Portrait of a Clown(2019)

Celebrating the Rice Media Center(en)

Through the Fondren Fellows program, the Rice Media Center Archive Project has spent the past few months sifting through material stored at the now-defunct Rice Media Center. The team has identified several films as especially notable and will be presenting them in conjunction with documentary footage the team shot of people involved with the films. From lectures featuring Roberto Rossellini and Werner Herzog to films from former Rice students and faculty, the film presentation will tell the narrative of the Rice Media Center through the films and filmmakers that passed through its corridors.

Wick Is Pain(en)

Witness the never-before-seen footage and true story behind the John Wick phenomenon – from independent film to billion-dollar franchise.

1989(en)

Anders Østergaard’s film is an investigative look at the year the Berlin Wall fell, documenting the events that took place in Hungary as a prelude to the dramatic changes in November 1989. The director recreates the events and leads the audiences deep into the politicians’ secret meeting rooms by using a mix of interviews, archive material and reconstructed scenes and dialogues.

The Gospel According to André(en)

From the segregated American South to the fashion capitals of the world, operatic fashion editor André Leon Talley's life and career are on full display, in a poignant portrait that includes appearances by Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Bethann Hardison, Valentino, and Manolo Blahnik.

Alain Delon, un certain regard(fr)

The Freedom Machine(en)

While Susan B Anthony famously said the bicycle “has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world”, The Freedom Machine interrogates what freedom looks like for women cyclists. From opening a shiny new bike on Christmas morning to the grind of a daily commute, bicycles hold a multitude of meanings and opportunities for women across the world. Using archival footage from across the UK’s film archives, The Freedom Machine shows the ways women have used the bicycle to find freedom and independence on the road, the race track and beyond. With a soundtrack by sound artist Cat Hawthorn, the film by emerging curator Jo Reid uses archival footage to entwine her personal experiences as a cyclist with the wider struggles and joys women across the world have discovered from travelling on two wheels.

Avicii - I'm Tim(sv)

Before Avicii, there was Tim. Through his own words, witness how a prodigious musical talent became one of the defining artists of his generation.

Elvis Costello: Mystery Dance(en)

Elvis Costello: Mystery Dance, the first-ever documentary portrait of one of the greatest musicians and songwriters of our time. Assured of Costello’s full collaboration, exclusive access to his extensive archive and with the full participation of his record company, the film is a definitive portrait of a major music icon.

Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off(en)

A wide-ranging, definitive look at Hawk’s life and iconic career, and his relationship with the sport with which he’s been synonymous for decades, featuring unprecedented access, never-before-seen footage, and interviews with Hawk and prominent figures in the sport including Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Neil Blender, Andy MacDonald, Duane Peters, Sean Mortimer, and Christian Hosoi.

Arcadia(en)

A provocative and poetic exploration of how the British people have seen their own land through more than a century of cinema. A hallucinated journey of immense beauty and brutality. A kaleidoscopic essay on how magic and madness have linked human beings to nature since the beginning of time.

ABBA Mania, 50 ans de tubes cultes(fr)

World reference of the disco with 400 million albums sold, unforgettable titles like Waterloo, Mamma Mia ! or Dancing Queen, ABBA is a real planetary success. For 50 years, the world has been dancing to the rhythm of this mythical group. One year after the release of their new album, Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid meet again in a documentary that retraces the recipe of their incredible longevity. Between musicals, movies and concerts with their holograms, ABBA reveals the secret of their eternity.

Amédée(fr)

In 1952, Amédée took his own life by jumping into the Seine. No one knows the reason for this tragic act. His story comes to us in bits and pieces.

His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th(en)

A retrospective documentary about the groundbreaking horror series, Friday the 13th, featuring interviews with cast and crew from the twelve films spanning 3 decades.

Hitler, la folie d'un homme(fr)

Folon(fr)

One of the 20th century Belgian artists who was the most idolized, exhibited, published, sold... Yet the artist himself, Jean-Michel Folon (1934-2005), whose work became controversial because deemed insipid, with its mannerisms, pastel tones and colors, remains little-known. Through previously unseen archive footage, Gaëtan de Saint-Rémy offers him a voice.

The Lives of Albert Camus(fr)

Albert Camus died at 46 years old on January 4, 1960, two years after his Nobel Prize in literature. Author of “L'Etranger”, one of the most widely read novels in the world, philosopher of the absurd and of revolt, resistant, journalist, playwright, Albert Camus had an extraordinary destiny. Child of the poor districts of Algiers, tuberculosis patient, orphan of father, son of an illiterate and deaf mother, he tore himself away from his condition thanks to his teacher. French from Algeria, he never ceased to fight for equality with the Arabs and the Kabyle, while fearing the Independence of the FLN. Founded on restored and colorized archives, and first-hand accounts, this documentary attempts to paint the portrait of Camus as he was.

Jim Carrey: America Unmasked(fr)

Composed of numerous archives and film clips, this documentary is the story of a transgressive actor, a pirate who came to crack America's too perfect mask to reveal its most infantile and moronic face, right in the heart of the Hollywood system.

Sous le soleil de Pialat(fr)

In just ten films, Maurice Pialat painfully rose to the top of the cinema, draining into his legend a mad demand for truth as much as memorable fury to achieve it. With "L'Enfance nue", his first feature film at the age of 43, the filmmaker immediately made his mark, this "art of making things authentic", according to Chabrol. But throughout an unclassifiable filmography in the form of an autobiography, from a break-up to his fatherhood in wonder, through the agony of his mother, the filmmaker does not get rid of the feeling of being misunderstood, despite international recognition.

ABBA: Against the Odds(en)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s iconic Eurovision victory, a milestone that calls for a celebratory cinematic tribute fitting for the ultimate pop band. ‘ABBA: Against the Odds’ unveils the epic journey of ABBA’s rise to global fame. Starting with the moment they won Eurovision, it tells the story of how they overcame critical backlash, societal attitudes and marital break-up to deliver their ground-breaking music and prove themselves as a live act.

Fog in February(fr)

On the eve of the publication of a biography of Claude Jutra, one of the most famous and celebrated filmmakers in Quebec and Canada, a leak leaked to the press reveals that the book contains anonymous allegations of pedophile acts committed by the filmmaker. The rumor spread like lightning, suddenly igniting the entirety of Quebec society. By finding today some of the main witnesses propelled overnight into the heart of an unparalleled media tornado, the documentary reconstructs with archive images and other previously unpublished images, the sequence of events which led to a rewriting of the story.