Iconic writer, director, actor, comedian and musician Woody Allen allowed his life and creative process to be documented on-camera for the first time. With this unprecedented access, Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert B. Weide followed the notoriously private film legend over a year and a half to create the ultimate film biography. "Woody Allen: A Documentary" chronicles Allen's career - from teen writer to Sid Caesar's TV scribe, from stand-up comedian to award-winning writer-director averaging one film-per-year for more than 40 years. Exploring Allen's writing habits, casting, directing, and relationship with his actors first-hand, new interviews with A-listers, writing partners, family and friends provide insight and backstory to the usually inscrutable filmmaker.
Dave Allen was an alternative comedian before the phrase even existed. He was an innovator who set the agenda for comedy and comedians for more than thirty years. All he needed was a stool and a glass of something and he was in his element, reflecting laconically on such subjects as sex, the Irish and God, traffic, smoking, the Bible, Life and Death. Also sex, the Irish and God... This DVD contains his very own personal choice of sketches, gags and monologues. It's a vintage display from a unique raconteur - a man who observes out guilt, weaknesses and doubts and makes us laugh at them and at ourselves.
When Trevor needs to prove that he has other friends, he decides to purchase a Grow-a-Guy.
Stories of serious traffic accidents caused by texting and driving are told by the perpetrators and surviving victims.
Filmed in homage to his original TV series, this fictionalised account follows Dave Allen from childhood to becoming one of the UK and Ireland's comedy greats, with just a whiskey, a cigarette and nine-and-a-half fingers. Dave Allen is played by Aidan Gillen
A student on a trip to France is tricked into smuggling secrets across the Iron Curtain by a sexy spy.
A feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them.
A woman inexplicably finds herself cut off from all human contact when an invisible, unyielding wall suddenly surrounds the countryside. Accompanied by her loyal dog Lynx, she becomes immersed in a world untouched by civilization and ruled by the laws of nature.
There is a world with two towns that are big enemies: Pyross and Hydross.
An art instructor and an English teacher form a rivalry that ends up with a competition at their school in which students decide whether words or pictures are more important.
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
A New York girl sets her father up with a beautiful woman in a shaky marriage while her half sister gets engaged.
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
Miles Monroe, a clarinet-playing health food store proprietor, is revived out of cryostasis 200 years into a future world in order to help rebels fight an oppressive government regime.
On a small town college campus, a philosophy professor in existential crisis gives his life new purpose when he enters into a relationship with his student.
While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.
Four pals are stuck in a rut in adulthood: Adam has just been dumped, Lou is a hopeless party animal, Craig is a henpecked husband, and Jacob does nothing but play video games in his basement. But they get a chance to brighten their future by changing their past after a night of heavy drinking in a ski-resort hot tub results in their waking up in 1986.
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.
A young neurosurgeon inherits the castle of his grandfather, the famous Dr. Victor von Frankenstein. In the castle he finds a funny hunchback, a pretty lab assistant and the elderly housekeeper. Young Frankenstein believes that the work of his grandfather was delusional, but when he discovers the book where the mad doctor described his reanimation experiment, he suddenly changes his mind.
Nine years later, Jesse travels across Europe giving readings from a book he wrote about the night he spent in Vienna with Celine. After his reading in Paris, Celine finds him, and they spend part of the day together before Jesse has to again leave for a flight. They are both in relationships now, and Jesse has a son, but as their strong feelings for each other start to return, both confess a longing for more.
You may have heard of him, and you've definitely heard his work, but now find out about the real Butch Walker and his band the Black Widows as we take you on a personal journey inside one of the greatest minds in contemporary music.
Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.
Elizabeth Bagshaw was a forerunner of the women's movement. As one of the first women to practise medicine in Canada, she had to overcome society's bias against women in medicine. During her seventy-year career she helped to instigate change in public opinion on that issue, as well as the issue of birth control. The film captures the personality of this remarkable woman through a contemporary interview and re-enactments of episodes from her youth. The sepia tones of the re-enactments are in keeping with the film techniques of the time, giving the viewer a strong sense of the period. The film is of special interest to persons interested in the evolution of women's roles in Canadian society.
The programme offers unique access to Julia Donaldson, her family, her rich archives and home movies, and the remarkable cast of characters that have sprung from her imagination. Specially commissioned animations from Julia's long-term illustrator Axel Scheffler bring her biography to life. With contributions from well-known admirers and collaborators, this is a tribute to the woman who has created the characters and stories that have become a fixture of children’s bedtime routines all around the world and spawned multi-award-winning adaptations for stage and screen. Looking at her works, the programme uncovers the surprising stories behind how Julia's iconic characters were created and what they mean to a generation of readers. It also explores why Donaldson’s books appeal to both children and adults alike – tackling serious themes of love, loss, fear and bullying in a poignant but subtle way.
A powerful and inspirational story of dedication, danger, fear, and the rare ‘will’ some of us have to defy all personal limitations. Experience the fastest motorsport on earth through the eyes of five-time champion Scott Dixon and the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Filmed with an access all areas lens, ‘Born Racer’ follows the people who are passionate about the world of auto racing and asks why some individuals feel compelled to face danger and risk their lives in order to win. Both action-packed and highly-intimate, it features an intense blend of up close and personal filming with never-before-seen spectacular, cutting-edge racing footage to explore a sport that defines the very people who inhabit it, and pushes them to the edge in their desire for success.
"Vian Bubbles" - On June 23, 2009, fifty years to the day after the death of Boris Vian, a supernatural phenomenon crosses all of France: in the streets, one sings everywhere his songs and one expresses oneself only in the language of the poet. In Paris, Antoine de Caunes wakes up to discover the strange "vianic" epidemic, which also affects radio waves and the small screen. A boss of channel proposes to him to organize, for the same evening, a show dedicated to the songs of Boris Vian. Jean-Pierre Marielle tells us the story of this phenomenon, as supernatural as inexplicable. A tribute in songs to the glowing cast.
The Real Adam Smith: A Personal Exploration by Johan Norberg, takes an intriguing, two-part look at Smith and the evolution and relevance of his ideas today, both economic and ethical. It’s difficult to imagine that a man who lived with horse drawn carriages and sailing ships would foresee our massive 21st century global market exchange, much less the relationship between markets and morality. But Adam Smith was no ordinary 18th century figure. Considered the “father of modern economics,” Smith was first and foremost a moral philosopher. The revolutionary ideas he penned in The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments, changed the world. Norberg explores Smith’s insights regarding free trade and the nature of wealth to the present, where they are thriving and driving the world’s economy.
A very special encounter between legendary American cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and young French director Pierre Filmon. A personal journey with the brightest shadowmaker and his friends.
A joyful tale filled with music. The rise of radio. The jazz big bands. The legendary clubs and ballrooms. The soundtracks of the great musical films and TV shows. Sex and romance, gangsters, luxury cars and palm trees. From Barcelona to New York, with a stop in Cuba. The birth of Las Vegas. The sound of the maracas. Chihuahuas everywhere. The incredible life story of Xavier Cugat (1900-90).
A sequence of nine individual biographical sketches with a prologue and epilogue on Golzow and the long-term observation. Deepening of the preceding chronicle. The Golzow people in the present, from which retrospective views of the previous life and the life conflicts of the individual are given.
An in-depth feature length documentary of one of America's greatest and least understood authors, Nelson Algren. This never before told compelling life story reveals a unique literary voice through rare interviews, archival footage and the gritty noirish voice of Algren on Algren. Kurt Vonnegut and Studs Terkel, literary giants in their own right, sing songs of praise along with many of his old friends, which makes this film seem like a hymn from the grave. This stylishly produced film embeds us in the 1950's cold war world when Algren worked. Algren's touching love affair with Simone de Beauvoir weaves it's way through the film along with the damaging impact of FBI and CIA surveillance.
With a movie camera mounted in the passenger seat of his car, Andy Anderson drove around filming his local neighbourhood of Fort Worth, Texas. The procession of sunny lawns and quiet houses has a day-dreamy innocence, however on the soundtrack, a narrator recites from the police records of over 600 crimes committed in the area. Domestic violence, petty theft, drug related assault; the list of vicious and hapless actions unfolds randomly, "a woman said her husband punched her in the face when he asked her for ten dollars and she didn't have the money. theft; two lawnmowers.." In a powerful counterpoint of sound and image Drive By Shooting creates a two hour-long surveillance film that misses all the action, yet evokes a sense of vulnerability on the streets and violence behind closed doors.
Jean-Michel Frank designed style-defining interiors in the 1920s with the timeless ideal of simplicity. He worked in Paris with artists like Giacometti and Dali, and designed interiors for millionaires like Nelson Rockefeller and Templeton Crocker. The documentary tells of an amazing but tragic life of the innovative interior designer.
Portrays Louis Robichaud, Canadian politician and former Premier of New Brunswick.
Driven by extensive archive material and interviews with those who know her, this is the astonishing story of how a triple outsider – a woman, a scientist, and an East German – became the de facto leader of the “Free World”, told for the first time for an international audience.
Experience the iconic rock band's legacy in the first major documentary to tell their story. Directed with the era’s avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes, this kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage.
The definitive look at Betty White's life and career. As the only authorized documentary on Betty ever made, this film is packed with hilarious clips from her long career. Plus comments from friends and co-stars.
After an absence of five years, six times Mr Olympia winner Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a comeback and attempts to take the World Body Building Championship for the 7th time.
When Francois Truffaut approached Alfred Hitchcock in 1962 with the idea of having a long conversation with him about his work and publishing this in book form, he didn't imagine that more than four years would pass before Le Cinéma selon Hitchcock finally appeared in 1966. Not only in France but all over the world, Truffaut's Hitchcock interview developed over the years into a standard bible of film literature. In 1983, three years after Hitchcock's death, Truffaut decided to expand his by now legendary book to include a concluding chapter and have it published as the "Edition définitive". This film describes the genesis of the "Hitchbook" and throws light on the strange friendship between two completely different men. The centrepieces are the extracts from the original sound recordings of the interview with the voices of Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, and Helen Scott – recordings which have never been heard in public before.