On February 24th, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war has since killed thousands, displaced millions and destroyed entire cities. Despite international appeals for Volodymyr Zelensky, and his family, to be evacuated to a safe location during the opening days of the invasion, the 44-year-old president stayed in Kyiv with his defence forces. It's hard to imagine how this bright, comedic, family man, has ended up in one of the most dangerous positions in the world, with a giant target on his back. 10 months on, and still fighting from the ground, Zelensky has been named TIME Person of the Year 2022. With comparisons to Winston Churchill, as a war time leader, his impact is undeniable. Utilising his acting skills he is embodying everything it means to have the spirit of Ukraine.
Documentary on conductor Herbert van Karajan, focusing on his early adoption of audio and video recording technology and his impetus to make use of it to preserve his musical legacy for future generations.
In 2023, during the second year of full scale war, civilians in Ukraine endure constant hardships and terrorist attacks, yet rather than cower or give up hope and leave, many civilians in Ukraine tirelessly volunteer, work, collaborate, and create in support of Ukraine's people, army, animals, and future. "Sunflowers in the Rain" weaves together 10 vignettes from volunteers and civilians working across Ukraine show us the realities of civilian life in a country at war, the inspiring and the tragic moments, and the ways ordinary people have stepped up to face new challenges on their personal quests to help the country persevere.
At the end of his life, gravely ill, François Truffaut took refuge with his ex-wife Madeleine Morgenstern. She tried to keep him occupied during his long agony. The filmmaker confided in his friend Claude de Givray, with the intention of writing his autobiography. Too weakened, he abandoned the project. The film reveals part of this final story.
Through honest reflection, complemented by insight from colleagues and friends, Faye Dunaway contextualizes her life and filmography, laying bare her struggles with mental health while confronting the double standards she was subjected to as a woman in Hollywood.
Newly discovered interviews with Elizabeth Taylor and unprecedented access to the star’s personal archive reveal the complex inner life and vulnerability of the groundbreaking icon.
The true story of Wanda Rutkiewicz, the first woman in the world and the first person from Poland to climb the highest peaks on earth, told by herself.
Director, choreographer, actress, singer – the usual professional roles for the heroines of this film stopped working at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Like millions of Ukrainian men and women, who were saving themselves and their loved ones and volunteering. Creative pursuits returned later, but now in a new dimension. Iryna, Olena, Oksana, and Maryna became the voices that tell the world about Ukrainians, their culture and their struggle for freedom. But how can one be heard in a world where Russian propaganda has been spread for centuries?
A comprehensive chronicle of the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. How citizens live in wartime, how violence and death condition daily life: from schools in bomb shelters to rehabilitation centers for the maimed; wounds and silences, gestures and words.
Before Avicii, there was Tim. Through his own words, witness how a prodigious musical talent became one of the defining artists of his generation.
The world's greatest pin-up model and cult icon, Bettie Page, recounts the true story of how her free expression overcame government witch-hunts to help launch America's sexual revolution. When she saw the film The Notorious Bettie Page, produced by HBO in 2006, the main person concerned reacted unequivocally: “Lies! Lies!” In a long interview recorded shortly before her death, the woman who entered the collective unconscious as the ultimate pin-up gave her version of events to director Mark Mori. In a gravelly voice, Bettie Page tells her own story and lifts the veil on areas often hidden by images that have made so many men and women fantasize since the 1950s: her abused childhood, an eclipse that lasted forty years, her mental illness. Through testimonies and unpublished archives, this documentary brings back to life a body and a face endlessly declined before our eyes, just as Bettie wanted: “I would like people to remember me as I was in the photos.”
A wilfully offensive band, The Mentors gained infamy for performing in black executioner hoods and spewing cartoonishly racist, homophobic and misogynistic lyrics in the 1980s and ‘90s—but was their use of shock meant to propagate hate or confront it?
Ukrainian musicians of all genres, from metal to opera, transform their passion for music into devotion to their country in this moving documentary. Beginning on the very first day of the Russian invasion, Soldiers of Song documents how the lives of its cast of Ukrainian musicians have irrevocably changed and how they use their musical talents to support themselves and their communities. Using shocking footage from the frontlines, this film reminds us not only of the ongoing tragedies that continue to happen during this war, but also of the resilience of Ukraine and its cultural forces. Here music functions not only to lift the spirits of the soldiers, but also as a cultural export to raise awareness of the war, a tool for raising humanitarian and military funds, and a valuable cultural artifact for everyday Ukrainians to rally around and protect. The musician’s commitment to their craft reminds us of the real power art has and the impact of beauty under catastrophic circumstances.
Mae West achieved great acclaim in every entertainment medium that existed during her lifetime, spanning eight decades of the 20th century. A full-time actress at seven, a vaudevillian at 14, a dancing sensation at 25, a playwright at 33, a silver screen ingénue at 40, a Vegas nightclub act at 62, a recording artist at 73, a camp icon at 85 - West left no format unconquered. She possessed creative and economic powers unheard of for a female entertainer in the 1930s and still rare today. Though a comedian, West grappled with some of the more complex social issues of the 20th century, including race and class tensions, and imbued even her most salacious plotlines with commentary about gender conformity, societal restrictions and what she perceived as moral hypocrisy. Mae West: Dirty Blonde is the first major documentary film to explore West's life and career, as she "climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong" to become a writer, performer and subversive agitator for social change.
Actress Sharon Stone hosts this documentary about the life and career of 1930s sex symbol Jean Harlow. Included are clips from many of her films, photos and stories about her life before she became a movie star, and accounts of her troubled personal life, including a domineering mother, the failure of her three marriages and the suicide of her second husband.
Inspired to make an original, intimate family portrait, Gracie Otto directs a feature length documentary on her father, Barry Otto, whose career in Australian theatre, film and television has spanned more than 50 years. Baz as he is affectionately known is one of a kind - a truly creative, endearing and extremely eccentric personality who embraces the serious and the silly. This story is about Gracie's relationship with her father, in the twilight of his career and his life, as she tries to capture his memories, before his memory disappears. This is not a traditional biopic, but a deeply personal, artistic and cinematic reflection. Sometimes poignant in its exploration of deteriorating health, the film looks at the world through Baz's eyes, an ode to living a passionate life, that both honours him and preserves his memory.
A revealing look at the great Quebecois director who gave us such classic films as Mon Oncle Antoine, A toute prendre and Kamouraska: Power of Passion. Amidst the rise of French-Canadian identity and the political struggles of the '60s, Jutra was at the forefront of a group of artists dedicated to social change and attacking taboo.
Louisa May Alcott, author of "Little Women," leads a literary double life, writing under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard, an identity that remains until the 1940s.
Interview film with German director Werner Herzog revisiting the films he made up to ca. 1977.
An idol of young people in the 1960s, Françoise Hardy agrees to be interviewed and candidly reflects on her successes, disappointments, and love life.