Sound and Silence

With noise-canceling headphones, they communicate with an inaudible counterpart. Decoupled, they move around the room and meet their surroundings. Intimate stories and needs are discussed. The personal blends into a shared portrait.

Sawano Hiroyuki LIVE [nZk]008 is a live concert film recorded on June 2, 2024, at NHK Hall in Tokyo. The performance showcases composer Sawano Hiroyuki’s [nZk] project, featuring vocalists Laco, Benjamin & mpi, Aimee Blackschleger, XAI, mizuki, SennaRin, and ASKA. The concert presents a wide-ranging setlist drawn from Sawano’s anime and original works, blending orchestral, electronic, and vocal-driven music, and concludes with a collaborative finale featuring all performers.

Cecil Taylor was the grand master of free jazz piano. "All the Notes" captures in breezy fashion the unconventional stance of this media-shy modern musical genius, regarded as one of the true giants of post-war music. Seated at his beloved and battered piano in his Brooklyn brownstone the maestro holds court with frequent stentorian pronouncements on life, art and music.

Several comic greats pay tribute to the legendary stand-up stage founded by Budd Friedman in 1963.

Three basketball players step onto the court, each with a rhythm of their own. As their movements are studied and reimagined, their game is then recontextualized into jazz, revealing the artistry within sport and the music hidden in motion.

An important audio-visual record of a landmark series of four concerts staged in London in 2022 when more than 30 musicians joined improviser, percussionist and animateur Eddie Prévost to mark his 80th birthday. The film takes a close look at improvisers who create music in the moment, free from the authority of a composer, score or conductor. Ranging from profound delicacy to subversive atonality, the “awkward wealth” of this music raises vital questions about artistic freedom, individual responsibility and what it means for people to make music together in the 21st Century. Featuring performances by John Butcher, Sue Lynch, Ute Kanngiesser, Marjolaine Charbin, Nathan Moore, Seymour Wright, Veryan Weston, Alan Wilkinson, John Tilbury and Eddie Prévost amongst others. Plus readings by musician and author David Toop. The film includes the last ever concert by AMM, the pioneering improvising group co-founded by Eddie Prévost in the mid-1960s.

ONE OK ROCK with Orchestra Japan Tour 2018 features the final performance of the special concert held at Osaka-jo Hall in October 2018, where the band performed with a 53-member orchestra, alongside footage from the Saitama Super Arena show. The release also includes a 100-page booklet packed with newly shot member photos, commentary, live reports, and interviews with the production team, offering a deeply engaging read.

The life and times of artist Richard Ellis

When young musicians come together to play classical music, they send out a strong signal to our today’s world. The film follows talented young Swiss musicians as they work, search for inspiration, but also expose their thought how to play nowadays the “old” Classical music.

Click for full movie details & trailers.

As they play carefree music, their musicianship is met with surprise, wonder, and sometimes even laughter. Captivating all who watch, Otoasobi Project’s rich variety of expression reshapes the concept of improvised music. Formed in 2005 in Kobe, Japan, Otoasobi Project has some 50 members, including people with intellectual disabilities, musicians, and music therapists, who pursue music and well-being through improvised performances. After many years of numerous workshops, concerts, and other activities, they even held their first tour in the UK in September 2013. The movie “Whereabouts of Sound” depicts the appeal of the improvised music Otoasobi creates, and the beauty of its natural, honest expression.

Two college students set out to capture a ghost on film to make millions instead of doing their finals.

Saitama Super Arena solo performance "ZUTOMAYO FACTORY 'Even if the falcon is hungry, don't forget to dance'". Held for 2 days in a row, not only is it the largest live performance held on two consecutive days, but it is also a solid band with a total of 18 people, such as familiar special instruments such as reel-to-reel, CRT TV, and fan, and pianist "Kei-chan" making a special appearance only on day 2. It was a conceptual performance like no other, with an analog stage set that made it clear that the two days had passed 100 years, and some changes to the music.

Fairy Fantasia is the first Japanese fan meeting held by Kep1er. It was held on October 27 and 28, 2023 offline at Tokyo Garden Theater.

Candidates who dream of becoming idols face a grueling survival camp with the current members of the idol group BiS!

An exploration of the individual components that make up a jazz improvisation, told in 13 parts.

Click for full movie details & trailers.

Orson Welles presents a proposed film project to prospective investors in Spain. Speaking to an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles outlines his vision for an improvised, documentary-style fiction set in the world of bullfighting, centered on a solitary, existential matador who stands apart from his peers. As he expounds on cinema, performance, and the ritualized spectacle of death, the film captures a project that would ultimately remain unrealized.

This early travelogue film, made in a Kenyan train station, captures an impromptu musical performance. Some passengers eagerly join in while others sleep—blissfully unaware of the performance taking place around them.

μ's Final LoveLive! μ'sic Forever♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ was the farewell concert of the fictional idol group μ's from Love Live! School Idol Project, celebrating their career with emotional performances and marking the end of their activities.