Amandla! is an impassioned chronicle of the role of music as a mean of protest and survival through more than 40 years of struggle against racial oppression. “The apartheid government took everything away from people, but it couldn't stop them from singing”, says director Lee Hirsch. In the songs there could even be found a rare ability of South Africa's people to find humour and creativity in impossible conditions, in abject poverty - and in battle.

This controversial, startling and hypnotic mix of music and visuals is a semi-autobiographical psycho-drama following one addict's journey from sickness to health, anguish to well being. The Chappaqua filmscape is polulated with counter-cultural icons: Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, Jean Louis Barrault and Ornette Coleman...

A poetic route in the solitude of the journey.

"Fear, power and images of the sorcerer's apprentice" took place after six years of research, in order to incorporate archival material into a dense collage about the power of television and its endless stream of images. The use of pre-recorded material has always been a powerful trend in the video creation, and in this field and Guyer Distel reach a maximum degree. His sense of timing, rhythm and counterpoint of the ironic parallels between two narratives, transforming the story of Goethe. The Sorcerer's Apprentice in a disturbing metaphor. Available online until December 27th 2020.

All contemporary forms of black music (from funk to electronic) owe something to the irrisistible groove of which Fela was the creator: Afrobeat. For most of his career he fought against political corruption in his homeland, Nigeria, and was much loved by his people who affectionately called him their “Black President”... At the height of his popularity in a chaotic Nigeria, Fela wanted to stand for president. The army responded by attacking and ransacking his community, raping his wives and throwing his mother from a window. Fela transmits to the camera his thoughts on politics, panafricanism, music and religion. The film includes previously unpublished versions of ITT, Army Arrangement, Power Show and Authority Stealing.

For decades, Nigerian icon Fela Kuti revolutionized “afro-beat”, a unique blend of driving funk and traditional African music that carried his message of liberation and dignity in the face of corruption. After Fela's death in 1997, his son Femi Kuti took over the afrobeat throne, and in 2000, Femi opened the New Africa Shrine in Lagos. A community center during the day and venue for ecstatic concerts at night, the Shrine is Femi's home... “Can't Buy Me”, Femi intones while the horns propel the music forward, dancers undulate, and the crowd finds release from the troubled state of the country in the joyous celebration...