Biography

Closing night film selection at this year’s SXSW, Willie Nelson’s enduring influence and legacy as one of America’s best-loved singer-songwriters is celebrated in this affectionate documentary from Oscar-winner Billy Bob Thornton. Including interviews with Nelson’s wife, children, band mates, and actors Owen Wilson and Kris Kristofferson, among others, King of Luck reveals a man who will be remembered alongside Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Johnny Cash, and Ray Charles for his invaluable contribution to the musical landscape of America. A master storyteller, Willie Nelson keeps the legend of the old west alive through his songs, and King of Luck presents some of his hits with archival footage of Nelson’s past, both personal and performative.

Filmmakers Present!

In an attempt to better understand his brother John’s mysterious death, and in overall remembrance of him, Jed Schlegelmilch goes on a 10-day journey to interview family and friends about John almost 17 years after his passing.

Directors Gordon Quinn & Bob Hercules Present

Directors Gordon Quinn and Bob Hercules present a rare glimpse into the mind of a working artist in this documentary following the Tony Award–winning choreographer and 2010 Kennedy Center Honoree, Bill T. Jones, and his company as they develop and perform their most ambitious project to date, the multimedia dance-theatre work, Fondly Do We Hope… Fervently Do We Pray.

What does it take to become the next world-class opera star? Watch as 500 young international talents audition for the prestigious Opera Studio, a master class at the world-renowned Bavarian State Opera, with General Music Director Kent Nagano.

A magazine plans to create an end-of-year sensation by having all of Korea’s most glamorous actresses together in a Vogue-style photograph for the first time. Why has no one tried this brilliant, sure-to-be-a-sensation idea before?

In this prize-winning documentary about one mother's attempt to feed her family from a world away, the Barrientos family struggles to make ends meet in their poor Peruvian neighborhood, as matriarch Nati, 55, reluctantly leaves her husband and three sons behind to find work in Spain. Taking a job as a maid, Nati attempts to generate income to send back to her family in the hopes of a better life for her children, which puts to the test their unrequited love. 

Bobby Fischer, widely regarded as the world’s greatest chess player, was the very model of mad genius.

A child prodigy, Fischer was thrust into the spotlight at age 29 when he beat reigning Soviet champ Boris Spassky at the World Championships in 1972 in Reykjavik, Iceland. The height of the Cold War, and with Nixon’s resignation imminent, 1972 saw America’s confidence at an all-time low. Bobby Fischer represented his nation’s international prestige in his match against the Russian.  Unprepared for the media storm that came with his victory, Fischer slowly spiraled into a form of madness. Withdrawing from the world for decades, he resurfaced for an anticlimactic rematch with Spassky, a clear violation of a UN embargo. Now a fugitive, the brash and difficult Fischer retreated to Iceland and disappeared again from public view, only to die in 2008.

This film is an impressionistic exploration of the spirit that informed the solitary life of one of Canada’s most celebrated and irrepressible painters.

Winner of Best Film at the Salerno International Film Festival, and Winner of Best Actress, Actor, and Screenplay at the Donatello Awards (Italian Oscars). 

“My love of Wagner is tearing me apart,” says Stephen Fry.  Brought face to face with Hitler through a shared passion—the glorious operatic repertoire of history’s most controversial composer, Richard Wagner—famed British television personality Stephen Fry is forced into a confusing juggling match with his Jewish history in one hand, and his love for Wagner in the other.