2012 Movies : Music

With Jamie Blackley • Sara Sugarman • Jim Cooper • Phil Daniels • Perry Benson • Julia Ford • Keith Allen • Alexa Davies

Aging rock group use a young fresh faced punk band to front new recordings to fool the music industry.

With P. David Ebersole

When Nirvana burst onto the scene in 1991, the music they played spoke directly to an angry and disenfranchised generation. Grunge took over MTV and radio overnight… but just three years later, the drug-related deaths of several musicians and the suicide of Kurt Cobain closed the books on an all too brief era. Patty Schemel, the acclaimed drummer for Courtney Love's seminal rock band Hole, was in the middle of all of it. The openly gay woman who always felt different never dreamed she would be in a multi-platinum band, touring with legends… or that, thanks to drug addiction, she could lose it all. Given a video camera just before Hole's infamous Live Through This world tour, Patty filmed everything the shows, the parties, and startlingly intimate footage of Kurt and Courtney. This footage has never been seen... until now.

Set in the world of Russian immigrants living in New York City, Downtown Express uses music to explore the clash of old world values against the lure and excitement of a new country. Under the watch of his loving but overbearing father, virtuoso violinist and Juilliard student Sasha (Grammy nominee Philippe Quint) prepares for a critical recital meant to launch his career. Yet, he is increasingly drawn to the rhythms of the streets of New York, and when he meets singer-songwriter Ramona (acclaimed recording artist Nellie McKay), he joins her band, falls in love, and begins to lead a double life, careening frantically between two worlds. As his classical debut nears, Sasha must decide whether to break with his father and forge his own destiny.

With P. David Ebersole

When Nirvana burst onto the scene in 1991, the music they played spoke directly to an angry and disenfranchised generation. Grunge took over MTV and radio overnight… but just three years later, the drug-related deaths of several musicians and the suicide of Kurt Cobain closed the books on an all too brief era. Patty Schemel, the acclaimed drummer for Courtney Love's seminal rock band Hole, was in the middle of all of it. The openly gay woman who always felt different never dreamed she would be in a multi-platinum band, touring with legends… or that, thanks to drug addiction, she could lose it all. Given a video camera just before Hole's infamous Live Through This world tour, Patty filmed everything the shows, the parties, and startlingly intimate footage of Kurt and Courtney. This footage has never been seen... until now.