The Flying Dutchman

Adolphe Appia Visionary of Invisible

September 1988 •French

The life and work of stage designer ADOLPHE APPIA, originator of the most profound agitations in contemporary theatre. Through the dynamic alternation of animated drawings and choreographies specially conceived for the film, we discover the steps of his artistic evolution.

Lisztomania

October 1975 •English

In the 19th century, Romantic composer/pianist Franz Liszt tries to end his hedonistic ways but keeps getting sucked back in by his seductive fellow composer Richard Wagner.

Wagner: Die Walküre

April 2017 •German

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, (English: The Ring of the Nibelung). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870, and received its first performance as part of the Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 14 August 1876.

The Metropolitan Opera: Das Rheingold

March 2013 •English

In the depths of the Rhine, the three Rhinemaidens guard the Rhinegold, a treasure of immeasurable value. The Nibelung dwarf Alberich is dazzled by the sight of it. The girls explain that whoever wins the gold and forges it into a ring will gain power over the world, but must first renounce love. Frustrated by his unsuccessful attempts to catch one of the girls, Alberich curses love and steals the gold. Wotan, lord of the gods, is reproached by his wife Fricka: he has promised to give Freia, goddess of youth, to the giants Fasolt and Fafner in return for their building a fortress for the gods. When the giants demand their reward, Loge, the god of fire, suggests an alternative payment: the ring Alberich has forged from the Rhinegold, and his other treasures. The giants agree, and Wotan and Loge leave for the Nibelungs’ underground home.

Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser

November 2004 •German

Witness the Zurich Opera's stunning production of Richard Wagner's masterpiece "Tannhauser," conducted by Franz Welser-Most and featuring Peter Sieffert (Tannhauser), Solveig Kringelborn (Elisabeth) and Roman Trekel (von Eschenbach). Initially produced in Dresden in 1845, "Tannhauser" instilled a sense of wonder in a few of Strauss's ardent friends and admirers, among them Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt. Opera buffs will love it.

Richard Wagner: Parsifal

April 1993 •German

The Met production easily has the most beautiful staging, designed by Otto Schenck, who also produced the fabulous set for the Met's previous Ring cycle. Kurt Moll is a wonderful Gurnemanz, but compared to his studio recording under Karajan a decade earlier it has lost some of its original velvety body and luster. As Parsifal, Jerusalem is starting to show some wear and tear on his voice at the Met in 1992 as opposed to his prime form at Bayreuth in 1981, but is still quite good; only Placido Domingo could compete with him in the role at that time.

Der Fliegende Holländer

January 1975 •German

This vivid film of Wagner's romatic opera succeeds in conveying what has famously been called "the wind that blows out at you whenever you open the score", including Daland's boat anchoring against the Sandwike cliffs, the red-sailed phantom ship, and the ghost crew rising from the dead. "Scenes that recall classic horror films... Brilliantly successful" (Nürnberger Nachrichten), "Captures the works' essence" (Süddeutsche Zeitung). With a superb cast; conducted by Wagner authority Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg Castle

July 1978 •English

TANNHÄUSER UND DER SÄNGERKRIEG AUF WARTBURG is a grand opera by Richard Wagner in three acts. After experiencing boundless sensuality and freedom with the fun-loving Venus (soprano), the singer Tannhäuser (Tenor) finds it impossible to conform to the cultured setting of his betrothed Elizabeth (soprano), who loves him. During a singing contest, Tannhäuser describes the affair with Venus as the ultimate love experience and because of that, he is cast out from the established society. Thanks to Elizabeth's intervention, he is allowed to undertake a pilgrimage to the Pope to ask for the Holy Father's pardon. If the Pope accepts to forgive him, he would be allowed to take back his place in society. Tannhäuser accepts. But fate will not allow him to meet with his beloved Elizabeth again in this life. This is a recording of the legendary staging by Götz Friedrich for the 1978 Bayreuth Festival conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

Wagner's Master Singer, Hitler's Siegfried - The Life and Times of Max

July 2008 •English

Wagner: Die Walküre

March 2011 •German

Parsifal

March 2005 •German

Recorded live at the Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden, Germany, August 2004. Kent Nagano, conductor. Nikolaus Lehnhoff, stage director.

The Golden Ring

December 1965 •English

Watching the Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, and a stellar cast record Wagner's immense Götterdämmerung for Decca in the fall of 1964 provides a thousand lessons in the art of working under pressure. For this classic documentary, The Golden Ring, a BBC camera crew eavesdropped as producer John Culshaw guided his engineering team through tricky technical maneuvers far removed from the relative ease of modern digital editing. What utter concentration and focus Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gottlob Frick, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau bring to their collective and individual singing! Solti, for his part, oozes energy and exactitude as he pleads for greater precision and frets over details in the car en route to the sessions.

Lohengrin

August 2011 •English

This performance of the Richard Wagner opera Logengrin was filmed in high definition for the Bayreuth Festival in 2011, and features vocalists like Georg Zeppenfeld, Klaus Florian Vogt, and Anette Dasch in the leading roles.

Valkyrie Limited

March 2009 •English

The documentary draws a portrait of an opera director who is staging Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre. He is torn between the tragicomic routine of an opera house and his own perception of Wagner and the Ring cycle. The film witnesses the director’s drama in maintaining the fragile link between a well-constructed performance and his own vision that lies within the music and the narrative, and is seen as German expressionism-like nightmares.

The Singing City

February 2011 •English

Portrait about the planning and rehearsal of Richard Wagner's Parsifal directed by Calixto Bieito at the opera house in Stuttgart.

El Método

September 2023 •Spanish

A group of professionals attend a job interview for a very lucrative position within one of the largest multinational companies in the world. Upon arrival, they are surprised to discover that there is no such interviewer, but that they will be subjected to a very particular dynamic. What begins as a civilized and professional process, ends up bringing out the darkest and most animalistic part of each of them.

4: Clean Island

September 2023 •Korean

Nezzy arrives at the airport dreaming of moving to ‘Clean Island’, the cleanest place in the world. She will undergo a strange immigration process at the immigration hall, where she begins to tell the story of ‘4’ and a special pig to the examiner who tells her that she can only pass if she confesses her sins.

The Joy of Love

February 2025 •Portuguese

In a quilombo in the backlands of Ceará, Dulce witnesses the murder of her partner, Davi, carried out by gunmen on the orders of a foreign mining company. Threatened, Dulce goes to São Paulo, where she gives voice to the crime that occurred and denounces the involvement of the multinational, with the support of NGOs and lawyers. Orphaned and raised on a mission by sisters, Dulce is sought out in São Paulo by Beatriz, who reveals herself to be her mother. Abandoned as a baby, she also discovers that she has a twin brother, now her sister Marisa, who owns a karaoke bar with a "refuge" spirit, which brings together an LGBTIQ+ audience, a completely new universe for Dulce. Dulce and Marisa demand that Beatriz reveal something about their unknown father and now set off together, back to the backlands, with two missions: to celebrate the victory of the quilombo and to find the father who never knew of his daughters' existence.

Hemmet

May 1972 •Swedish

A satire of the welfare society showing the mechanical nature of the elderly care.