"The Gift of Music plus The Albert Hall Encores"31 December 1999Factual104 mins
Evgeny Igorevich Kissin was born in Moscow on the 10th of October 1971. He started to play the piano at the age of two, as soon as he was tall enough to reach the keyboard and he has not looked back from that day to this. His is a very rare story of continued success that has had the simultaneous blessing of critics, the public and musicians alike. This film by Christopher Nupen shows Kissin in preparation, interview, rehearsal and performance, with several dazzling performances shot live on stage, in true concert conditions. It also contains all the encores from Kissin's memorable Promenade concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in August, 1997—the first Prom concert by a soloist, it attracted the biggest audience in all the 103 year history, very nearly six thousand people. The music is by Liszt, Gluck, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Paganini, Kissin himself and Chopin, the composer for whom Kissin feels the closest affinity.
Documentary on conductor Herbert van Karajan, focusing on his early adoption of audio and video recording technology and his impetus to make use of it to preserve his musical legacy for future generations.
Although he is unanimously credited with having democratised opera, making it accessible to the greatest number, focus is rarely put on the strategy he devised and implemented in order to carry out his actions, nor what his actions reveal of the man and artist, and of the resulting metamorphosis from opera singer to pop artist.
Documentary about an emblematic institution of the Spanish Arts, Madrid's Teatro Real, or Royal Theatre, released to celebrate it's 2nd centenary anniversary.
A collection of recollections and opinions of and about Glenn Gould, interspersed with excerpts of archive footage of the great Canadian pianist speaking and playing.
John Eliot Gardiner goes in search of Bach the man and the musician. The famous portrait of Bach portrays a grumpy 62-year-old man in a wig and formal coat, yet his greatest works were composed 20 years earlier in an almost unrivalled blaze of creativity.
Known for his mournful "Adagio for Strings," Samuel Barber was never quite fashionable. This acclaimed film is a probing exploration of his music and melancholia.
It was Antonio Vivaldi who developed the classic symphony orchestra, added coloration to the strings and wind instruments to the ensemble, originated the concerto for solo instruments, and was considered to be one of the greatest violinists of the 18th century.
A fairy-tale comedy about how a king decided to marry off both of his daughters on the same day. Princess Zlata is a true beauty who has no shortage of suitors.
A film about fate, co-existence, vanity, justice, karma and forgiveness, ANIMALICOUS comprises six stories of people and the animals that shot them, fell on them, and generally caused mayhem of one sort or another.
A California congressman's wife and daughter are abducted and held hostage in a historic hotel. Logan McQueen is rushed to the scene to assist his former partner, Charlie Duffy, who has been taken captive trying to broker the ransom deal.
Mario and Berto are brothers and they live in Galicia at the “Finis Terrae”. Their father left them when they were children and they grew up with the idea of finding him someday, without knowing that they were the ones separating from each other.
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
In the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.
To promote the release of his album Garth Brooks in... The Life of Chris Gaines, Garth Brooks appeared as Chris Gaines in a television "mockumentary," a version of VH1's seminal cable classic Behind the Music, featuring a totally made-up tale that just may be the greatest rock n' roll documentary ever made.
Why do women fight? This riveting behind-the-scenes look into the world of the female combatant takes us from manicures to knockouts! It turns our attention to the woman who is widely considered pound for pound the most dangerous fighter of any time, undefeated boxing sensation Lucia Rijker (Rollerball, TV's "Thunderbox").