Facts of Life

TOTALITARIAN STATE. MUSIC. SOCIETY. INDEPENDENCE. THOUGHT POLICE. “Beats of Freedom” follows a history of Polish music and the major role music played in the fight for freedom. History of unconventional rock – music that was pure, music that spoke from the heart. It follows artists who did not seek fame did not flaunt their egos. Music with out gimmick, music that spoke to generations of youth who sought freedom and longed for escape route in the country that was like prison, with no right to a passport – with no way out of the grey reality.

Directed by Leszek Gnoiski and Wojciech Sota, and narrated by music journalist Chris Salewicz, The film chronicles the rock/punk movement from the 50s until the fall of communism. It features plenty of archival footage of some of the most iconic festivals and influential bands that provided a voice for those without one, and an outlet for emotional release, as well as present-day interviews with many of the musicians who fought for the independence and freedom of speech. Czeslaw Niemen, Maanam, Brygada Kryzys, Perfect, Republika, and Lady Pank.

The film shows also the absurdity and hilarity  of an oppressive system which tried to censor the artists message. Yet the musicians found innovative ways to spread their message of truth, of hope and freedom.

Humanity that can not be stopped. It can be gagged and silenced for but not forever.

“they measured us all equally
assigned our time for work and dreams
there was nothing else for us to do
but we still somehow clueless how to live our life’s

the adult kids are still angry
for the horrible recipe for this world”

The message that was send then is as valid today in the current world we are living. Nothing has changed – be it capitalism or communism. The oppression of the people continues to this day, wrapped under different names – they say it is in the name of freedom and human rights. But they have one goal in mind, it is to control the human mind, to enslave the mind. This film shows that humanity is nature and can not be controlled. Humanity can not be ruled, but lead only when it’s for the good of the majority of society and not for the selected few.

Click and Watch here BEATS OF FREEDOM. Make sure to play full screen so the advertising banners disappear.

SUN RA : A Joyful Noise, a documentary film looks at one of Americas most enigmatic musicians composer pianist and philosopher Sun Ra whose flamboyant decades-long career spanned the range of jazz styles. Claiming to be an angelic being from Saturn Sun Ra is here captured in interviews and rehearsing with his Arkestra band performing compositions such as “Astro Black” “We Travel the Spaceways” “Ankh” and more.

Vinyl documentary by Alan Zweig investigates the wacky world of record collecting. In the film Zweig seeks not to talk to people who collect vinyl records to discuss music but rather to discuss what drives people to collect vinyl records in the first place. Zweig spends a large portion of the film in stylized self-filmed “confessions” where he expounds on his life.

Beautiful Losers documentary follows the lives and careers of a collective group of Do-it-yourself artists and designers who inadvertently affected the art world. Free spirited approach to life. Not seeking just doing their thing.

True, expressive freedom does not exist and its not given, unless you create it yourself and cultivate it. With a policy – don’t ask anyone for permission. DIY. Attaching yourself to what feels to be true. This is where it all begins. To go on waiting is madness.

Colonial slavery was not abolished because governments decided that it was no longer cool to abuse people. It was direct action of people who stood up and revolted against it. Yet in 2011 we continue with slavery that’s paid for, to follow other men’s dreams by creating our own nightmares.

The documentary “Fela Kuti Music is  the Weapon” wit the Afrobeat legend, political revolutionary, musician, composer and performer, mixes footage of Fela Anikulapo Kuti performing at his Shrine nightclub, interviews with the controversial musician, glimpses of life at his not-so-palatial Kalakuta Republic compound, and scenes of Lagos street life. Some voice-over narration gives basic information on Kuti’s musical career and Nigerian politics, but for the most part, the images are left to speak for themselves. Well shot in color, it’s an important historical document capturing Kuti in stage and home environments that were most crucial to his life and work.

Music is a weapon of the future / music is the weapon of the progressives / music is the weapon of the givers of life.” Fela Kuti

” PLAY LOUD / PLAY FOREVER” Peter Missing – Humanity Records

Infamy, a graffiti documentary film, takes you on a ride, from the streets of the South Bronx to the solitude of a San Francisco tunnel, from high atop a Hollywood billboard to North Philadelphia for a lesson in “Philly-style tags,” from the Mexican border to a Cleveland train yard, INFAMY doesn’t analyze or glorify graffiti… it takes you there and brings it to life.

Infamy is an intense journey into the dangerous lives and obsessed minds of six of America’s most prolific graffiti artists. Directed by acclaimed  filmmaker Doug Pray (“Hype!” and “Scratch”) who teamed up with writer, publisher, and graffiti guru Roger Gastman. The movie takes you deep into the world of writers such as SABER, TOOMER, JASE, CLAW, EARSNOT, and ENEM.

Guerilla Art Documentary

New documentary about street art by Sebastian Peiter telling how street art went from subway graffiti to international big business. A new generation of street artists are the latest hot property of art collectors and advertising brands. Featuring Futura 2000, Rammellzee, Banksy, Os Gemeos, Space Invader, Barnstormers, Espo, WK Interact, Zevs, Blek Le Rat, André, Noki, Miss Van and Eine. Filmed in New York, London, Paris, Sao Paulo and Tokyo the documentary introduces the graffiti-inspired street art pioneers Futura, Rammellzee and Blek Le Rat. Art patron Agnés B and art curator Jerome Sans comment on the early days of Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat, when graffiti changed the streets of New York and the urban landscapes of the rest of the world.

ZEVS climbs the hotel facade in Berlin on which the advert poster of Lavazza is hung. 12 meters high, it represents the outline of a young woman with the catchphrase EXPRESS YOURSELF. ZEVS cuts the body with a scalpel and binds it before hiding it in a secluded place, leaving a big hole in the poster. He then informs the brand Lavazza that they shall have to pay 500 000 € to get their picture back, otherwise it will be executed in Paris. Produced by Sycomore films (France) : http://www.sycomorefilms.com.

ZEVS points out the controversy of criminalizing graffiti and street-art against the omnipresence of advertisement in daily street life.

Watch online from ZEVS official site  Visual Kidnapping

Fushara 4 track EP, few slices for a taste of a forthcoming CD album from Fushara – “Tales From A Concrete City”. Download

Wattstax is a 1973 documentary film by Mel Stuart that focused on the 1972 Wattstax music festival and the African American Watts Los Angeles, California.  organized by Memphis‘s Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots. Wattstax was seen by some as “the Afro-American answer to Woodstock“. To enable as many members of the black community in L.A. to attend as possible, tickets were sold for only $1.00 each. The Reverend Jesse Jackson gave the invocation, which included his “I Am – Somebody” poem, which was recited in a call and response with the assembled stadium crowd. In the film, interspersed between songs are interviews with Richard Pryor, Ted Lange and others who discuss the black experience in America.