The Jazz Ambassadors

May 4, 2018

1h 0m

★ 7.0

The untold story of America's coolest weapon in the Cold War

Overview

The Cold War and Civil Rights collide in this remarkable story of music, diplomacy and race. Beginning in 1955, when America asked its greatest jazz artists to travel the world as cultural ambassadors, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and their mixed-race band members, faced a painful dilemma: how could they represent a country that still practiced Jim Crow segregation?

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Normal Life Pictures

Antelope

The Jazz Ambassadors Trailers

Cast

Narrator

Leslie Odom Jr.

Self

Quincy Jones

Self (archive footage)

Dizzy Gillespie

Self (archive footage)

Louis Armstrong

Self

Darius Brubeck

Self

Bill Crow

Self (archive footage)

Duke Ellington

Self

Charlie Persip

The author reports on the secret submarine operations of the USA and the Soviet Union, including "risky espionage missions by US combat swimmers in Soviet waters", which resulted in numerous fatal accidents. Both "superpowers" are also said to have lost submarines in various missions due to accidents or collisions. In the film, Pohlmann gives a voice to Ola Tunander, a professor at the Institute for Peace Research in Oslo at the time, who is "certain" that "the alleged Soviet submarines that were unsuccessfully hunted by the Scandinavians in the early 1980s were actually part of the Americans' psychological warfare". The "common goal of some very senior Swedish officers, the British Thatcher administration and Ronald Reagan's policy" was "to discredit the Olof Palme government and its initiative for a nuclear weapons-free Northern Europe".

0.0

Stockholms negrer

Oct 30, 1986

The film is about the band Stockholms Negrer, but also about what formed their music, about being Swedish but still being viewed as an outsider.

No Image Available

0.0

Od začiatku až do kolísky – 80 rokov Petra Lipu

May 30, 2023

No overview available.

0.0

Protection In The Nuclear Age

Jan 1, 1978

An exploration of the reality of potential nuclear attacks on the United States with an emphasis that survival is possible. It outlines key strategies for protection during a nuclear emergency, including recognizing warning signals, taking immediate cover, and understanding the effects of a nuclear explosion. The film stresses the importance of preparation, including knowing evacuation routes and creating a family protection plan. It also highlights the significance of mass, distance, and time as defenses against radiation, and encourages citizens to stay informed and ready in the event of a crisis.

9.0

Intervision Song Contest - schlager i kalla krigets skugga

May 7, 2022

Documentary about the Intervision Song Contest in general and the 1980 edition in particular. Focuses on Finland's participation and the shipyard strikes in Gdansk at the time.

7.0

The World's Biggest Bomb Revealed

Jul 12, 2011

National Geographic 2011 Documentary on the World's Biggest Bomb (UK).

0.0

The Committee

Dec 6, 2011

A film about Florida's little-known investigative committee of the State Legislature from 1956-1964. The committee's aim was to root out homosexual teachers and students from state universities and it was successful in either firing or expelling more than 200 suspected gays and lesbians. The film features two victims and one interrogator who have never before spoken publicly about their experiences. It culminates in a 50-year reunion between victim and interrogator.

0.0

Musician

May 19, 2007

Common sense says you can't make a living in America playing avant-garde improvisational jazz. But Ken Vandermark does it anyway. Among musicians, Vandermark's work ethic is almost mythic. The Chicago reed player has released over 100 albums with nearly 40 ensembles, spends over eight months per year on the road, and lives every other waking moment composing, arranging, performing—and trying to discipline his two hyperactive canines. Though Vandermark was the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur genius grant, he still spends most of his life in smoky clubs and low-budget recording studios, hoping people will plunk down hard-earned cash to hear his wholly non-commercial music. Following the artful cinéma vérité style of the internationally acclaimed Sheriff (Work Series #1), Musician (Work Series #2) forgoes all interviews and voice-overs. It is a fly-on-the-wall time capsule that expertly captures every subtle sound and texture of this most American of art forms.

0.0

Reagan: From Movie Star to President

Nov 12, 2016

Drawing from the recent book, Reagan: The Life by best-selling biographer H.W. Brands, this Ronald Reagan biography dives deep into the pivotal events that shaped his life. Dramatic recreations reveal the untold, behind-the-scenes moments that shaped the trajectory of his career. Interviews and rare archival material illustrate his life through the Great Depression, WWII, Hollywood’s Golden Age, The Cold War, an assassination attempt (not unlike Bill O’Reilly’s book and recent Nat Geo movie, Killing Reagan), and public and personal heartache.

7.0

July '64

Jul 19, 2004

A historic three-day race riot erupted in two African American neighborhoods in the northern, mid-sized city of Rochester, New York. On the night of July 24, 1964, frustration and resentment brought on by institutional racism, overcrowding, lack of job opportunity and police dog attacks exploded in racial violence that brought Rochester to its knees. Combines historic archival footage, news reports, and interviews with witnesses and participants to dig deeply into the causes and effects of the historic disturbance.

0.0

RINO – Příběh špiona

Sep 29, 2016

Documentary portrait of Karel Köcher, supposedly the most important communist agent to infiltrate the CIA.

6.0

The Order of Myths

Jul 25, 2008

In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated... and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.

6.4

Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn

Aug 12, 2020

The 30-year legacy of the murder of black teenager Yusuf Hawkins by a group of young white men in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, as his family and friends reflect on the tragedy and the subsequent fight for justice that inspired and divided New York City.

0.0

Red Terror on the Amber Coast

Jan 1, 2009

Red Terror documents the soviet occupation of Lithuania and the resistance movements that sprang up in opposition to the brutal tactics used by the communists from 1941 up to 1991. Stories of deportation, life in the Gulag, exile to Siberia, KGB prison torture, confiscation of land are told by living survivors. Resistance fighters and those who aided them also share their stories for the first time to an American audience. Rare historical photos and moving images are used to bring these stories to life.

6.0

Violent Jazz from the North

Dec 31, 2020

Finland has long been the promised land for long hair and heavy rock music, however jazz has it’s own place here too! Then again maybe jazz is just the general name we give to music we can’t quite classify. And the original soundscapes brought forth by guitarist Heikki Ruokangas are just that; hard to classify. In Ruokangas’ creations, elements of jazz meld together with the strums and tweaks of modern classic guitars to create an aggressive medley of sound. The end result is a skillful and intense break from traditional guitar song.

5.0

Soul of the Desert

Jan 30, 2025

A documentary on the road that tracks the journey by Georgina, an elderly transgender woman forced to cross the sandy peninsula Guajira, on foot, to obtain the thing she has desired for almost half a century: a document that will hand her the right to be what she has always felt she was, and will allow her, at long last, to vote.

0.0

Breath of Freedom

Feb 17, 2014

In World War II. African-American GIs liberate Germany from Nazi rule while racism prevailed in their own army and home country. Returning home they continue fighting for their own rights in the civil rights movement.

6.5

How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin

Sep 6, 2009

In August 1962, director Leslie Woodhead made a two-minute film in Liverpool's Cavern Club with a raw and unrecorded group of rockers called the Beatles. He arranged their first live TV appearances on a local show in Manchester and watched as the Fab Four phenomenon swept the world. Twenty-five years later while making films in Russia, Woodhead became aware of how, even though they were never able to play in the Soviet Union, the Beatles' legend had soaked into the lives of a generation of kids. This film meets the Soviet Beatles generation and hears their stories about how the Fab Four changed their lives, including Putin's deputy premier Sergei Ivanov, who explains how the Beatles helped him learn English and showed him another life. (Storyville)