American Experience: The War on Disco

Director:

Lisa Q. Wolfinger

Producer(s):

Lisa Q. Wolfinger / Rushmore DeNooyer / Cameo George

Footage Archive Producer:

Mary Antinozzi Soule

Archival Sources:

Retro Video / Historic Films / Chicago Film Archive / KinoLibrary / Media Burn

Production Company:

Lone Wolf Media / WGBH

Country of Production:

USA

Original Release:

2023

Synopsis

The War on Disco explores the culture war that erupted over the spectacular rise of disco music. Originating in underground Black and gay clubs, disco had unseated rock as America’s most popular music by the late 1970s. But many diehard rock fans viewed disco, with its repetitive beat and culture that emphasized pleasure, as shallow and superficial. A story that’s about much more than music, The War on Disco explores how the powerful anti-disco backlash revealed a cultural divide that to some seemed to be driven by racism and homophobia. The hostility came to a head on July 12, 1979, when a riot broke out at “Disco Demolition Night” during a baseball game in Chicago.

Mary Pickford, a blessing and a curse

Director:

Clara Kuperberg / Julia Kuperberg

Producer(s):

Clara Kuperberg / Julia Kuperberg

Footage Archive Producer:

Clara Kuperberg / Julia Kuperberg

Archival Sources:

Mary Pickford Foundation / Bison Archives / Pond 5 / UCLA

Production Company:

Wichita Films / Kali Pictures

Country of Production:

France / USA

Original Release:

2023

Synopsis

Mary Pickford's name remains inseparable from the legend of American cinema. She invented the star system at the beginning of the 20th century, and was the biggest star ever known, not just in Hollywood, but worldwide, at a time when actors didn't even have their names on movie posters.

She was more than a pioneer, she was a jack-of-all-trades: world-famous star, producer and formidable businesswoman, screenwriter and director in the shadows, studio boss, Mary Pickford alone embodied the entire legend of cinema and the advent of women in that particular era.

Loch Ness They Created A Monster

Director:

John MacLaverty

Producer(s):

John Archer

Footage Archive Researcher:

Liga Gutane

Footage Archive Producer:

Joanna Taylor

Archival Sources:

BBC Scotland / Fremantle / Dinsdale Archive (private) / Scottish Television / Nippon TV

Production Company:

Indelible Telly / Hopscotch Films

Country of Production:

UK

Original Release:

2023

Synopsis

There’s another story about the Loch Ness Monster- one that you don’t know.

It’s a tale of monstrous egos, of rivalry, flipper fraud, petrol bomb attacks and sex in caravans.

All is revealed in the hilarious and wild - Loch Ness They Created a Monster, which takes a deep dive into the golden era of Nessie hunting, and uncovers the real monsters.

In the supernatural nineteen seventies, the famously deep Highland Loch attracted monster hunters from America, Japan, England and across the world. Everyone who wanted to make a name for themselves came to Drumnadrochit with a camera and wellies ( and on a few occasions, a submarine)

But capturing Nessie, proved frustrating. And as months turned into years - facing reputational ridicule - some of the expeditions started getting ‘creative’ - supplying newspapers with plesiosaur portraits and fake flippers. Those seeking scientific credibility despaired and debunked, causing bad blood at the Loch. By the early eighties, violence erupted between competing camps.

This documentary turns the cameras around - and focuses on the Monster hunters themselves - revealing the unbelievable story, behind the unbelievable story.