Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin(2022)

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Deep Throat: When Porn Makes Its Premiere(fr)

Deep Throat, a pornographic film directed by Gerard Damiano, a film-loving hairdresser, and starring Linda Lovelace, a shy girl manipulated by a controlling husband, was released in 1972 and divided audiences, who began to talk openly about sex, desire and female pleasure; but also about violence and abuse; and about pornography, until then an almost clandestine industry, as a revolutionary cultural phenomenon.

Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts(it)

The story of Italian cinema under Fascism, a sophisticated film industry built around the founding of the Cinecittà studios and the successful birth of a domestic star system, populated by very peculiar artists among whom stood out several beautiful, magnetic, special actresses; a dark story of war, drugs, sex, censorship and tragedy.

Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast(en)

In the late 1990s, iconic photographer Bruce Weber barely managed to convince legendary actor Robert Mitchum (1917-97) to let himself be filmed simply hanging out with friends, telling anecdotes from his life and recording jazz standards.

E. T., an Emotional Blockbuster(fr)

E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg's endearing movie released in 1982, achieved the triple feat of bringing to life one of the most iconic characters in pop culture, revolutionizing science fiction cinema and establishing itself as one of the highest-grossing family movies in the history of cinema, capable of making the whole world laugh and cry.

Counter Shot: Departure of the Filmmakers(de)

Documentary about filmmakers of the New German Cinema who were members of the legendary Filmverlag für Autoren (Film Publishing House for Authors). Among them are Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Wim Wenders.

Journey to Somewhere(es)

A young woman, who has inherited her grandparents' huge house, a fascinating place full of amazing objects, feels overwhelmed by the weight of memories and her new responsibilities. Fortunately, the former inhabitants of the house soon come to her aid. (An account of the life and work of Fernando Fernán Gómez [1921-2007] and his wife Emma Cohen [1946-2016], two singular artists and fundamental figures of contemporary Spanish culture.)

Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels(en)

Shirley MacLaine was the product of a strict middle-class background from which she and her brother, the future actor Warren Beatty, escaped into the fantasy world of show-biz. Her ballet training and her long-legged pixie charm led to rapid success on Broadway in musical comedy. Inevitably, Hollywood called and by 1955 Shirley was cast in Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry." It wasn't too long before the fine dramatic roles also came to her opposite the most popular leading men of the time, like Fred MacMurray, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum.

Omar Sharif: Citizen of the World(de)

Several high-budget epic films became Omar Sharif (1932-2015) a film star. He was an actor, but also a bridge player, a womanizer, a bon vivant; he was a man full of contradictions, who enjoyed card games more than movies; he was an eternal nomad who spent half his life in a hotel.

Dark Star: H. R. Giger's World(de)

An account of the life and work of Swiss painter, sculptor, architect and designer H. R. Giger (1940-2014), tormented father of creatures as fearsome as they are fascinating, inhabitants of nightmarish biomechanical worlds.

Attack of the Hollywood Clichés!(en)

One-man armies, meet-cutes, casual strolls away from huge explosions — stars and industry insiders toast and roast these cinematic chestnuts and more.

L'amour ouf : histoire d'un succès fou(fr)

Retour vers le futur : Voyage dans le temps, American Dream & rock'n'roll(fr)

The script of "Back to the Future" was one of the most refused of Hollywood: more than forty times. No producer believed in this project of Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. Steven Spielberg imposed the film on Universal Studios, with Gale signing the script and Zemeckis directing. The director of "Jaws" will not regret it. In 1985, "Back to the Future" pulverized the box office and became a worldwide success, reinforced by two sequels in 1989 and 1990. Decade after decade, the popularity of this trilogy does not falter. Why this longevity while so many blockbusters sink into oblivion?fre

Half the Picture(en)

At a pivotal moment for gender equality in Hollywood, successful women directors talk about their art, lives and careers.

Broken Palace(en)

A short documentary about the rapidly disappearing era of heritage movie palaces and the film going experience once offered within those hallowed walls.

King Kong: Monster and Myth(fr)

In 1933, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, two audacious and visionary directors, dared to create a motion picture that eclipsed everything seen until then: when King Kong was released, it was celebrated as an artistic and technical revolution and became the first myth created by the young cinematic art.

Mia Farrow: Shadows and Light(fr)

The artistic career of American actress Mia Farrow has been that of a passionate and committed woman who became the embodiment of a special kind of femininity, halfway between innocence and madness.

Searching for Oscar(es)

Óscar Peyrou is a veteran Spanish film critic who writes his reviews according to a very peculiar method: in his opinion, it is not really necessary to watch the films since it is possible to judge them simply by looking at their promotional poster.

Nostromo: David Lean's Impossible Dream(es)

Documentary about David Lean's unfinished attempt of adapting Joseph Conrad's novel Nostromo.

Burden of Dreams(en)

The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.