Arts & Entertainment

The 18th annual Fine Cut Festival of Films is a collection of short films from student and emerging filmmakers. In this episode, "Spaceman" from the U.S. (Comedy), "Blue" from the U.S. (Animation), "You, Me, US" from the U.S. (Experimental), and "Itch" from the U.K. (Suspense).

"Spaceman"

A young man with big aspirations sets out on a very curious and unique path to realize his dream of becoming an astronaut. Unemployed and living with his single mother, Rupert Madurski must find a nice balance in a world without spacemen.

"Blue"

In Port-au-Prince; a radio host, a photographer, a Rabòday singer and a creole rapper showcase the emerging and subversive sounds and images of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

This episode profiles prominent artist Doug Aitken who for more than 20 years has shifted the perception and location of images and narratives. His multichannel video installations, sculptures, photographs, publications, happenings and architectural works demonstrate the nature and structure of our ever-mobile, ever-changing, image-based contemporary condition. In his newest piece, “Underwater Pavilions,” he creates a conversation with the viewer to become fully present and immersed in the sea.

Macroscopic features music videos from German group Kreidler, Cincinnati violinist Sudan Archives, U.S. artist Nels Cline Singers, Japanese producer Seiho, Brooklyn duo Javelin, Portland-based musician Schaus, and Dancehall record label Duppy Gun.

South Africans are the biggest consumers of house music in the world, and Johannesburg is the beating heart of their scene. If you're looking for proof, there is no need to visit a nightclub. In turning on a television, listening to the radio or walking down the street, it's clear that a 4/4 pulse is the metronome of everyday life.

The 18th annual Fine Cut Festival of Films is a collection of short films from student and emerging filmmakers. In this episode, "Good Old Times" from Slovakia (Comedy), "Call Unknown" from the U.S. (Suspense), "Remain Rain" from Iran (Emerging), "Recast: The Story of Pune's Tambat Ali (Copper Alley)" from India (Documentary), and "The Door to Freedom" from Germany (Drama).

"Good Old Times"

"Call Unknown"

A young woman abandons technology for 7 days and goes off-grid in a house where she confronts her darkest fear.

After two decades of violence and corruption under the reign of the largest cocaine drug cartel operation in history, Medellín, Colombia awakens to the sights, sounds and colors of an urban renaissance crafted by a group of creative entrepreneurs, artists and visionary city planners defying street wars.

This look at Los Angeles’ Olvera Street is part-history lesson and part-immersion in stereotype of the birthplace of Los Angeles. Emmy® award-winning journalist, author and musician Rubén Martínez, explores the sometimes-violent, 200-year struggle for the political and symbolic control of the city as told in “Variedades” — an interdisciplinary performance series that brings together music, spoken word, theater, comedy and the visual arts, loosely based on the Mexican vaudeville shows of early-20th century Los Angeles.

Perspective features music videos from Chilean artist Alex Anwandter, L.A. band Bouquet, U.S. producer Mdsign, Japanese artists Asa-Chang and Junray, and German artist Jeff Ozdemir’s Halloumi Express.

This episode of "Real Scenes" visits one of the most special places for electronic music in the world: Berlin. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, techno became the underground soundtrack to the reunion between East and West. In recent years, it's become an international destination for ravers—a cheap place to party with clubs that are renowned throughout the world.

The 18th annual Fine Cut Festival of Films is a collection of short films from student and emerging filmmakers. In this episode, "The Outcast" from the U.S. (Drama), "Scraps" from New Zealand (Animation), "Champagne" from the U.S. (Drama), "Bobo" from Pakistan (Suspense), and "The Autumn of Zao" from France (Fantasy).

"The Outcast"

Moscow is a city where dissidents live in fear. After emerging from a decade of post-­Soviet economic and political turmoil, the country, under Putin’s rule, is a place where authorities have tightened control over the media and stifled the opposition. The government maintains a narrative that insists on the country’s unique power in contrast with the rest of Europe. In 2011, thousands of protestors gathered in Moscow to protest electoral fraud – it was the biggest show of protest since the fall of the USSR.

In East Los Angeles during the late 1960s and 1970s, a group of young activists used creative tools like writing and photography as a means for community organizing, providing a platform for the Chicano Movement in the form of the bilingual newspaper/magazine La Raza. In the process, the young activists became artists themselves and articulated a visual language that shed light on the daily life, concerns and struggles of the Mexican-American experience in Southern California and provided a voice to the Chicano Rights Movement.

Not too long ago it looked like New York's glory days as a center for dance music had passed. As the birthplace of disco and hip-hop and the home of legendary nightclubs like the Paradise Garage, Limelight, and Twilo, the city has long been part of the cultural fabric. But as the notoriously grimy city of the late 20th century transformed into the sleek and hyper-gentrified metropolis of today, its thriving underground lost its foothold.

A few years ago The New York Times and Le Monde were declaring the death of clubbing in Paris. It was a dark moment for a city that has at times stood alongside London, New York, and Berlin as one of the capitals of electronic music. With names like Laurent Garnier, Daft Punk, and Justice leading the way, Paris has seemingly always been a flashpoint for a unique spin on house and techno.

The 18th annual Fine Cut Festival of Films is a collection of short films from student and emerging filmmakers. In this episode, "Respectfully, Tony" from the U.S. (Documentary), "Waiting in the Wings" from the U.S. (Comedy), "What if" from France (War), "Dad" from the U.S. (Drama), and "Kaska" from Germany (Animation/Expermental).

"Respectfully, Tony"

A convicted murderer re-enters society after spending 12 years on death row and 39 years in prison.

"Waiting in the Wings"

As one of the oldest cities in the world and of significance to followers of all three major religions, Jerusalem is constantly on edge. It is segregated into two distinct parts, East and West. In the streets, 18-­year-­old soldiers patrol the city with guns. Artists in both parts of the city are using art to find and fight for their own truth and bring about peace amid the regular eruptions of violence.

This episode profiles four California artists who make motherhood a part of their art: Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Andrea Chung, Rebecca Campbell and Tanya Aguiñiga. There's a persisting assumption in contemporary art circles that you can't be a good artist and good mother both. But these artists are working to shatter this cliché, juggling demands of career and family and finding inspiring ways to explore the maternal in their art.

The eyes of the world have turned to the UK in recent years and have found some of the most exciting, genre-defying young artists to emerge from electronic music. But while London's scene can be fractious and hard to pin down, there seems to be something in the air in Bristol that unites its participants.

"Real Scenes" takes a trip to the birthplace of techno.

The 18th annual Fine Cut Festival of Films is a collection of short films from student and emerging filmmakers. In this episode, "The Melody of Unexpected Encounters" from the Russian Federation (Romantic Comedy), "Score" from Belgium (Drama), "HELL YOU TALMBOUT" from the U.S. (Experimental), and "Hide and Seek" from France (Suspense).

"The Melody of Unexpected Encounters"

Lagos, the largest city in Africa and an economic powerhouse, is characterized by extreme social inequalities, frequent power cuts and a rapidly increasing population. In the rest of Nigeria, political upheavals, including the militant insurgency of Boko Haram and a drop in oil production in the country’s oil sector, are among some of the challenges facing the government of Mohammadu Buhari, elected in 2015. Lagos, and its exploding art scene, is where these realities are brought to the fore of people’s consciousness.

Native American basketry has long been viewed as a community craft, yet the artistic quality and value of these baskets are on par with other fine art. Now Native peoples across the country are revitalizing basketry traditions and the country looks to California as a leader in basket weaving revitalization.