Signed Media

How African artists have spread African culture all over the world, especially music, since the harsh years of decolonization, trying to offer a nicer portrait of this amazing continent, historically known for tragic subjects, such as slavery, famine, war and political chaos.

Sam Cooke died at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, at 9137 South Figueroa Street, in Los Angeles, California. Answering separate reports of a shooting and of a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body, clad only in a sports jacket and shoes but no shirt, pants or underwear. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, said she had shot Cooke in self-defense after he broke into her office residence and attacked her. Her account was immediately questioned and disputed by acquaintances.

Three pensioners who live as subtenants on tiny pensions find themselves wanting to escape the sadness and mundanity of their everyday lives in old-age and poverty. They relish the thought that they could experience one last adrenalin-fuelled thrill during the twilight of their lives. With that motivation in mind, they set about commencing preparations for a big heist. Early Birds is a tragic comedy, a short film about poverty in old age, dignity and death.

Rihanna's rise to global pop icon seems like a fairytale and makes her the most important representative of her home country Barbados. The film tells Rihanna's career from the perspective of her home island and traces her dual role as a billionaire entrepreneur and national heroine.

Beyoncé and Solange Knowles are the most successful pair of sisters in pop history. But while Beyoncé is being systematically built up into a megastar by her parents, her younger sister Solange has to fight for recognition from her family. It takes a long time for her to step out of her sister's shadow musically. A double portrait of two unequal exceptional artists.

A fascinating exploration of the literary — The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, by English playwright William Shakespeare (1604) — and lyrical — Othello, by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (1887) — myth of Othello, the desperately tragic story of a Moorish general in the army of the Venetian Republic whose absurd jealousy poisons his love for his wife Desdemona.

The two-part documentary Pop & Passion tells of power and magic, but also of the pressure and excess that prevails in the pop business.

Muse Live At Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg, Germany 21/09/2018