Directing

Robert Mugge

Known for

Directing

Credits

29 titles

Known for

Black Wax poster
8.3

Poet, musician and activist Gil Scott-Heron reflects on race, politics, creativity and the Black experience through candid interviews and electrifying live performances. Blending spoken word, jazz, funk and soul, the film captures an artist whose voice remains as urgent as ever.

Black Wax

1983

Deep Blues poster
8.2

This warm 90 minutes documentary shows us unknown blues musicians from Mississippi. They play everywhere : on the streets, in dirty little bars, in a barber shop, in big clubs. The film really captures the true faces of blues and shows us that this music had nothing to do with nostalgia or record company hypes. Documentary on the Delta blues.

Deep Blues

1992

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise poster
6.4

Robert Mugge filmed jazz great Sun Ra on location in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. between 1978 and 1980. The resulting 60-minute film includes multiple public and private performances, poetry readings, a band rehearsal, interviews, and extensive improvisations. Transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored for the best possible viewing experience.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise

1980

No artwork available
6.5

A tribute to the influence of Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson and the effect that he has had on today's music. Chronicles the legacy of Robert Johnson through interviews and speeches by a number of musicologists and through the performances of Robert Johnson's work by a number of fairly popular contemporary artists. Featuring performances by Rob Wasserman and Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead; Keb' Mo; Robert Lockwood Jr.; G Love and Special Sauce; Gov't Mule; and more.

Hellhounds on My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson

2000

Saxophone Colossus poster
7.7

Tenor saxophone master Sonny Rollins has long been hailed as one of the most important artists in jazz history, and still, today, he is viewed as the greatest living jazz improviser. In 1986, filmmaker Robert Mugge produced Saxophone Colossus, a feature-length portrait of Rollins, named after one of his most celebrated albums.

Saxophone Colossus

1986

Blues Divas poster
6.0

A documentary featuring live performance footage and interviews with eight contemporary female blues' artists including Mavis Staples, Denise LaSalle, Irma Thomas, Odetta, Deborah Coleman, Bettye LaVette, Ann Peebles and Renee Austin.

Blues Divas

2005

Behind the camera

Black Wax poster
8.3

Poet, musician and activist Gil Scott-Heron reflects on race, politics, creativity and the Black experience through candid interviews and electrifying live performances. Blending spoken word, jazz, funk and soul, the film captures an artist whose voice remains as urgent as ever.

Black Wax

1983

Black Wax poster
8.3

Poet, musician and activist Gil Scott-Heron reflects on race, politics, creativity and the Black experience through candid interviews and electrifying live performances. Blending spoken word, jazz, funk and soul, the film captures an artist whose voice remains as urgent as ever.

Black Wax

1983

Deep Blues poster
8.2

This warm 90 minutes documentary shows us unknown blues musicians from Mississippi. They play everywhere : on the streets, in dirty little bars, in a barber shop, in big clubs. The film really captures the true faces of blues and shows us that this music had nothing to do with nostalgia or record company hypes. Documentary on the Delta blues.

Deep Blues

1992

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise poster
6.4

Robert Mugge filmed jazz great Sun Ra on location in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. between 1978 and 1980. The resulting 60-minute film includes multiple public and private performances, poetry readings, a band rehearsal, interviews, and extensive improvisations. Transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored for the best possible viewing experience.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise

1980

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise poster
6.4

Robert Mugge filmed jazz great Sun Ra on location in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. between 1978 and 1980. The resulting 60-minute film includes multiple public and private performances, poetry readings, a band rehearsal, interviews, and extensive improvisations. Transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored for the best possible viewing experience.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise

1980

No artwork available
6.5

A tribute to the influence of Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson and the effect that he has had on today's music. Chronicles the legacy of Robert Johnson through interviews and speeches by a number of musicologists and through the performances of Robert Johnson's work by a number of fairly popular contemporary artists. Featuring performances by Rob Wasserman and Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead; Keb' Mo; Robert Lockwood Jr.; G Love and Special Sauce; Gov't Mule; and more.

Hellhounds on My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson

2000

Saxophone Colossus poster
7.7

Tenor saxophone master Sonny Rollins has long been hailed as one of the most important artists in jazz history, and still, today, he is viewed as the greatest living jazz improviser. In 1986, filmmaker Robert Mugge produced Saxophone Colossus, a feature-length portrait of Rollins, named after one of his most celebrated albums.

Saxophone Colossus

1986

Blues Divas poster
6.0

A documentary featuring live performance footage and interviews with eight contemporary female blues' artists including Mavis Staples, Denise LaSalle, Irma Thomas, Odetta, Deborah Coleman, Bettye LaVette, Ann Peebles and Renee Austin.

Blues Divas

2005

Blues Divas poster
6.0

A documentary featuring live performance footage and interviews with eight contemporary female blues' artists including Mavis Staples, Denise LaSalle, Irma Thomas, Odetta, Deborah Coleman, Bettye LaVette, Ann Peebles and Renee Austin.

Blues Divas

2005

No artwork available
5.5

This is the 1983 edition of Jamaica’s annual Reggae Sunsplash in Montego Bay, a week-long showcase for some of the greatest names in reggae, ska, funk and dub poetry.

Cool Runnings: The Reggae Movie

1986

Gospel According to Al Green poster
5.4

The story of R&B singer Al Green, who gave up a successful singing career to become a gospel minister.

Gospel According to Al Green

1984

No artwork available
NR

Documentary about the many well-known New Orleans musicians who were forced to leave the city by Hurricane Katrina, where they wound up, how (and if) they plan to return to the city. Also shown are many landmark nightclubs and other well-known spots that were damaged or destroyed by Katrina.

New Orleans: Music in Exile

2006

No artwork available
NR

Documentary about the many well-known New Orleans musicians who were forced to leave the city by Hurricane Katrina, where they wound up, how (and if) they plan to return to the city. Also shown are many landmark nightclubs and other well-known spots that were damaged or destroyed by Katrina.

New Orleans: Music in Exile

2006

Hawaiian Rainbow poster
7.0

An 85-minute film on Hawaiian music. Transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored.

Hawaiian Rainbow

1988

Is That Jazz: A Mug-Shot Afterthought poster
8.0

Documentary about Gil Scott-Heron.

Is That Jazz: A Mug-Shot Afterthought

1982

The Return of Rubén Blades poster
8.0

Robert Mugge's 1986 film provides a full-blooded portrait of the Latino singer, actor, bandleader, and composer. Blades' Panama homeland, his Harvard Master's degree, and a New York performance with his band Seis de Solar all serve as stops on this biographical journey.

The Return of Rubén Blades

1985

The Kingdom of Zydeco poster
6.5

Attempting to name a new "king of zydeco" in the mid 1990s, The Kingdom of Zydeco looks at the Black Creole music scene of Southwest Louisiana.

The Kingdom of Zydeco

1994

Rhythm 'n' Bayous: A Road Map to Louisiana Music poster
9.0

Begun as the official chronicle of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bus tour through New Orleans and southwestern Louisiana, it turns into a more informal, out-of-the-way journey to blues and zydeco clubs, gospel churches and radio stations, and musical family gatherings in backwater bayous.

Rhythm 'n' Bayous: A Road Map to Louisiana Music

2001

Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records poster
8.0

In 1971, Bruce Iglauer founded Alligator Records, the most successful modern blues label. In early 1992, Iglauer staged the Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Tour starring Koko Taylor, Elvin Bishop, Katie Webster, Lonnie Brooks (w/Ronnie Baker Brooks), and Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials. Director Robert Mugge's film, PRIDE AND JOY: THE STORY OF ALLIGATOR RECORDS, documents that exciting tour.

Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records

1992

Amateur Night at City Hall: The Story of Frank L. Rizzo poster
NR

The meteoric rise of Frank L. Rizzo from cop on the beat, to law and order police commissioner, to controversial mayor.

Amateur Night at City Hall: The Story of Frank L. Rizzo

1978

Souvenirs of Bucovina: A Romanian Survival Guide poster
NR

The region of Bucovina is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and adjoining plains. The name came into official use in 1775 when the region was annexed from the Principality of Moldavia by the Habsburg Monarchy and then controlled by the Austrian Empire and later Austria-Hungary. But over the centuries, the region has also been subjugated by the Romans, Goths, Turks, Nazis, Russians, and others, and now is split between Northern Romania and Southern Ukraine. 'Souvenirs of Bucovina' is divided into two 80-minute acts which explore the history of the region, its enduring culture, the oppression of gypsies, the slaughtering of Jews in World War II, decades of Communist rule, and life since the democratic revolution of 1989.

Souvenirs of Bucovina: A Romanian Survival Guide

2013

Kumu Hula: Keepers of a Culture poster
8.0

A film about the art of the hula explores Hawaiian dance traditions going back to 500AD when Polynesians first arrived in the islands. Those traditions have been passed along from generation to generation by kahuna (priests and sages) and kumu hula (master teachers). In this film, shot at exotic locations throughout the islands, Vicky Holt Takamine and other respected kumu hula reveal ancient traditions that have survived, flourished, and (where appropriate) evolved in spite of attempts by Nineteenth Century missionaries, plantation owners and US Marines to repress Hawai'i's indigenous culture. Together, these two films present Hawaiian art and life as few outsiders have seen it: rich, expressive, colorful and utterly unique. In 2015, both films were transferred to HD video from their original 16mm and stereo audio masters and lovingly restored.

Kumu Hula: Keepers of a Culture

1989

Gather at the River: A Bluegrass Celebration poster
7.0

GATHER AT THE RIVER points Mugge's cameras (and his sharply recorded sound) at the ongoing evolution of bluegrass, the 'high lonesome' music that is celebrated each year at the World of Bluegrass Festival in Owensboro, Ky. The 1993 event constitutes the entirety of Mugge's film, a generous feast of performance by the finest bluegrass musicians, punctuated by authoritative commentary about the past, present and future of bluegrass music… Pure magic.

Gather at the River: A Bluegrass Celebration

1994

No artwork available
NR

An intimate musical portrait of the New Orleans roots rock band working on their 1996 album "Super Ball,” and discussing the songs’ meanings.

Iguanas in the House

—

No artwork available
NR

Director Robert Mugge explores the rich musical history of Rounder Records.

True Believers: The Musical Family of Rounder Records

1994

George Crumb: Voice of the Whale poster
NR

A 54-minute portrait of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Crumb featuring a performance of his "Vox Balaenae for Three Masked Players."

George Crumb: Voice of the Whale

1976

Last of the Mississippi Jukes poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Last of the Mississippi Jukes

2003

Last of the Mississippi Jukes poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Last of the Mississippi Jukes

2003

No artwork available
NR

Portrait of the January 2007 legendary rhythm & blues cruise to the Caribbean.

Deep Sea Blues

2007