Best Folk Movies & TV Shows

The multicultural world of a select American city and its black population through the lens of psychological horror stories. New Orleans will be the debut city.

In the middle of the 2008 global financial crisis, Vanda finds herself alone and broke, with two children to raise. She embarks on a string of bank heists using a blonde wig and a toy gun and, in the process, becomes a folk hero.

After getting her start in coffee shops Joni Mitchell went on to set a new standard, marrying music and lyrics with such songs as “Both Sides, Now.” While her early material is often categorized as “folk,” she became a household name with music that defies categorization.

David Holt plays tunes and talks with modern masters of traditional music in Appalachia, showcasing not just the music but also the countryside that gave it life. Shot entirely on location, the program puts its featured performers in the context of the countryside that nurtured their musical traditions.

Filmed in the autumn of 1975 prior to and during Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour – featuring appearances and performances by Ronee Blakley, T-Bone Burnett, Jack Elliott, Allen Ginsberg, Arlo Guthrie, Ronnie Hawkins, Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Mick Ronson, Arlen Roth, Sam Shepard, and Harry Dean Stanton – the film incorporates three distinct film genres: concert footage, documentary interviews, and dramatic fictional vignettes reflective of Dylan's song lyrics and life.

This is a true story about the relationship between a mother and her daughter, and their struggle to make it to the top in the music world. It is about hopes and dreams... about relationships and about growing up.

Two brothers, Wirt and Greg, find themselves lost in the Unknown; a strange forest adrift in time. With the help of a wise old Woodsman and a foul-tempered bluebird named Beatrice, Wirt and Greg must travel across this strange land, in hope of finding their way home. Join them as they encounter surprises and obstacles on their journey through the wood.

Based on the adventures of Jack Sheppard, the thief and jail-breaker who became a folk hero in 1720s London.

Agent Melvin Purvis is placed in charge of running down notorious killer Machine Gun Kelly, and sets out to do just that.

An unvarnished chronicle of Bob Dylan's metamorphosis from folk to rock musician via appearances at the Newport Folk Festival between 1963 and 1965.

This BBC documentary chronicles the life of folk/soft-rock singer John Denver through his rise with The Chad Mitchell Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary, his subsequent stardom, his popularity decline, and his tragic death at age 53.

Featuring all-new, original interviews with Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Roger McGuinn and more, this uniquely immersive and experiential two-part docuseries takes us back in time to a place where a rustic canyon in the heart of Los Angeles became a musical petri dish.

Explore the history of a uniquely American art form: country music. From its deep and tangled roots in ballads, blues and hymns performed in small settings, to its worldwide popularity, learn how country music evolved over the course of the 20th century, as it eventually emerged to become America’s music.

The music speaks for itself in this performance documentary that highlights some of the biggest names within the country-folk scene in Texas and Tennessee during the last weeks of 1975 and the first weeks of 1976, eschewing narration and staged interviews.

Based on a Russian folk tale. A proclamation went out through all the land that whosoever could build a flying ship would win the hand of the Tsar's daughter. The youngest son of a simple peasant shows up to claim her, and the dumbfounded Tsar quickly has second thoughts, setting several 'impossible" tasks for 'The Fool of the World' and his remarkable friends.

Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics is a Japanese animated anthology series by Nippon Animation. The episodes are adaptations of a variety of folk and fairy tales, and not limited to Grimm's Fairy Tales.

The story of the last Seal Child’s journey home. After their mother’s disappearance, Ben and Saoirse are sent to live with Granny in the city. When they resolve to return to their home by the sea, their journey becomes a race against time as they are drawn into a world Ben knows only from his mother’s folktales. But this is no bedtime story; these fairy folk have been in our world far too long. It soon becomes clear to Ben that Saoirse is the key to their survival.

A concert inspired by the Coen Brothers' film, 'Inside Llewyn Davis,' which is set in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene, featuring live performances of the film's music, as well as songs from the early 1960s. Performers include the Avett Brothers, Joan Baez, Dave Rawlings Machine, Rhiannon Giddens, Lake Street Dive, Colin Meloy, The Milk Carton Kids, Marcus Mumford, Punch Brothers, Patti Smith, Willie Watson, Gillian Welch, and Jack White, as well as the star of the film Oscar Isaac.

A travelogue featuring oddly-shaped buildings (and the folks who live in, work in, own and admire them) located along USA highways.

The stories of ordinary folks who confront the evil that was always right in front of them. Through the lens of home archive, we journey with our insiders into shocking crimes to reveal what was missed before tragedy changed everything.

A Gay Victorian Affair is a gay fantasia of historical homosexual hanky panky. Set in Victorian England, the series follows Lord Reginald and Lady Vanessa Favershum, a gay man and lesbian woman who enter into a marriage of convenience in order to keep their true desires a secret – and then they help each other hook up. It’s Downton Abbey meets Queer As Folk as Reginald and Vanessa manœuvre through sexual escapades and dangerous secrecy, knowing that the slightest slip up could cause their entire world to come crashing down.

Set in an old folks home, senior citizen Weller Martin (Hume Cronyn) has the disease of Old Age, meets an old woman named Fonsia Dorsey (Jessica Tandy) who's diabetic. They both discuss issues such as society, the hospitals, money, families, and the folks home where they live, over a game of Gin Rummy. Fonsia has never played before so Weller teachers her. Instantly she goes on a winning streak, making it very hard for Weller not to lose his temper. But he does. Both put out an excellent performance with a lot of swearing!

Based on Lloyd Kaufman’s cult 1984 comedy film, The Toxic Avenger The Musical tells the story of the citizens of Tromaville who are crying out for a hero. Enter nerdy Melvin Ferd the Third, an aspiring earth scientist, determined to clean up the state’s major toxic waste problem. When a corrupt Mayor and her government goons get wind of his plans, they vow to stop this heroic feat. Melvin is attacked and tossed into a vat of toxic waste... transforming him instantly into The Toxic Avenger, New Jersey’s first superhero! Toxie is a 7-foot mutant freak with superhuman strength and a supersized heart to match. His aims are to save heavily polluted New Jersey, end global warming, win the heart of the prettiest (blindest) librarian in town - and get home in time for dinner!

In 1977, Daisy Jones & The Six were on top of the world. Fronted by two charismatic lead singers — Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne — the band had risen from obscurity to fame. And then, after a sold-out show at Chicago's Soldier Field, they called it quits. Now, decades later, the band members finally agree to reveal the truth.

Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.

The trials and tribulations of a two man, digi-folk band who have moved from New Zealand to New York in the hope of forging a successful music career. So far they've managed to find a manager (whose "other" job is at the New Zealand Consulate), one fan (a married obsessive) and one friend (who owns the local pawn shop) -- but not much else.

Through a series of real and imagined encounters with angels, demons, and England's pagan past, a pastor's son begins to question his religion and politics, and comes to terms with his sexuality.

A film about the first benefit rock concert when major musicians performed to raise relief funds for the poor of Bangladesh. The Concert for Bangladesh was a pair of benefit concerts organised by former Beatles guitarist George Harrison and Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. The shows were held at 2:30 and 8:00 pm on Sunday, 1 August 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, to raise international awareness of, and fund relief for refugees from East Pakistan, following the Bangladesh Liberation War-related genocide.

Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis falls in love with a fishmonger while working for him as a live-in housekeeper.

In this luminous tale set in the former Yugoslavia, Perhan, an engaging young Romany with telekinetic powers, is seduced by the quick-cash world of petty crime that threatens to destroy him and those he loves.

A documentary on the life and work of Gene Clark, co-founder of The Byrds, whose subsequent career was a rollercoaster of pioneering music and personal disaster.

Admired and praised by the likes of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer has been described as "one of our great folk poets" and "the most perfect American lyricist". Throughout his extraordinary career, he collaborated with hundreds of composers to write legendary movie songs such as "Hooray for Hollywood", "Jeepers Creepers" and "Moon River". Mercer then went on to co-found Capitol Records in 1942 and became a successful Broadway producer of St. Louis Woman and L'il Abner.

On holiday, a young man borrows a pair of binoculars when his own are broken. But they seem somehow bewitched, showing things that could only be seen with dead men's eyes... visions from the past. And using them could lead to a sinister rendezvous on Gallow's Hill.

In the years before the Second World War, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children, and brings a new love of life and music into the home.

A chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to "voice of a generation" to rock star.

This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.

An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.

At a family reunion, the Cooper clan find that their parents' home is being foreclosed. "Temporarily," Ma moves in with son George's family, Pa with daughter Cora. But the parents are like sand in the gears of their middle-aged children's well regulated households. Can the old folks take matters into their own hands?

This psychological thriller follows two Navajo police officers, Leaphorn and Chee, in the 1970s Southwest as their search for clues in a grisly double murder case forces them to challenge their own spiritual beliefs and come to terms with the trauma of their pasts.

In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.

The true story of boxer Jim Braddock who, following his retirement in the 1920s, makes a surprise comeback in order to lift his family out of poverty.

Set in a 19th-century European village, this stop-motion animation feature follows the story of Victor, a young man whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious corpse bride, while his real bride Victoria waits bereft in the land of the living.

Concert film covering Neil Young's October 22 1978 concert performance at the Cow Palace with nearly 20 songs (including two versions of "Hey Hey, My My," his nod to the punk movement), acoustic and electric (with long-time companions Crazy Horse), dating back to his Buffalo Springfield days ("I Am a Child") and continuing through popular solo numbers like "Cinnamon Girl" and the extended "Like a Hurricane."

A delusional cryptozoologist and a psychopathic television presenter lead an amateur expedition into wild forests in hopes of finding the legendary Thunderbird, which they believe is the ancestor of a prehistoric Pteranodon.

In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.

Two teens are sent back in time to meet Martin Luther King Jr. at several points during his life.

A San Francisco cab driver find himself in possession of a monkey that is carrying a formula for turning atomic waste into a plutonium bomb. He finds himself framed for a murder and chased…

A man and a woman meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatally mismatched and yet drawn to each other.

In the 1930s, bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.

A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare- no matter how twisted or odd that way must be. A memorably bizarre screen version of Lewis Carroll’s novel ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.