Tony Wilson

Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club.

Steve Coogan, an arrogant actor with low self-esteem and a complicated love life, is playing the eponymous role in an adaptation of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" being filmed at a stately home. He constantly spars with actor Rob Brydon, who is playing Uncle Toby and believes his role to be of equal importance to Coogan's.

Part concert, part documentary, this film follows the band’s preparations in the re-staging of their acclaimed collaboration So It Goes.. with the artist Liam Gillick and the 12-piece synthesiser orchestra that spectacularly captured the headlines during Manchester International Festival 2017.

Bill Nighy, Pete Postlewaite and (briefly) Julie Walters, then all of the Everyman Theatre Company, feature in this potent reportage/dramatisation hybrid about the occupation of the Fisher-Bendix Factory in Kirkby. Dohany uses a variety of imaginative techniques to explore the longstanding dispute, and a pronounced sense of urgency pervades this act of solidarity.

Documentary that outlines the 1990s and the decade the changed the world.

A chronological account of the influential late 1970s English rock band.

The death of punk icon and X-Ray Spex front-woman Poly Styrene sends her daughter on a journey through her mother's archives in this intimate documentary.

Documentary featuring a cavalcade of Northern comedy stars including the great Frank Randle, George Formby, Arthur Askey, Norman Evans and many more. The North of England has always enjoyed its own very particular brand of comedy, best seen today in Coronation Street. 80 years ago however Mancunian Studios produced feature films for the northern masses. Funny Up North tells the story of the Mancunian Studios, its eccentric owner John E Blakeley and its cavalcade of stars including such household names as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Jewell, George Formby and the legendary Frank Randle. Hosted by Professor Chris Lee, the authority on northern cinema, Funny Up North takes you on a journey from its humble beginnings to its sad demise in the 1960s.

Catch: The Hold Not Taken is a 2005 feature documentary film that contrasts the billion dollar industry of professional wrestling with its humble roots in Lancashire, England, where the original tradition struggles to survive. The documentary examines wrestling's exile from the commercial world of ‘real’ sports and looks at Catch’s clear relationship with the growing modern phenomenon of full contact fighting.

Director Aaron Barnett turns a personal quest — meeting reclusive former rock idol Roger Taylor of "Duran Duran" — into a remarkable musical retrospective encompassing the entire decade of the 80's.

Rising from the ashes of the legendary British post-punk unit Joy Division, the enigmatic New Order triumphed over tragedy to emerge as one of the most influential and acclaimed bands of the 1980's, embracing the electronic textures and disco rhythms of the underground club culture many years in advance of its contempraries. "New Order Story" is the definitive documentary on the band and traces their history all the way back to its origin with Joy Division. This extended version includes additional interviews and live footage, over 2 hours of great New Order footage. A longform video chronicling the band's history and music with interviews by Bono, Neil Tennant, Quincy Jones and others.

Here is the movie for all the Clever Trevors and Billericay Dickies out there! A stunning and truly 'Rare and Unseen' look back at Ian Dury, poet, thinker, geezer and all round crowd-pleaser. He wasn't half a clever b'stard. The earliest known TV performance from the London Programme 1976. Three great interviews with much missed Mancunian Tony Wilson who died in 2007. Final Richard and Judy interview and live performance restored for widescreen. Includes eight live musical performances with the Kilburns and the Blockheads: 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll', 'Sweet Gene Vincent', 'Upminster Kid', 'Rough Kids', 'Billy Bentley', 'England's Glory', 'Blockheads' and 'Geraldine'. Is that enough of the old reading matter for you? This ain't a bleeding library… Oi! Oi!

Most rock fans may not know the name Anton Corbijn, but they've certainly seen his work. Corbijn shot the iconic cover artwork for U2's The Joshua Tree and Depeche Mode's 101, and gave both groups a new and more dramatic visual persona in the process. Since them, Corbijn's work, bearing his trademark dark shadows and deep, textural details, has graced the covers of recordings by R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen, Morrissey, Nick Cave, John Lee Hooker and even Bon Jovi. Corbijn has also directed a number of music videos for the likes of Nirvana, Johnny Cash and Metallica, and made his debut as a feature film director in 2007 with Control, a screen biography of Ian Curtis of Joy Division (who Corbijn photographed several times in the group's heyday). In Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn, filmmaker Josh Whiteman offers an intimate look at the life and career of this celebrated visual artist, featuring interviews with Bono, Chris Martin, Michael Stipe, Dave Gahan and Bernard Sumner.

In the final days of the yuppie decade, the summer of ’89 saw a new type of youth rebellion rip through the cultural landscape, with thousands of young people dancing at illegal Acid House parties in fields and aircraft hangars around the M25. Set against the backdrop of ten years of Thatcherism, it was a benign form of revolution, dubbed the Second Summer of Love – all the ravers wanted was the freedom to party… The rave scene, along with the drug Ecstasy, broke down social barriers and even football hooligans were ‘loved up’, solving a problem the government had never managed to crack. But lurid tabloid headlines and cat-and-mouse games with the police eventually turned the dream sour, as the gangster element moved in at the end of the summer.

Director Bill Keating built a programme around following Rory through a day of his short 1972 Irish tour. At the center of the programme is a recording of the concert Rory played in the Savoy Cinema in Limerick on May 11th 1972.

A portrait of Tony Wilson the visionary, provocateur, and self-styled cultural revolutionary who put Manchester on the world map. From his days as a Granada TV presenter to founding Factory Records and the legendary Haçienda nightclub, Wilson reshaped a post-industrial city into a global capital of music and style. Loved and loathed in equal measure, Wilson’s story is told here through candid interviews, archive footage, and reflections from friends, critics, and collaborators. Pretentious? Perhaps. Unforgettable? Absolutely.

A compilation of performances by bands taken from his previous TV shows in the late 70's, such as "So It Goes", hosted by Tony Wilson. Featuring: Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks, John Cooper Clarke, Iggy Pop, Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, Penetration, Blondie, Fall, Jam, Jordan, Devo, Tom Robinson Band, Johnny Thunder, Elvis Costello, XTC, Jonathan Richman, Nick Lowe, Siouxie & the Banshees, Cherry Vanilla & Magazine.

Upon his release from a mental hospital, James re-kindles his relationship with pirate DJ Marion, helping her kick her nasty heroin addiction. However, when Marion is found dead, James and Marion's father hatch a plan to trap and expose the 'protected' killer. A plan that leads to a tense and bloody showdown that will leave you shattered. Filmed in the Moss Side area of Manchester this gritty tale of futility pulls no punches in its graphic depiction of drug addiction, political corruption and society out of control.

An examination into Factory Records. The members of New Order interview founders Tony Wilson and Martin Hannett, who speak on the philosophical and cultural purpose of their label, and their associates, who mostly appear frustrated or confused. Rob Gretton, Factory founder and manager of New Order, interviews himself. Also includes three live performances of New Order at the Haçienda.

Documentary celebrating the triumph, tragedy and human comedy that was Manchester record company, Factory. Started by the late Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, Peter Saville and Martin Hannett in the late 1970s, it became known as the home of Joy Divsion, New Order and Happy Mondays and for creating the Hacienda club. The label pioneered Britain's independent pop culture, creating a new Manchester and blowing a shed-load of money. Includes interviews with all the main players in the Factory story.

Carol Morley returns to Manchester, where in the early 1980s, five years of her life were lost in an alcoholic blur. The Alcohol Years is a poetic retrieval of that time, in which rediscovered friends and acquaintances recount tales of her drunken and promiscuous behavior. In Morley’s search for her lost self, conflicting memories and viewpoints weave in and out, revealing a portrait of the city, its pop culture, and the people who lived it.

Exploring the 'Madchester' music phenomena of the late '80s and early '90s. The band Northside appears in interview, rehearsal, live in concert and even at work; Central Station Design in their studio creating something out of a pane of glass and loads of ephemera; Happy Mondays in Amsterdam; 808 State; and MC Tunes. Aired as part of Granada Television's Celebration arts strand.

The Manchester Passion is a passion play about the last hours of Jesus, retold using a backdrop of the contemporary music of Manchester, England. The event took place on the streets of Manchester, and aired live on BBC Three on Good Friday, 14 April 2006. The event was created by the same people who created Flashmob: The Opera; also aired on BBC Three.

This in-depth retrospective surveys the history and music of the Smiths via interviews with the band, expert commentary and insights from insiders, including producer Stephen Street. Performance footage and TV clips round out the program.

The acclaimed live concert film by Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column, recorded in Tokyo in April 1985. Domo Arigato followed on the heels of ambitious ‘modern classical’ album Without Mercy a year earlier, and saw composer / guitarist Vini Reilly and percussionist Bruce Mitchell augmented by John Metcalfe on viola and Tim Kellet on trumpet. Their show-cum-recital at the Kan’i Hoken Hall on 25 April was recorded digitally and filmed on two 35mm cameras.

Recorded live at Shinjuku Koseinenkin Hall, Tokyo, May 2 1985.

Amplification of article by Liz Naylor in the Manchester fanzine, 'City Fun', entitled 'No City Fun'. Music by Joy Division.

New Order filmed live in concert in Tokyo, May 2nd 1985