Movies by Jello Biafra

Dead Kennedys: The Early Years Live
An overview of the early years--late 1970s, early 1980s--of San Francisco punk band Dead Kennedys, with clips from some of their live concerts and footage of landmark San Francisco locations of the punk music scene. Jello Biafra and The Dead Kennedys show why they're the kings of satire in 9 live early performances.

Anarchism in America
A colorful and provocative survey of anarchism in America, the film attempts to dispel popular misconceptions and trace the historical development of the movement. The film explores the movement both as a native American philosophy stemming from 19th century American traditions of individualism, and as a foreign ideology brought to America by immigrants. The film features rare archival footage and interviews with significant personalities in anarchist history including Murray Boochkin and Karl Hess, and also live performance footage of the D...

Highway 61
A naive Canadian barber who knows US popular culture inside and out meets a flamboyant roadie who needs someone to drive her and her "brother's" corpse from Thunder Bay, Ontario to New Orleans. Chaos ensues after the barber agrees to drive her, the corpse, and the drugs stashed within all the way.

Lovedolls Superstar
The Lovedolls return from their untimely demise in this 1986 sequel to "Desperate Teenage Lovedolls". Patch Kelley (Janet Housden) becomes Patch Christ, the leader of an acid-damaged religious cult who rescues has been Kitty Karryall from a boozy, wasted life. Rocking by Redd Kross, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, Dead Kennedys, & more! You can't kill a Lovedoll, babe... because Superstars never die!

Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records
The true story of punks, queers, & criminals on a ride with two men who accidentally changed music along the way.

Hacking at Leaves
Hacking at Leaves documents artist and hazmat-suit aficionado Johannes Grenzfurthner as he attempts to come to terms with the United States' colonial past, Navajo tribal history, and the hacker movement. The story hones in on a small tinker space in Durango, Colorado, that made significant contributions to worldwide COVID relief efforts. But things go awry when Uncle Sam interferes with the film's production.

Cover Your Ears
When does art become obscenity? Cover Your Ears takes a close look at this question through the lens of the past 100 years of music and the ever-evolving discussion of legal and moral lines in the industry

Death and Texas
Barefoot Bobby Briggs, the legendary running back for the Austin Steers was today sentenced to die for his role in the armed robbery/murder at a downtown Stop 'n Go convenience store... It's five years later, and Bobby's appeals have all but run out, and the Austin Steers are - once again - on the march to the Superbowl, with a lock on the playoffs, when their wide receiver has a season ending injury. With their playoff hopes in shambles, the Governor of Texas controversially offers Bobby a furlough -- from death row -- to help rescue the St...

Bathtubs Over Broadway
When he started as a comedy writer for the Late Show with David Letterman, Steve Young had few interests and not many friends outside of his day job. But while gathering material for a segment on the show, Steve stumbled onto a few vintage record albums that would change his life forever.

All You Can Eat
A young waitress at a fast food diner has a bad feeling about things going on behind the chrome and neon facade of the diner. She finally believes she has the proof she needs to bring this secret to light, but unseen evil forces are unleashed in a blood thirsty attempt to stop her.
Jim Dandy to the Rescue: A Film by Joey Skidmore
A documentary about Jim "Dandy" Mangrum and his band Black Oak Arkansas.

We Were Feared
We Were Feared chronicles the rise and fall of the Cuckoo's Nest punk rock club. Hailed as the birthplace of slam-dancing, the Nest famously shared a parking lot with a cowboy bar and the mayhem that would ensue when both clubs emptied was immortalized in the Vandals' songs “The Legend of Pat Brown” and “Urban Struggle.” Featuring interviews with the people who populated the scene, archival images of gigs, and live performances by Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, & T.S.O.L.

Never Turn Your Back On Sparks
As he turns 50, filmmaker Pini Schatz sets out to explore his life-long obsession with the band Sparks (the brothers Ron and Russell Mael). Pini charts the impact of Sparks on his life while meeting with fellow Sparks fans, among them famous musicians, in Tel Aviv, London, Berlin, Rotterdam and NYC. Structured as a personal quest of the filmmaker to prove that Sparks are the coolest underrated band in the history of popular music, this docu-comedy explores the universal themes of growing old and being an outsider, the importance of art in da...
Questa non è una esercitazione
A documentary about the Italian provocateur industrial band Disciplinatha.

Owned
OWNED presents the 50 year history of the law-spurning tech tradition of hacking. This vibrant movement gained momentum in the 1960s with Captain Crunch and phone phreaking and now includes annual DefCon hacker conventions in Las Vegas (an amusing highlight of these is the fun game "Spot the Fed"). Kevin Mittnick, dubbed by the New York Times "FBI's Most Wanted Cybercriminal" speaks for the first time about the crimes that lead to his conviction. Misanthropic hacker Fuqrag casually wreaks havoc on government websites from a claustrophobic tr...

Stranded
The 1970s punk rock movement: New York had the Ramones, London had the Sex Pistols, Australia had the Saints. Stranded takes a look at the role four musicians from suburban Brisbane played in the explosion of one of the all time greatest musical movements. Featuring interviews with the members of the band, including its leaders Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey, as well as the likes of Sir Bob geldof, former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra and Buzzcocks guitarist Steve Diggle, Stranded examines how the oppresive and conservative government of ...

Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk
Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk spans over 30 years of the California Bay Area’s punk music history with a central focus on the emergence of the inspiring 924 Gilman Street collective. This diverse group of artists, writers, organizers and musicians created a do-it-yourself petri dish that changed the punk scene... and the world at large.

Dead Kennedys: Live in Vienna
Dead Kennedys filmed live at Arena Wien in Vienna, Austria, 1982.
Heino – Made in Germany
A documentary about the career of German folk singer Heino, from his beginnings in the late 60s to his current success with an album of rock and pop covers. Among the interviewees are notable long-time fans of Heino, but also detractors of his music.

The Colossus of Destiny: A Melvins Tale
"How comes no one has ever made a film about The Melvins?" Well, no one has ever tried or thought it even possible.....until now that is. The Colossus Of Destiny - A Melvins Tale is a film about a band who have defied all the rules, for over 32 years and counting, and still managed to succeed and do it their own way. The journey of band members King Buzzo and Dale Crover leads us from the backwards-waters of the Chehalis River in Washington State, down through the Golden Gate of Northern California, and finally settling into the Los Angeles...