Keyword Alternative

The post-70’s explosion of independent music in America has many traceable roots, each with a compelling story. One of its most significant has never been told until now. Drawing on never-before-seen archival footage, in-depth-interviews with musicians and producers, and a mighty soundtrack, THE SMART STUDIOS STORY reveals the pivotal Midwest link to the global rise of 1990's Alternative Rock and the unassuming Madison, Wisconsin recording studio at its center. If you’ve ever been touched by the music of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, L7 or their peers, you’ve been touched by the music created at Smart Studios, the legendary recording facility founded by Butch Vig and Steve Marker.

An comprehensive look at the life and music of Mark Linkous, a influential figure in the alternative music scene. Critically-acclaimed Linkous had a dramatic life that saw him battle with drug and alcohol addiction, paralysis, and debilitating depression that resulted in his eventual suicide. Mark's music was heralded by his peers and critics; a mix of delicate pop, discordant punk and melodic odyssey; it has been described as defiantly surrealist with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and celestial bodies. The film mines Marks life and music and navigates the sacrifices and highs and lows of his art.

A Cape Town couple, Katherine and Hugh, are headed to their private mountain getaway, when they pick up a hitchhiker, Liza, who carries a gun. Liza is invited for lunch, but soon the couple can't get rid of her.

A boy puppet falls in love with a girl puppet. In a cruel twist of fate,they are separated when they are purchased by different people. When they chance upon each other again, the boy puppet does everything in his power to return to her side.

A live performance by Radiohead of their 2007 album In Rainbows. This was their first of two full-episode performances, filmed at Maida Vale Studios in London, as part of the ‘From The Basement’ television series produced by Nigel Godrich, Dilly Gent, James Chads and John Woollcombe.

Documentary directed by W.K. Border, that which dives into the aspects of contemporary Gothic subculture, vampirism, and BDSM culture. Filmed in 1997 in California.

Bezango, WA tells the tale of cartooning and comics in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the alternative community. The film chronicles both the past and the present, while featuring Frank M. Young, co-creator of the Eisner Award winning graphic novel "The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song," and James Gill, a cartoonist, and mostly-cheerful introvert of the finest class.

Documentary about British artist Andrew Logan as he attempts to put on the 2009 edition of his Alternative Miss World. The film also presents a history of the contest (which has run eccentrically since 1972) which was set up firstly as an excuse to have a good party, but has grown into a celebration of alternative lifestyles and sexualities. The documentary mixes archive footage, animated inserts, with talking head interviews and a fly-on-the-wall look at the organisation of the 2009 event

Meet Shavon O'Brien: Her family doesn't understand her, her church ignores her, even Jesus forgets about her. With only the spirit of Sinead O'Connor to guide her, Shavon battles institutional child abuse, narcissistic group think, a talking stomach and a singing poop bucket! Shavon goes from Catholic to Crusty Punk in this very, very, very, dark musical comedy!

The history of Sound City and their huge recording device; exploring how digital change has allowed 'people that have no place' in music to become stars. It follows former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighter David Grohl as he attempts to resurrect the studio back to former glories.

The documentary BERLINIZED describes this very Berlin-specific attitude in a reflection on and a journey to mid-1990s' Berlin. Filmmaker Lucian Busse, an active protagonist of the period, documents the transformation of Berlin after the Wall. But Berlinized represents more than just the 1990s - it is a metaphor for this virally catching creative feeling, the slightly rough directness, spiced up with a big dash of typical Berlin humor. Berlinized lets the former protagonists reflect how that temporary feeling of freedom shaped their individual lives, and to what degree that freedom can still be found among the neat order of today's Berlin. These reflections are as diverse as the interviewees and as multifaceted as the changes in those times.

An alternative documentary following the trail of blood and carnage of Philadelphia’s own Deathmatch Rock n’ Roll pioneers, Eat the Turnbuckle, from beer-soaked bars to the largest stage in the world of metal.

This piece takes 8 seconds, and creates intervals between the frames, and then makes them bigger. It's about expansion and enlargement, not the passage of time. 8 seconds becomes that much more luxuriant.

Setlist: 1 - Burn the Witch 2 - Decks Dark 3 - Desert Island Disk 4 - Ful Stop 5 - No Surprises 6 - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi 7 - Everything in Its Right Place 8 - Idioteque 9 - Street Spirit (Fade Out) 10 - Bloom 11 - Paranoid Android 12 - Nude 13 - 2 + 2 = 5 14 - There There 15 - Exit Music (for a Film) 16 - Karma Police

A feature-length documentary about The Smashing Pumpkins, which chronicles the band's residencies at The Orange Peel in Asheville and The Fillmore in San Francisco in summer 2007. The documentary covers Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan's attempts to write and debut new music at the residencies, as well as the revival of the band with new members.

A filmmaker gets lost in a world of his own creation, literally. He is plotted against by his outer demons, searches for his lost sex scene and contends with several other versions of himself. A joyful rule-breaking carnival ride through a filmmaker's dreamland.

A clueless wannabe movie star moves to LA and goes viral for all the wrong reasons, only to evolve into a slightly less terrible version of himself. #blessed

In a remote and seemingly peaceful province of Ilaya, there lived two teenagers who explore their lives as the world around them grows darker.

A documentary short film capturing the world of The Creatures of the Night, an up and coming group of alternative drag artists in the Coachella Valley.

SETLIST: 1 Burn The Witch -- 2 Daydreaming -- 3 Ful Stop -- 4 2 + 2 = 5 -- 5 Myxomatosis -- 6 My Iron Lung -- 7 Climbing Up The Walls -- 8 No Surprises -- 9 Pyramid Song --10 Bloom --11 Identikit --12 The Numbers --13 The Gloaming --14 Weird Fishes Arpeggi --15 Everything in Its Right Place and Ideoteque --16 There There --17 Let Down --18 Present Tense --19 Paranoid Android --20 Nude --21 Bodysnatchers --22 Street Spirit (Fade Out) --23 Karma Police

Cherry Vanilla is a fairy godmother who would rather be watching '80's reruns than taking care of her foster girls. Each week the girls find themselves in a different situation that can only be fixed by a music video.

Talent manager Max Gold tries to book comedian Joe Pera gigs.