Hedgehog

The daughter of a late comic is forced to confront her fears of performing.

Mozart: Così Fan Tutte (Zurich Opera House)

A production of Mozart's opera recorded live at Zurich Opera House in 2000. Cecilia Bartoli leads an all-star cast including Roberto Saccà, Liliana Nikiteanu, and Agnes Baltsa. The conductor is Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Filmed live at the Zurich Opera House in February 2000 on a set which visualises the subtitle "The School for Lovers", the plot revolves around two army officers arguing about the fidelity of their brides, then setting out to test their chastity. Despite the often playful humour, this is not only psychologically telling music-making, but reveals Mozart exploring the structure of opera, discarding convention to mix large ensemble sections with arias for as many different combinations of singers as possible. With Liliana Nikiteanu attractively contrasted with Bartoli, and thoroughly convincing performances by Roberto Sacca (Ferrando) and Oliver Widmer (Guilelmo), this Così has a freshness and flow which, coupled with the timeless romantic themes, feels very contemporary.

Yi Yi

Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother-in-law is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank and his business partners make bad decisions.

1984

Inspired by one of the twentieth century's greatest novels, composer Lorin Maazel evokes Orwell's totalitarian nightmare, where "Big Brother" is always watching, and those guilty of "thoughtcrime" are condemned to face their worst fears in the infamous "Room 101". Filmed during world premiere performances of Robert Lepage's spectacular and psychologically gripping Royal Opera production and conducted by the composer, an international cast brings George Orwell's dark vision to shattering operatic life.

Poulenc's The Human Voice / Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle

Running through Bartók’s disenchanted tale, whose haunting music was initially condemned as unplayable, and the expression of despair in Poulenc’s monologue, the director Krzysztof Warlikowski perceives a shared dramatic thread, a shared feminine consciousness and a shared sense of imprisonment and suffocation: for the woman who penetrates the confines of Bluebeard’s castle and Elle, the woman who clings to a telephone conversation with a man as the only thing worth living for, are condemned to share the same fate. And this man she speaks to, does he really exist? Unless the director has interpreted Cocteau’s words to the letter and the telephone has become a “terrifying weapon that leaves no trace, makes no noise”…

Berg: Wozzeck

Based on real events and drawing on Georg Büchner's revolutionary play, Alban Berg's Wozzeck turns a grimly tragic narrative of violence and murder into one of the most powerful and original operas of the 20th century. Berg's uncompromising portrayal of brutality and madness generated much controversy, but the significance of Wozzeck was soon recognised; its compelling lyrical expansiveness, large-scale dramatic gestures and remarkable musical structures producing music of overwhelming emotional intensity. The Financial Times declared this to be 'a beautiful, moving, engrossing production… this is a consummate Wozzeck, blending clarity, lyricism, compassion and crushing force.'

Revice Forward: Kamen Rider Live & Evil & Demons

Devils that lurk within humans, and family that is deemed irreplaceable to humans. With these two words, a new story in which familiar characters clash with passion. After a long battle, the Igarashi Family and their friends have finally achieved peace. However... a new threat that transcends Giff, the progenitor of the demons, has appeared.

The Horror at 37,000 Feet

A commercial-jet captain (Chuck Connors) has ghosts on board from stones of an English abbey being shipped overseas.

Phantom

Takarazuka Revue's Phantom based on the play by Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit.

Deadly Game

A hunting party arrives at a lodge in the Tatra mountains in Slovakia, where one woman in the party had “accidentally” shot and killed her first husband some time ago.

The ROH Live: Otello

On a June night in 2017, opera lovers thronged to the Royal Opera House in London to hear tenor Jonas Kaufmann, recently acclaimed by The Daily Telegraph as the world s greatest tenor, make his eagerly anticipated debut in the title role of Otello Verdi s greatest and most demanding role for tenor voice. As the New York Times wrote Mr. Kaufmann made his debut in the part, and he calmly, confidently sang it for the ages.

La Traviata

This superb 2006 production of the Los Angeles Opera's La Traviata stars Renée Fleming, who joins the ranks of the elite handful of sopranos whose vocal and acting talents make their portrayals memorable. Her Violetta Valéry is a vulnerable figure torn between self-indulgence and love, sacrificing personal happiness to become a victim of the social mores of mid-19th-century bourgeois France. Fleming's acting captures the complexity of the character and her vocalism is flawless. She negotiates the wild coloratura of Act One with aplomb, and is stunning in the lyric passages that pervade the opera, and touching in her scenes with her lover, Alfredo, and his father. Her singing is free of the mannerisms that have sometimes crept into her work and at the same time she brings countless personal touches to the role, phrasing and verbal emphases that shed fresh light on the character.

Lola Montès

Lola Montes, previously a great adventuress, is reduced to being the attraction of a circus after having been the lover of various important men.

Walkabout

Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.

Vagabond Lady

Josephine Spiggins is thinking of marrying John Spear, the stuffed-shirt son of a department store owner. When John's free-spirit brother Tony returns from touring the South Seas in his boat, the "Vagabond Lady," Jo is attracted to him instead.

Sweet Land

Set in 1920, Inge travels from Germany to rural Minnesota in order to meet the man destined to be her husband.

Carmen

CARMEN is the classic tale of forbidden passion between a young man and a spoken-for woman, Carmen. From ORF and TDK Music, this release features a live performance of Georges Bizet's 19th century operatic masterwork Carmen. Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli, the production was shot on December 9, 1978, at the Wiener Straatsoper. Starring Elena Obraztsova in the titular role, the orchestra is conducted by Carlos Kleiber.

Bellini: La Sonnambula

Just as a young woman is about to marry her sweetheart, she is discovered—by the entire village, to say nothing of her fiancé—asleep in the bedroom of a stranger. It takes the young man two acts to figure out that sleepwalking is to blame, and everything ends happily. Natalie Dessay as Amina and Juan Diego Flórez as Elvino deliver bel canto magic and vocal fireworks in Mary Zimmerman’s 2009 production. The Tony award-winning director transfers Bellini’s bucolic tale to a rehearsal room in contemporary New York, where an opera company rehearses La Sonnambula—and where the singers are truly in love with each other.

The Metropolitan Opera – Verdi: Macbeth

Verdi’s admiration for Shakespeare led to such masterpieces as Othello and Falstaff, and if the earlier Macbeth isn’t on their exalted level it’s still a powerfully dramatic opera that hews closely to the original’s story line. The MET’s production retains the dark aura of the opera while updating it to a vaguely post-modern context. So the witches are bag ladies in various stages of decrepitude, with children in tow. The Banquet Scene features lowered chandeliers, a plethora of chairs, and a slew of extras dressed in tuxedos and party gowns. Macbeth sports a leather coat, the soldiers are in drab brown uniforms and seem to have fingers on their triggers even when they’re supposed to be in non-threatening situations. Director Adrian Noble also has Lady Macbeth do an inordinate amount of writhing around and singing from a lying-down position, adding to the feeling that a less interventionist directorial hand might have generated more impact.

The Pearlfishers

A village hires a priestess to pray for the safety of their pearl fishermen, but long lost love gets in the way.

Sexo, Sexo e Sexo

Spring

This is a story about a city guy Nikolai, who will have to go instead of his friend on a rural business trip. A series of funny events, meetings and the beauty of the Yakut village encourage Nikolai to make an important decision in his life…

The Wedding Veil Inspiration

Emma's plans get thrown off course when Paolo returns to Italy to take care of his father and she discovers a new passion for making art accessible to all.

The Violin Player

A Bollywood session violinist finds expression in an unlikely place. The day unfolds to reveal startling truths about music, art, life and survival.

Charlie Chaplin Meets Harry Lauder

Filmed at the Chaplin Studios, Los Angeles on January 22, 1917 -- this footage was intended as a promotional film to help raise funds for the "British War Loan Bond Appeal Drive" (in addition, Lauder established the Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund for wounded soldiers and sailors in September 1917). The film was never completed or released at the time.

The Good Old Truck

Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control

Bumbling R&D inventors Bruce and Lloyd get out of the lab and into the field as they search to locate their latest invention - which has somehow gone missing. When you're used to spending your day inventing the most cutting edge spy equipment known to man, adapting the stealth and guile needed to become a true secret agent doesn't come naturally. Unfortunately the invisibility cloak that the pair recently collaborated on has disappeared, and in order to ensure that it doesn't fall into the hands of KAOS they will have to master the skills of a true spy. But how exactly does one find an object that's invisible to begin with? As the search gets underway, these brainy inventors are given an eye-opening crash course in high-level espionage.

Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress

After a wonderful time in Hungary Sissi falls extremely ill and must retreat to a Mediterranean climate to rest. The young empress’ mother takes her from Austria to recover in Madeira.

Reservoir Dogs: Playing It Fast & Loose

An insightful documentary about the impact and ripple effect of "Reservoir Dogs" from its release in 1992 and how it has helped redefine contemporary cinema.

These Days

Four girls unknowingly experience the happiest days of their lives during an uneventful best-friend trip to Belgrade.

Tora-san's Grand Scheme

After winning big at the races, Torajiro Kuruma wants to take his aunt and uncle on a trip to Hawaii to partly pay the great filial debt he feels he owes them, but the plan hits a snag. Also, a pretty kindergarten teacher rents a room at Toraya.

Possessions

Bruno and Maryline move into a small town of the French Apls, chasing their dream for a better life. But their primary enthusiasm becomes disappointment, anger and jealousy.

Blancanieves

A black and white silent movie, based on the Snow White fairy tale, that is set in a romantic version of 1920s Seville and centered on a female bullfighter.

Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds

There is one vibratory field that connects all things. It has been called Akasha, Logos, the primordial OM, the music of the spheres, the Higgs field, dark energy, and a thousand other names throughout history. The vibratory field is at the root of all true spiritual experience and scientific investigation. It is the same field of energy that saints, Buddhas, yogis, mystics, priests, shamans and seers, have observed by looking within themselves. Many of history's monumental thinkers, such a Pythagoras, Kepler, Leonardo DaVinci, Tesla, and Einstein, have come to the threshold of this great mystery. It is the common link between all religions, all sciences, and the link between our inner worlds and our outer worlds.

Sin City

Welcome to Sin City. This town beckons to the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted. Some call it dark… Hard-boiled. Then there are those who call it home — Crooked cops, sexy dames, desperate vigilantes. Some are seeking revenge, others lust after redemption, and then there are those hoping for a little of both. A universe of unlikely and reluctant heroes still trying to do the right thing in a city that refuses to care.

The App

Loving girlfriend, family fortune, breakout movie role: he's got it all. Until an app awakens a powerful new yearning. While in Rome to shoot his first movie, actor and industrial heir Niccolò becomes obsessed with the dating app "US" that sends him into a self-destructive spiral.

Ivan Tsarevich & the Grey Wolf 2

Marital doldrums and second thoughts beset Ivan and Vasilisa's "happily ever after", until boredom leads to a staged abduction.

The Butterfly Circus

At the height of the Great Depression, the showman of a renowned circus leads his troupe through the devastated American landscape, lifting the spirits of audiences along the way. During their travels, they discover a man without limbs at a carnival sideshow. However, after an intriguing encounter with the showman, he becomes driven to hope against everything he has ever believed.

Scorpions - Forever and a Day

A documentary on the acclaimed rock band Scorpions

Phantom of the Opera: Behind the Mask

The story of the creation of the world's most successful musical.