WHO THE F**K IS THAT GUY? THE FABULOUS JOURNEY OF MICHAEL ALAGO tells the astonishing story of a gay Puerto Rican kid growing up in a Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhood, who got on the subway one day and began a musical odyssey that helped shape the musical landscape across New York and around the world. Directed by Drew Stone and produced by Michael Alex the film tells the incredible story of a cherished New York City icon.
From rubbing elbows with New York scene makers as an under aged teenager at Max’s Kansas City and CBGB, to being the architect of a rock ‘n’ roll renaissance as the 19 year-old talent booker at the legendary Ritz, to making history as a 24 year-old A&R exec, signing the biggest metal band in a generation in Metallica, Michael Alago was on fire.
Working with artists ranging from White Zombie and Johnny Rotten to Cyndi Lauper and jazz legend Nina Simone, Alago was driven by a love for great music…ANY great music…and the artists loved him back. Passion and excess would bring Alago crashing into the twin reapers of substance abuse and AIDS, but surviving them both he reinvented himself as an art photographer…healthy, sober, and as passionate as ever.
Told by Alago and the artists whose careers he helped build, illustrated with an exquisite collection of personal photographs, WHO THE F**K IS THAT GUY? THE FABULOUS JOURNEY OF MICHAEL ALAGO tells the tender, loving, self-destructive, and insane story of a man who loved new music so much he had to bring it to the world, and lived to talk about it. Barely.
50th Anniversary Release! New 4k Restoration!
On a beautiful June weekend in 1967, at the beginning of the Summer of Love, the first Monterey International Pop Festival roared forward, capturing a decade’s spirit and ushering in a new era of rock and roll. Monterey featured career-making performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, but they were just a few among a wildly diverse cast that included Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, the Who, the Byrds, Hugh Masekela, and the extraordinary Ravi Shankar. With his characteristic vérité style, D. A. Pennebaker captured it all, immortalizing moments that have become legend: Pete Townshend destroying his guitar, Jimi Hendrix burning his.
Filmed in black-and-white and set to the music of Chet Baker, Julie London and other jazz greats, Bruce Weber’s documentary captures the world of the Mount Scott Boxing Club near Portland, Oregon. At the small, successful club, former Golden Gloves boxing champion Andy Minsker devotes himself to training hopeful young athletes as they rise through the boxing ranks. As the film’s main focus, Minsker is unwavering in his enthusiasm and support of his protégés.
Newly restored for the first time since its debut, Jonathan Demme’s COUSIN BOBBY is ripe for rediscovery.
Jonathan Demme’s stirring 1992 documentary introduced audiences to his cousin Robert Castle, a fiercely political Episcopalian minister who fights tirelessly to improve the lives of people of color both in his Harlem parish and around the country. Though one might not expect an aging white man from New Jersey to be so deeply concerned with Black and Brown lives, Castle’s life took a turn when he formed long-lasting friendships with pivotal Black Panther Party leaders who helped wake him up to the deep racial injustices that have endured throughout in the history of the USA. As Demme documents Castle leading protests, ministering to his flock, and visiting locals in the community who have been the victim of inequality, a portrait develops of an inspiring role model for anyone who wants to stand up for racial injustice in the age of Black Lives Matter, Donald Trump, Standing Rock and more.
