Nico

Experience the iconic rock band's legacy in the first major documentary to tell their story. Directed with the era’s avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes, this kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage.

New York, June 3, 1968. Valerie Solanas enters the Factory, Andy Warhol's studio, and fires three shots at him, who miraculously survives, but is seriously wounded. What led this woman to try to kill the famous pop artist, as well as to write a manifesto calling for the eradication of men?

On October 20th, 1959, producer Giuseppe Amato is alone in a screening room, watching Federico Fellini's most famous movie. The working print is more than four-hour long. Fellini would not allow any cut, and distributor Angelo Rizzoli wants to drop the movie. It is the hardest moment in Giuseppe Amato's long career.

Ulrike Ottinger weaves her personal memories of Parisian bohemianism and the serious social, political and cultural upheavals of the time into a cinematic “figure poem.”

Readings from the poets Byron, Keats, Brontë, Tennyson, Coleridge and songs from the dark repertoire of the singer Nico with portraits from the films of Philippe Garrel circa 1975 and Andy Warhol’s The Chelsea Girls and swirling electronic music from Ash Ra Tempel and new electric guitar sound track by James Creed and tracks to the songs by Graham Dowdall aka Gagarin and ex of The Faction with new images of the River Thames put together in an elegy on iconicity, vocality, finitude and solitude.

A pioneering artist and cultural icon. His work is a history of 20th-century America. A country reinventing itself - as seen through the legendary artist's eyes.

No other band in rock'n'roll history has rivaled The Stooges' combination of heavy primal throb, spiked psychedelia, blues-a-billy grind, complete with succinct angst-ridden lyrics, and a snarling, preening leopard of a frontman who somehow embodies Nijinsky, Bruce Lee, Harpo Marx, and Arthur Rimbaud all rolled into one. There is no precedent for The Stooges, while those inspired by them are now legion. The film will present the context of their emergence musically, culturally, politically, historically, and relate their adventures and misadventures while charting their inspirations and the reasons behind their initial commercial challenges, as well as their long-lasting legacy.

Stephen Smith sets out to discover the real Andy Warhol - in the hour-by-hour detail of his daily life.

A childhood in boarding school, volunteered at 17 for the war and dismissed for indiscipline, thug in Marseille turned gigolo in Paris, he became actor thanks to some inspired women. Then flying high, fast and far, thanks to his director masters René Clément, Luchino Visconti & Jean-Pierre Melville.

DANNY SAYS is a documentary unveiling the amazing journey of Danny Fields. Fields has played a pivotal role in music and culture with seminal acts including: the Doors, the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, MC5, Nico, the Ramones and beyond.

A documentary on the legendary creator and victim of pop art. Warhol, revolutionary and controversial, was never afraid to break the mold and reshape the reals of art, advertising, and directing. But who was the real man being behind the colors in which he hid?

The 29-minute experimental film Christmas on Earth caused a sensation when it first screened in New York City in 1964. Its orgy scenes, double projections and overlapping images shattered artistic conventions and announced a powerful new voice in the city's underground film scene. All the more remarkable, that vision belonged to a teenager, 18-year-old Barbara Rubin. A Zelig of the '60s, she introduced Andy Warhol to the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan to Kabbalah and bewitched Allen Ginsberg. The same unbridled creativity that inspired her to make films when women simply didn't, saw her breach yet another male domain, Orthodox Judaism, before her mysterious death at 35. Lifelong friend Jonas Mekas saved all her letters, creating a rich archive that filmmaker Chuck Smith carefully sculpts into this fascinating portrait of a nearly forgotten artist. An avante-garde maverick, a rebel in a man's world, Barbara Rubin regains her rightful place in film history.

The final days of Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious are explored.

Film tribute to Lou Reed, who died in October, which looks at the extraordinarily transgressive life and career of one of rock 'n' roll's true originals With the help of friends, fellow musicians, critics and those who have been inspired not only by his music but also by his famously contrary approach to almost everything, the documentary looks at how Reed not only helped to shape a generation but also helped to create a truly alternative, independent rock scene, while also providing New York with its most provocative and potent soundtrack. With contributions from Bob Ezrin, Mick Rock, Lenny Kaye, Paul Auster, Moe Tucker, Boy George, Thurston Moore, Andrew Wylie, Victor Bockris, Holly Woodlawn, Mary Woronov and Steve Hunter.

Over the course of more than fifteen years, Clémenti films a series of intimate diaries, starting from daily encounters. In La deuxième femme, we see Bulle Ogier and Viva, Nico and Tina Aumont, Philippe Garrel and Udo Kier, a performance by Béjart, a piece by Marc’O, concerts by Bob Marley and Patti Smith (not always recognisable)... It’s like a maelstrom of psychedelic images that are passed through a particle accelerator.

Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot nearly 500 Screen Tests, beautiful and revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals, from Warhol superstars and celebrities to friends or anyone he thought had "star potential". All visitors to his studio, the Factory. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong keylight, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in slow motion, resulting in a fascinating collection of four-minute masterpieces that startle and entrance, mesmerizing in the purest sense of the word. Songwriters Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, formerly of the band Luna and currently recording as Dean & Britta, incorporated original compositions as well as cover songs to create new soundtracks for the 13 films.

Takes an in-depth look at the lives and times of the people who hung out with Andy Warhol and "worked" at the Silver Factory during the Sixties, making it all click as a new counter-culture arose and began to exert its influence throughout the arts.

Icon of pop art, Andy Warhol has marked the 20th century. This film pays tribute to him with the exceptional participation of Ultraviolet, never-before-seen images of the "private" Warhol and archival documents from the Velvet Underground, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Truman Capote.

Velvet Underground Under Review is a 75 minute film reviewing the music and career of one of rock musics most influential collectives; a band which esteemed music journalist Lester Bangs claims started modern music. It features rare musical performances never available before as well as obscure footage, rare interviews and private photographs of and with Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Sterling Morrison and John Cale. The film also features; rarely seen promo films; material from Andy Warhols private film collection; interviews with colleagues, producers, musicians and friends; TV clips; location shots and a host of other features.

Jonas Mekas’s intimate diary film spans 1963 to 1990, capturing Andy Warhol alongside friends and collaborators from the New York avant-garde. Featuring figures such as Allen Ginsberg, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Maciunas—as well as rare footage of the Velvet Underground’s first performance—it offers a personal portrait of Warhol’s world and his intersections with art, music, and counterculture.

Iconic American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol is the subject of this documentary, which looks at both his life and his influence on pop culture. The film provides details about Warhol's upbringing in Pittsburgh and follows his move to New York City, where he found massive success turning pop imagery into art and eventually founded "The Factory," his famed studio and party venue. Among the many notables interviewed are Dennis Hopper, David Hockney, and Roy Lichtenstein.

A look into the many lives of Christa Päffgen, otherwise known as Nico; from cutie German mädchen to the first of the supermodels, to glamorous diva of the Velvet Underground, to cult item, junkie and hag. Many faces for the same woman, whom, you realize, just couldn't bring herself to care enough to live.

An incredible retracing of the evolution of Reed's remarkable career over three decades. Filled with interviews with Reed, his friends and some of the major artists influenced by Reed including David Bowie, David Byrne, Patti Smith, Suzanne Vega, Dave Stewart, Philip Glass and more. Production Notes, Biographies, Discography, Scene Access, Screen Test, Rare Velvet Footage

Follows John Cale, a Welsh musician and producer, who founded the legendary 60s and 70s NY rock band - the Velvet Underground, with Lou Reed. Cale delved into other mainstream and experimental music genres as well.

Cited as “the best filmmaker of his generation” by directors ranging from Akerman to Benoît Jacquot, Philippe Garrel remains an alluring, somewhat enigmatic figure; this rare look at his world and his art was made right after the completion of his great “autobiographical tetralogy” that ended with The Phantom Heart.

A study of the alienated people who frequent the Ballhaus Barmbek dance hall, including an obese El groupie, an old man reciting poetry, two young women and a regular dance employee.

clips from nicos live perfomances, working with garrel

No synopsis available yet.

"Not a documentary but the the ruins of an attempted documentary." - Grashina Gabelmann Nico’s solo concert in West Berlin 1986. She’s high, giggly, not entirely there but her voice is still haunting and raspy and her presence still the one of a star. We see short clips of an interview held the same year in a hotel – an interview Gaul found somewhere, where he can not remember. We see footage borrowed from Andy Warhol’s estate. Footage of factory parties and screen tests.

A composition of symbolic, surreal and almost mystic images.

Athanor (Nico) is searching for fire. A flame is always at the foreground. Nico naked in tombs, looking at herself in circular mirrors, Nico in castles, keeper of the fire. Nico and Musky as medieval princesses. Athanor is a film about fire.

An androgynous poet/dreamer sits and writes and meditates on the aching void that is her life.

Delve into the career of poet, author, composer and musician Leonard Cohen, who has been called one of the premiere folk singers of the 1960s and '70s. This documentary relies on rare concert footage, archival photos and interviews with music critics to help explain the significance of Cohen's unique art. The film focuses on the five albums he released between 1967 and 1977, including "Death of a Ladies' Man," produced by Phil Spector.

Cleopatra situates itself in the same relationship to Hollywood as the Warhol/Morrisey films of the period. It corresponds to Joseph Mankiewicz's 1963 Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton which Auder's cast watched and used as the starting point for scene by scene improvisation Auder drew his cast from Warhol's ensemble – including not only Viva and Louis Waldon, but also Taylor Mead, Ondine, Andrea Feldman, Gerard Melanga and others.

This compilation of Gerard Malanga's short films consists of a collection of extremely rare footage and film portraits providing candid and interesting glimpses of Bob Dylan, Salvador Dalí, Jane Fonda and The Velvet Underground among other 1960s icons and featuring original music by Angus MacLise, who was the first drummer to perform with The Velvet Underground.

Nico's 48'49" complete set live at Cinema Le Rond-Point Marseille on Saturday April 12. 1975 ; opening for John Cale Digitized from the master tape for the first time since it was recorded 1. Purple Lips 2. Secret Side 3. The End 4. Janitor of Lunacy 5. Abschied 6. No One Is There 7. Frozen Warnings 8. You Forgot To Answer

An evening with harmonium & flute. Nico plays stripped down versions of "The Drama of Exile" tracks and some oldies at the Théâtre Campagne-Première, Paris on March 31st, 1978 backed by French flutist Didier Malherbe.

Recorded on French TV, the concert marked the first time since the breakup of The Velvet Underground that Reed, Cale and Nico were on stage together.

interview with nico

Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.

A free-spirited single mother forms a connection with the wedded headmaster of an Episcopalian boarding school in Monterey, California.

In order to pay the rent, a young ballet dancer living in Paris accepts a job in an upmarket strip club. She soon devises a unique act that captivates audiences and catapults her to stardom.

Featuring performances by popular artists of the 1960s, this concert film highlights the music of the 1967 California festival. Although not all musicians who performed at the Monterey Pop Festival are on film, some of the notable acts include the Mamas and the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, the Who, Otis Redding, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hendrix's post-performance antics -- lighting a guitar on fire, breaking it and tossing a part into the audience -- are captured.

Serge follows Hélène in the crowded streets of Paris and manages to seduce her. Werther takes Sophie to her dentist, Raoul, who tries to seduce her too.

Morrissey and Warhol's commercial take on the Swedish film I, A Woman. Somebody suggested to Warhol that they wanted a sexploitation film in the vein of I, A Woman, and so he and Morrissey concocted I, A Man. They created the story of this male hustler who talks with and sleeps with a series of women over the course of the film. The women are: a young woman who worries about parental acceptance of her sexuality, a woman who is on a couch, a woman with whom he does a seance, a woman who speaks French, a lesbian, and a married woman.

Also known as Walden, Jonas Mekas’s first diary film is a six-reel chronicle of his life in 1960s New York, interweaving moments with family, friends, lovers, and artistic idols. Blending everyday encounters with portraits of the avant-garde art scene, it forms an epic, personal meditation on community, creativity, and the passage of time.

Roberto goes to Marseilles to give a hand to his friend Xavier, wrongly imprisoned following a frame-up organized by his associate Villanova. Roberto sets out to seduce Villanova's mistress, but when Villanova is killed, Roberto ends up leader of the band...

A young American art student must decide whether to stay in Paris with her boyfriend or go back to the U.S. when her wealthy father arrives to bring her back.

Warhol's Factory visits Los Angeles.

Follows various residents of the Chelsea Hotel in 1966 New York City.

Positano is an island of the Amalfi Coast that Neptune would have, according to legend, created for the love of a nymph. Perched on the rocks of the island, the house of Frédéric Pardo and Tina Aumont became in 1968 a meeting place for the underground community. Pierre Clémenti stays there for a while and makes images of dazzling sensuality. Beyond Pierre Clémenti's intimate love of these faces and bodies often naked in this Mediterranean landscape, the film reveals the moving beauty of a utopia where living together could still be achieved in a territory of sharing and permanent creation. Flow of perceptions of consciousness, visual impressions, physical impregnations, the work of Pierre Clémenti is an ode to sensuality and "life-cinema".

A color sound meditation on the erstwhile Warhol superstar.

The films were made between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's Factory studio in New York City. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong key light, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film at 24 frames per second. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in 'slow motion' at 16 frames per second.

The Velvet Underground's first public appearance, filmed in Super 8 at a Psychiatrist's Convention, at the Delmonico Hotel, New York, January 14, 1966. Andy Warhol was invited to speak at the annual banquet of the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry. He brought along the Velvets and other factory regulars.

Documents each member of The Velvet Underground having their cards read at a big apartment party. The tarot reader is continually interrupted in her readings by the chaos created by the characters around her.

On the evening of November 8th, 1966, following the afternoon filming of The George Hamilton Story, a movie in which Warhol cast his mother Julia as an “aging peroxide movie star with a lot of husbands”, – “ We’re trying to bring back old people.” – he took his crew and a much larger cast to Kaleidoscope, fashion designer Tiger Morse’s boutique shop on Madison Avenue in New York City, to shoot his second unreleased film of the day. A nocturnal tale of downtown bulls in an uptown China shop, Paranoia is a portrait of the always captivating, always hilarious Morse as she converses with everyone in front of and behind the camera while genuinely attempting to keep the Superstars in the room from wreaking havoc on her uniquely curated curios.

Nico, filmed with an unmoving camera, reads a magazine. She scratches her head, flips her hair, looks glumly at the camera, and then rolls the magazine into a tube and peers through it.

The film depicts a rehearsal of The Velvet Underground including Nico, and is essentially one long loose improvisation.

A young officer in the army of Empress Catherine of Russia is on his way to his new duty station at a remote outpost. During a blinding snowstorm he comes upon a stranger who was caught in the storm and is near death from freezing. He rescues the man and eventually brings him back to health. When the man is well enough to travel, the two part company and the man vows to repay the officer for saving his life. Soon after he arrives at his new post, a revolt by the local Cossacks breaks out and the fort is besieged by the rebels. The young officer is astonished to find out that the leader of the rebellious Cossacks is none other than the stranger whose life he had saved during the storm.

In this musical, a tempermental opera singer falls in love with a hearing-impaired young woman.