DFW Punk, covering the Dallas/Ft. Worth punk/new wave scene. If you thought Texas in the late ’70s was all about urban cowboys, country tunes and bible-thumping, get ready to be proved dead wrong. 2007, MiniDV.

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas

November 2017 •English

An offbeat, irreverent musical documentary that tells the story of a group of Jewish songwriters, including Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks, who wrote the soundtrack to Christianity’s most musical holiday. It’s an amazing tale of immigrant outsiders who became irreplaceable players in pop culture’s mainstream – a generation of songwriters who found in Christmas the perfect holiday in which to imagine a better world, and for at least one day a year, make us believe.

Better Than the Original: The Joy of the Cover Version

November 2015 •English

Through ten carefully chosen cover versions that whisk us from the British Invasion to a noughties X Factor final, this film journeys over five decades to track how artists as varied as The Moody Blues, Soft Cell, Puff Daddy and Alexandra Burke have scored number 1s with their retake on someone else's song. Each of the ten classic cover versions has its own particular tale, tied not only into its musical and cultural context but also the personal testimony of the artists, producers and songwriters whose lives were changed in the process.

George A. Romero's Resident Evil

January 2025 •English

A documentary that brings to light the vision that director George A. Romero had for an adaptation of Resident Evil, using newly filmed interviews with those who were there, and unravels the secrets behind why it was never produced.

Preto Velho na Lagoinha

March 2016 •Portuguese

Documentary about the preparation of a popular celebration of "Dia do Preto Velho", one of the most important rituals from the Umbanda in Brazil.

Young At Heart

October 2008 •English

Documents the true story of the final weeks of rehearsal for the Young at Heart Chorus in Northampton, MA, and many of whom must overcome health adversities to participate. Their music goes against the stereotype of their age group. Although they have toured Europe and sang for royalty, this account focuses on preparing new songs for a concert in their hometown.

Choppers, let's ride

June 2018 •French

Arreda Homem Que Chegou Mulher

October 2021 •Portuguese

Documentary about terreiro women in Fortaleza who occupy the highest positions in the hierarchy, subverting the patriarchal tradition of religious communities.

Centrales nucléaire : démantèlement impossible

April 2013 •German

Nelson Cavaquinho

January 1969 •Portuguese

A short film of lovely poetic, observational elements and interviews with the famed samba singer/songwriter Nelson Antônio da Silva, whose adopted last name ‘Cavaquinho’ refers to the small guitar-like instrument that he played and used to compose his songs.

Mika Nakashima The First Tour 2003 Live & Document

February 2003 •Japanese

Concert film and documentary from Mika Nakashima's First Tour 2003 performed on February 23, 2003 at Zepp Tokyo.