Brick and Mortar and Love

Le retour du vinyle

December 2017 •French

A symbol of nostalgia for some, authentic object of art for others, the 33 rpm record is gaining in popularity. Even if it was pushed aside in 1990 by the compact disc, it’s now attracting a new generation of music lovers.

It Came From Aquarius Records

June 2022 •English

IT CAME FROM AQUARIUS RECORDS tells the story about the San Francisco based independent record store, Aquarius Records. Having closed in 2016 after 47 years, this small apartment-sized store championed local, underground, independent, and challenging music to the masses - most memorably with their infamous bi-weekly, college essay-length, new-release lists. Six years in the making, interviewing collectors, musicians, and store owners, the film has a very personal angle, with lots of behind-the-scenes footage (and drama) that shows both the joy and excruciating stress that comes with running — and closing — a store like this, helped in no part by the changing city around them.

High Fidelity

March 2000 •English

After his long-time girlfriend dumps him, a thirty-year-old record store owner seeks to understand why he is unlucky in love while recounting his "top five breakups of all time".

Empire Records

September 1995 •English

The employees of an independent music store learn about each other as they try to stop the store from being absorbed by a large chain.

Vinyl Nation

August 2020 •English

The vinyl record renaissance over the past decade has brought new fans to a classic format and transformed our idea of a record collector: younger, both male and female, multicultural. This same revival has made buying music more expensive, benefited established bands over independent artists and muddled the question of whether vinyl actually sounds better than other formats. Vinyl Nation digs into the crates of the record resurgence in search of truths set in deep wax: Has the return of vinyl made music fandom more inclusive or divided? What does vinyl say about our past here in the present? How has the second life of vinyl changed how we hear music and how we listen to each other?

Vlada Goes to London

November 2020 •Hebrew

"Vlada Goes to London" is a short student film exploring the strong-willed Vlada on her night shift as a pizza delivery girl in her desperate attempt to book tickets to London and fulfill her dream of being a DJ. The end of the night brings more challenges than she expects.

I Need That Record!

May 2008 •English

Guerilla filmmaker Brendan Toller unleashes I NEED THAT RECORD! THE DEATH (OR POSSIBLE SURVIVAL) OF THE INDEPENDENT RECORD STORE, "an elegy for a vanishing subculture...a lively, bittersweet film that examines - with caustic humor, brutal candor, and, ultimately, great affection - why roughly 3,000 indie record stores have closed across the nation over the past decade," (Johnathan Perry, Boston Globe). A tour-de-force tale of greed, media consolidation, homogenized radio, big box stores, downloading, and technological shifts in the music industry told through candid interviews, crestfallen record store owners, startling statistics, and eye-popping animation. Fat cats or our favorite record stores? You decide. Featuring- IAN MACKAYE, NOAM CHOMSKY, MIKE WATT, THURSTON MOORE, LENNY KAYE (Patti Smith), CHRIS FRANTZ (Talking Heads), GLENN BRANCA, PATTERSON HOOD (Drive By Truckers), PAT CARNEY (Black Keys) , LEGS MCNEIL, BOB GRUEN, BP HELIUM, and many indie record stores across the U.S.

Hearts Beat Loud

June 2018 •English

In the hip Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, single dad and record store owner Frank is preparing to send his hard-working daughter Sam off to college while being forced to close his vintage shop. Hoping to stay connected through their shared musical passions, Frank urges Sam to turn their weekly jam sessions into a father-daughter live act. After their first song becomes an internet breakout, the two embark on a journey of love, growing up and musical discovery.

Woodstock - Mais Que Uma Loja

July 2014 •Portuguese

"Woodstock - Mais Que Uma Loja" tells the story of the Woodstock Discos store, a stronghold considered ground zero for heavy metal in São Paulo and one of the pioneers of the style in Brazil.

Spike Island

October 2012 •English

Teenage musicians travel to England's Spike Island in the hope of attending an outdoor performance by their favorite band, the Stone Roses.

Lost Records

January 2020 •Portuguese

A documentary that follows a middle-aged Azorean record obsessive who has lost the vinyl collection of his youth, and so seeks to reconnect with it through talking with the fellow island collectors he grew up with about the music scene of their wilder years.

Seasoned Greetings

September 1933 •English

The owner of an unsuccessful greeting cards store decides to sell 'talking' greeting cards in the form of records.

Vinyl

March 2023 •Czech

Truth About Rock

January 1989 •English

For the past year or so, brothers Jim and Steve Peters, both ordained ministers, have been traveling around the nation on a mission from God. Convinced that rock and roll is "one of the largest satanic forces in the country," they have been exhorting American kids to build bonfires of albums in public places.

Off the Record

December 2021 •English

RPM music is a small shop in the centre of Newcastle selling vinyl records. Founded by former students, the shop has become a place for people with love of music to come, browse, chat and share their stories. These are some of them.

Finding the Funk

January 2014 •English

Finding the Funk is a road trip in search of the past, present and future of Funk music. Starting with Funk's roots in Jazz and the James Brown bands of the '60s we travel to the Bay Area to celebrate Sly & the Family Stone, then to Dayton the birthplace of so many of Funk's originators, then onto Detroit where from the ashes of Motown, P-Funk's Mothership arose, and then to LA where a new crop of musicians are creating their own Funk history. On our journey into Funk, we talk to legends Sly Stone, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Nona Hendryx, Maceo Parker, Bernie Worrell, and Steve Arrington and their descendants Mike D, D'Angelo, Sheila E, Shock G and Sade's Stuart Matthewman. Narrated by Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson of the Roots.

The Myths of Shoplifting

January 1980 •English

A short film that tries to deter young people from shoplifting.

You Can't Just Sell Records

April 2025 •English

Ron opens a vinyl record shop in his hometown, attracting a community of music lovers and collectors. As the shop grows, he plans to expand and compete with bigger businesses, he discovers there's more to selling records than just retail.

X-Ray Audio: The Documentary

February 2016 •English

Cold War Leningrad: In a culture where the recording industry was ruthlessly controlled by the state, music lovers discovered an extraordinary alternative means of reproduction: they repurposed used x-ray film as the base for records of forbidden songs. Giving blood every week to earn enough money to buy a recording lathe, one bootlegger Rudy Fuchs cuts banned music onto such discarded x-rays to be sold on street corners by shady dealers. It was ultimate act of punk resistance, a two-fingered salute to the repressive regime that gave a generation of young Soviets access to forbidden Western and Russian music, an act for which Rudy and his fellow bootleggers would pay a heavy price.

Music for now!

June 2024 •Portuguese

The film is about the vinyl record culture and presents a panel of stories, searches, collecting, in various locations in Rio de Janeiro.