Zeena Parkins

Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.

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Part of the Performa07 Biennial, Harpstrings and Lava channels the tension inherent in certain nightmares, specifically in one friend's ghoulish fantasy about clashing contradictions. In this particular recurrent dream, tensile harpstrings and viscous lava inhabited the same space simultaneously, creating a sensation of visceral dread. Harpstrings and Lava aims to gently animate such 'hyper-real' dream images, drawing the viewer closer to the feeling of inexorable, anxious attachment shared by the onscreen characters.

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Part Two of John Zorn's COBRA (see April 16 for Part One).

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John Zorn with his band at Anthology Film Archves performs COBRA, part one.

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Following the career of Björk, this documentary looks at her early musical career with local icelandic bands, her acclaimed stint in The Sugarcubes, and her massive success as a free-spirited solo artist.

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This documentary offers a behind-the-scenes look at Björk and her touring entourage for the 2001 Vespertine tour. It includes interviews with harpist Zeena Parkins, the Inuit choir from Greenland, electronic duo Matmos, and an ongoing conversation with Björk herself about her recordings and her tours. The documentary is interspersed with live footage of songs from the tour shot by Ragnheidur Gestsdóttir, which themselves correspond to the performances chosen for the Vespertine Live album.

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A live performance by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk recorded at the Royal Opera House in London, England on December 16, 2001. Björk performs tracks from her fourth studio album "Vespertine" along with songs from her previous solo albums.

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Björk performs live in Japan apart of the Vespertine tour with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

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Björk performs an intimate and uplifting set in NYC's Riverside Church accompanied by harpist Zeena Parkins, Matmos and a female Inuit choir. This special aired exclusively on HBO Reverb.

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On February 14, 1995, Hole recorded a live acoustic performance in front of an audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. Along with a string ensemble, The group played a mix of hits off "Live Through This," plus new material, covers by Duran Duran and Donovan, and unreleased Nirvana track "You Know You're Right."

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An avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith.

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TREYF —“unkosher” in Yiddish— is an unorthodox documentary by and about two Jewish lesbians who met and fell in love at a Passover “seder”. With personal narration, real and imagined educational films, and haunting imagery, filmmakers Alisa Lebow and Cynthia Madansky examine the Jewish identity of their upbringings and its impact on their lives.

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