In Celebration of Marilyn Monroe’s birthday, born on this day in 1926, I present to you The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes. Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe’s tragic death spawned conspiracies and rumors for decades, often overshadowing her talent and shrewdness. By piecing together her final weeks, days, and hours through previously unheard recordings of those who knew her best, the film illuminates more of her glamorous, complicated life, and offers a new perspective on that fateful night.
The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes is a 2022 American documentary film directed by Emma Cooper for Netflix. It is centered around the life and untimely death of American actress and cultural icon Marilyn Monroe and is told through archival footage and unseen interviews with friends of the star. The film was released on April 27, 2022.
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is a documentary film about Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain featuring some animated sequences shown throughout. The film was directed by Brett Morgen and premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It received a limited theatrical release worldwide and premiered on HBO. The documentary chronicles the life of Kurt Cobain from his birth in Aberdeen, Washington in 1967, through his troubled early family life and teenage years and rise to fame as frontman of Nirvana, up to his suicide in April 1994 in Seattle at the age of 27.
The film includes artwork by Cobain as well as music and sound collages composed by him. Much of music and sound collages were released on the film’s soundtrack, Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings. A companion book was also released containing animation stills from the film as well as transcripts of interviews, photographs, and pieces of Cobain’s artwork not featured in the film.
The documentary is directed by Brett Morgen, who began work in 2007 when Cobain’s widow Courtney Love approached him with the idea. It is the first documentary about Kurt Cobain to be made with the cooperation of his family. Morgen and his team were given access to the entirety of Cobain’s personal and family archives. The documentary includes footage from various Nirvana performances and unheard songs, as well as unreleased home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, journals, demos, and songbooks. Morgen used the interviews in the film Lenny as a model for the interviews in the film. The film’s title, Montage of Heck, takes its name from a musical collage that was created by Cobain with a 4-track cassette recorder in about 1988, of which there are two versions: one is about 36 minutes and the other about eight minutes. Several scenes were animated by Stefan Nadelman and Hisko Hulsing. Jeff Danna wrote an original score for the film. The film was co-produced by HBO Documentary Films and Universal Pictures International Entertainment Content Group. Cobain and Courtney Love’s only daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, was a co-executive producer on the film.
Animated by Polder Animation, Stefan Nadelman, Hisko Hulsing, Paul Schwarz, Marcel Tigchelaar, Marlyn Spaaij, Jan-Jaap Schraverus, Peter Wassink, Stefan Vermeulen, Ronald Van Vemden, Joseph Gilland, Merel Van Den Broek, Nicole Derksen, Yngwie Boley, Mark Bastiaan, Rogier Henkelman, Stein Louisse, and Florian Walraven.
The prisoner strapped under a descending pendulum blade. A raven who refuses to leave the narratorâs chamber. A beating heart buried under the floorboards. Poeâs macabre and innovative stories of gothic horror have left a timeless mark on literature. But just what is it that makes Edgar Allan Poe one of the greatest American authors? Scott Peeples investigates.
Is it a Choice? is an animated segment featured in the documentary movie for the BIBLE tells me so about homosexuality and its perceived conflict with Christianity. The cartoon offers a brief summary of the then-current scientific theories about sexual orientation. It is directed by Powerhouse Animation Studios and narrated by Don LaFontaine in one of his last non-trailer narration roles.
Introducing: NO CHAINS, an original song and music video by the HCPS Black Student Union to honor Juneteenth 2021. Learn more about Juneteenth’s history & traditions and upcoming events in Henrico County celebrating the day at https://henrico.us/history/ourhistory…
Song by Myles Brown
Song produced by Miles Pea
Video production by Cameron Hicks (Cam The Shooter)
In Collaboration with HCPS Black Student Union and Henrico Recreation & Parks
Juneteenth is a celebration of the day that slavery was officially abolished in Texas on June 19, 1865. As Blackish takes pains to note â in a Schoolhouse Rock-esque animated sequence featuring the Roots â this happened a full two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863 and months after the Civil War ended, because âTexas farmers wanted another harvest.â
Stonewall Forever is a documentary from NYCâs LGBT Community Center directed by Ro Haber. The film brings together voices from over 50 years of the LGBTQ rights movement to explore queer activism before, during and after the Stonewall Riots.
The history of the Stonewall Riots is equally as cherished as it is charged. There are questions of who was there, who âthrew the first brickâ and who can claim Stonewall. This film doesnât answer these questions but instead it aims to expand the story of Stonewall by including more voices in its telling.
Stonewall Forever brings together queer activists, experienced and new, to look at the movement for LGBTQ equality before, during and after Stonewall. It highlights trans people, people of color and homeless people who were at the forefront of the movement, and who have often been erased from the narrative. It explores how the activism of today stands on the shoulders of the activists who have come before. And it asks us all to recognize the legacy of Stonewall that remains today, when the struggle for queer rights is far from over.
Stonewall Forever was directed by Ro Haber and created by a predominantly queer and trans cast and crew who are proud to be a part of preserving this legacy.
The history of the Stonewall Riots is equally as cherished as it is charged. There are questions of who was there, who “threw the first brick” and who can claim Stonewall. This film doesnât answer these questions but instead it aims to expand the story of Stonewall by including more voices in its telling.
Stonewall Forever, the documentary, brings together voices from over 50 years of LGBTQ activism to explore the ongoing legacy of Stonewall.
Stonewall Forever brings together queer activists, experienced and new, to look at the movement for LGBTQ equality before, during and after Stonewall. It highlights trans people, people of color and homeless people who were at the forefront of the movement, and who have often been erased from the narrative. It explores how the activism of today stands on the shoulders of the activists who have come before. And it asks us all to recognize the legacy of Stonewall that remains today, when the struggle for queer rights is far from over.
Stonewall Forever was directed by Ro Haber and created by a predominantly queer and trans cast and crew who are proud to be a part of preserving this legacy.
Sparks is an American pop and rock duo, originally formed as a Los Angeles band called Halfnelson in 1967 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael. Known for their quirky approach to songwriting, Sparks’ music is often accompanied by sophisticated and acerbic lyrics, often about women or Shakespearean literature references, and an idiosyncratic, theatrical stage presence, typified in the contrast between Russell’s animated, hyperactive frontman antics and Ron’s deadpan scowling. They are also noted for Russell’s distinctive wide-ranging voice and Ron’s intricate and rhythmic keyboard playing style.
BBC program Omnibus features Nigel Finch’s 50-minute 1978 documentary of Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman, with cameos by John Dean, Brian Doyle, Bill Murray, Ray Romano, and more.
Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood, also known as Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision, is a documentary film produced by BBC Omnibus in 1978 on the subject of Hunter S. Thompson, directed by Nigel Finch. The road trip/film pairs Thompson with Finch’s fellow Briton and illustrator Ralph Steadman. The party travel to Hollywood via Death Valley and Barstow from Las Vegas, scene of the pair’s 1971 collaboration. It contains interviews with Thompson and Steadman, as well as some short excerpts from some of his work.
On Canada’s Pacific coast this film finds a young Haida artist, Robert Davidson, shaping miniature totems from argillite, a jet-like stone. The film follows the artist to the island where he finds the stone, and then shows how he carves it in the manner of his grandfather, who taught him the craft.
Haida are an Indigenous group who have traditionally occupied Haida Gwaii, an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada for at least 12,500 years. The Haida are known for their craftsmanship, trading skills, and seamanship. They are thought to have been warlike and to practice slavery. Anthropologist Diamond Jenness has compared the Haida to Vikings while Haida have replied saying that Vikings are like Haida.
Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toontown is a behind-the-scenes documentary hosted by Joanna Cassidy on the making of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It originally aired as a television special to promote the film. Although the special was never released on any home video format, a documentary entitled Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit was included as its replacement. The special was made in 1988 by ZM Productions and was directed by Les Mayfield.
If you had a silly ol’ time watching this documentary on the making of Roger Rabbit have a laugh at these knee slappers and more. Have yourself a gay ol’ time.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown is a 1969 American animated musical comedy-drama film, produced by Cinema Center Films, distributed by National General Pictures, and directed by Bill Melendez. It is the first feature film based on the Peanuts comic strip. It is also the final time that Peter Robbins voices the character of Charlie Brown (Robbins had voiced the role for all the Peanuts television specials up to that point, starting with the first recorded special, which also had the title A Boy Named Charlie Brown, in 1963), and it uses most of the same voice cast from the 1969 TV special, It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, replacing only the actors playing Sally and Schroeder.
The film was well-received and a box-office success, grossing $12 million. Snoopy Come Home came in 1972 as a standalone sequel.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown was screened the Greater San Francisco Advertising Club, where it was received with considerable enthusiasm, but Mendelson was unsuccessful in securing sponsorship.
Although never aired on television, the documentary was instrumental in garnering commercial support and the creative teamwork that resulted in A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965 and the ensuing series of Peanuts television specials. Portions of the film were used in commercials for A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965.
An album by the Vince Guaraldi Trio with music from the above documentary, originally titled Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, was released by Fantasy Records in 1964.
Portions of the unaired A Boy Named Charlie Brown were updated and broadcast in 1969 as Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz.
UNLOCKED! Enjoy The Grateful Dead Movie and please donate to Feeding America if you can.
Jerry Garcia directs this concert film of highlights from the five-night run at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom that capped off the Grateful Dead’s 1974 tour. The film is distinguished among concert films for its unusual focus on the band’s fans and their often extreme commitment to the Deadhead lifestyle. The documentary also features interviews with band members, including Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Phil Lesh, and includes a short but lively recap of the group’s history.
The Sinking of the Lusitania, released in 1918, is an animated short film by American artist Winsor McCay. It features a short 12 minute explanation of the sinking of RMS Lusitania after it was struck by two torpedoes fired from a German U-boat. The film was one of many animated silent films published to create anti-German sentiment during World War I. McCay illustrated some 25,000 drawings for the production. The film is stylized as a documentary, informing viewers on details from the actual event, including a moment by moment recap, casualty list, and a list of prominent figures who were killed.
Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip Little Nemo and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur. For contractual reasons, he worked under the pen name Silas on the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.
From a young age, McCay was a quick, prolific, and technically dextrous artist. He started his professional career making posters and performing for dime museums, and in 1898 began illustrating newspapers and magazines. In 1903 he joined the New York Herald, where he created popular comic strips such as Little Sammy Sneeze and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. In 1905 his signature strip Little Nemo in Slumberland debutedâa fantasy strip in an Art Nouveau style about a young boy and his adventurous dreams. The strip demonstrated McCay’s strong graphic sense and mastery of color and linear perspective. McCay experimented with the formal elements of the comic strip page, arranging and sizing panels to increase impact and enhance the narrative. McCay also produced numerous detailed editorial cartoons and was a popular performer of chalk talks on the vaudeville circuit.
McCay was an early animation pioneer; between 1911 and 1921 he self-financed and animated ten films, some of which survive only as fragments. The first three served in his vaudeville act; Gertie the Dinosaur was an interactive routine in which McCay appeared to give orders to a trained dinosaur. McCay and his assistants worked for twenty-two months on his most ambitious film, The Sinking of the Lusitania, a patriotic recreation of the German torpedoing in 1915 of the RMS Lusitania.Lusitania did not enjoy as much commercial success as the earlier films, and McCay’s later movies attracted little attention. His animation, vaudeville, and comic strip work was gradually curtailed as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, his employer since 1911, expected McCay to devote his energies to editorial illustrations.
In his drawing, McCay made bold, prodigious use of linear perspective, particularly in detailed architecture and cityscapes. He textured his editorial cartoons with copious fine hatching, and made color a central element in Little Nemo. His comic strip work has influenced generations of cartoonists and illustrators. The technical level of McCay’s animationâits naturalism, smoothness, and scaleâwas unmatched until the work of Fleischer Studios in the late 1920s, followed by Walt Disney’s feature films in the 1930s. He pioneered inbetweening, the use of registration marks, cycling, and other animation techniques that were to become standard.
It’s a timeless classic of children’s literature and the third most-quoted book in English after the Bible and Shakespeare. But what lies behind the extraordinary appeal of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to generations of adults and children alike? To mark the 150th anniversary of its publication, this documentary explores the life and imagination of the man who wrote it, the Reverend Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. Broadcaster and journalist Martha Kearney delves into the biographies of both Carroll himself and of the young girl, Alice Liddell, who inspired his most famous creation. Kearney’s lifelong passion for Carroll’s work began as a young girl, when she starred as Carroll’s heroine Alice in her local village play. She discusses the book with a range of experts, biographers and distinguished cultural figures – from the actor Richard E Grant to children’s author Philip Pullman – and explores with them the mystery of how a retiring, buttoned-up and meticulous mathematics don, who spent almost his entire life within the cloistered confines of Christ Church Oxford, was able to capture the world of childhood in such a captivating way.
Alice in Wonderland is said to be the most quoted book in print, second only to The Bible, with a passionate army of fans who regularly congregate around the world to celebrate its rich and playful world. But what of its creator, the mild-mannered and unassuming Oxford University Math Don, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka. Lewis Carroll?
Famed not only for his wonderful stories, Carroll is also known for his ambiguous relationship with the young girl who inspired his most beloved creation, Alice Liddell, a seemingly innocent infatuation that he documented in his pioneering photography.
With contributions from the likes of thespian Richard E. Grant, social commentator Will Self and author Philip Pullman, at once adoring and provocative this documentary casts a conflicted eye over the creation of Wonderland. Pouring through historical evidence and stories passed down through generations, hear the tale of Carrollâs first encounter with the three Liddell girls and the first telling of Aliceâs tumble down the rabbit hole one summerâs afternoon in a boat upon the River Thames. Documentary first broadcast in 2015.
The success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? rekindled an interest in the Golden Age of American animation, and sparked the modern animation scene. In 1991, Walt Disney Imagineering began to develop Mickey’s Toontown for Disneyland, based on the Toontown that appeared in the film. The attraction also features a ride called Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. Three theatrical animated shorts were also produced: Tummy Trouble, played in front of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Roller Coaster Rabbit was shown with Dick Tracy; and Trail Mix-Up was included with A Far Off Place.The film also inspired a short-lived comic-book and video-game spin-offs, including two PC games, the Japanese version of The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle (which features Roger instead of Bugs), a 1989 game released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and a 1991 game released on the Game Boy.
In December 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
The film is based on Gary K. Wolf’s 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
Documentary on the making of the cult classic Nelvana animated film, Rock & Rule. Featuring interviews with Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Iggy Pop, Maurice White, and Director Clive Smith.
Progressive and daring for its time, Nelvana’s Rock & Rule was the first English-speaking animated feature film ever made entirely in Canada. It features adult themes, and a stellar rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack including Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick, and Earth Wind & Fire. Unfortunately, the production faced an enormous amount of hurdles and due in part to a lack of marketing and distribution, it was a box-office flop. Now, over 30 years later, Rock & Rule enjoys a cult status on par with Heavy Metal.
