Das Geheimnis Mona Lisa(2012)

Hinter dem Vorhang: Das Geheimnis Vermeer(de)

Teatro Amazonas: The Art of Sound and Nature(de)

The history of the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, an opera house located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, whose construction, between 1884 and 1896, depended on the labor exploitation of the local indigenous populations, provides an insight into the cultural, social and political situation in Brazil.

Eighteen fragments from Malcolm Le Grice’s After Leonardo(en)

"This installation or performance work puts my own earlier film of the Mona Lisa (1973) through another stage of transformation – my own irretrievable self of some 34 years ago is now also part of the subject I first saw the ‘actual’ ‘Mona Lisa’ when I was about thirteen. Of course I had seen dozens of reproductions in books and postcards by then and the popular mythology of the enigmatic smile was already well engrained in my mind. My strongest impression, as I recall, was how small and unsurprising it was – a heavily protected cultural icon – no longer really a picture – and I was much more excited by the painting of the distant landscape than by the face. My own ‘version’ of ‘la Giaconda’ was never an homage, nor like Marcel Duchamp’s ‘L.H.O.O.Q’, an attack on its cultural power. Instead it came from a fascination with change and transformation – maybe also with arbitrary appropriation." Malcolm Le Grice

The Builders of the Alhambra(es)

Kingdom of Granada, al-Andalus, 14th century. After recognizing that his land, always under siege, is hopelessly doomed to be conquered, Sultan Yusuf I undertakes the construction of a magnificent fortress with the purpose of turning it into the landmark of his civilization and his history, a glorious monument that will survive the oblivion of the coming centuries: the Alhambra.

James Tissot: L'étoffe d'un peintre(fr)

A movie about James Tissot (1836-1902), a French painter and portraitist

Nadar, le premier des photographes(fr)

A documentary about the French photographer Nadar aka Gaspard-Félix Tournachon

Lee Miller: A Life on the Frontline(en)

A documentary celebrating Lee Miller, a model-turned-photographer-turned-war reporter who defied anyone who tried to pin her down, put her on a pedestal, or pigeonhole her in any way.

#monalisa(en)

People looking at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre – or are they just looking at themselves?

The Missing Piece: Mona Lisa, Her Thief, the True Story(en)

A man steals the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911. His 84-year-old daughter thought he did it for patriotic reasons. A filmmaker spends more than 30 years trying to find the truth.

Peter Monaghan: A Portrait(en)

This documentary features a kinetic artist who creates vibrant mixed media works that push the boundary between 2D and 3D.

Ugly Beauty(en)

Documentary in which art critic Waldemar Januszczak argues that beauty is still to be found in modern art, despite several recent books claiming the contrary.

How the Devil Got His Horns: A Diabolical Tale(en)

Art historian Alastair Sooke traces the humanization of the Devil figure in medieval art from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries.

Mircea Eliade et la redécouverte du sacré(fr)

Mircea Eliade was a traditionalist Romanian novelist and philosopher. Following the disaster of the Second World War, he moved to Paris and Chicago, becoming a respected and influential historian of religions. He acquired something of the status of a guru, as poignantly told in the 1987 documentary Mircea Eliade et la redécouverte du sacré. The film features interviews with Eliade at the end of his life, artfully spliced with cuts to religious imagery on a background of moving spiritual music. It was released in 1987, the year after his death.

República del color(es)

About the history of the Dominican Republic's visual arts from the perspective of color given by the incidence of light in the island, alongside the historical events that defined its master artists.

An Unsatisfying Metaphor(en)

Documentary about the history of 20th century globalization through the lens of the World Trade Organization's changing art collection; from works of human subjects showcasing the potential of dignified labor, to their replacement with abstract maps and grids for the valorization of the modern trade system.

Botticelli – Inferno(de)

The Renaissance master Botticelli spent over a decade painting and drawing hell as the poet Dante described it. The film takes us on a journey through hell with fascinating and exciting insights into Botticelli's art and its hidden story.

La Victoire de Samothrace, une icône dévoilée(fr)

A documentary about the statue Winged Victory of Samothrace, unquestionably one of the most complete expressions of Hellenistic sculpture

Cartoon College(en)

Every fall, The Center for Cartoon Studies invites 20 aspiring cartoonists to White River Junction, Vermont for a no-holds-barred education in comics. Those who complete the two-year program earn a Master of Fine Arts degree and are ready to face the hardship of a career in one of the world's most drudgery-inducing art forms. This is their story.

The Lost Portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Culture Show Special(en)

In 2009, art detective Dr Bendor Grosvenor caused a national scandal by proving that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery's iconic portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the rebel Stuart who almost seized power in 1745, was not in fact him. Keen to make amends, and suspecting that a long-lost portrait of the prince by one of Scotland's greatest artists, Allan Ramsay, might still survive, Bendor decides to retrace Charles's journey in the hope of unravelling one of the greatest mysteries in British art.

The Cinematograph: Birth of an Art(fr)

Throughout the 19th century, imaginative and visionary artists and inventors brought about the advent of a new look, absolutely modern and truly cinematographic, long before the revolutionary invention of the Lumière brothers and the arrival of December 28, 1895, the historic day on which the first cinema performance took place.