Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film

Bukowski: The Last Straw(en)

The Last Straw is a film documenting the very last live poetry reading given by Charles Bukowski at The Sweetwater, a music club in Redondo Beach, California on March 31, 1980

Prisoners of Beckett(fr)

The meeting of two worlds that never met. One of poetry and freedom, and the other of silence and darkness. A story that begins in a maximum security prison in Sweden where a young actor, Jan Jönson, decides to stage " Waiting for Godot "with five prisoners as actors.

Searching for Sam: Adrian Dunbar on Samuel Beckett(en)

Samuel Beckett has fascinated Adrian Dunbar since he was a young student. Now, 30 years after Beckett's death in Paris, Dunbar explores what made the man who made Waiting for Godot.

Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough(en)

One of the most controversial writers of our times, join Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh as he undergoes a remarkable trip to find new meaning in his work, life and legacy.

Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?(en)

Documentary tracing the extreme life of outlaw writer, performance artist and punk icon, Kathy Acker. Through animation, archival footage, interviews and dramatic reenactments, director Barbara Caspar explores Acker's colorful history, from her well-heeled upbringing to her role as the scribe of society's fringe.

What Was Virginia Woolf Really Afraid of?(en)

A look back at the troubled life of genius British writer Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).

What The Durrells Did Next(en)

Hosted by Keeley Hawes, star of the popular television series The Durrells, this documentary reveals the adventures of the eccentric Durrell family once they left Corfu, Greece.

The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick(en)

Writers, publishers, fans, and friends share their perspectives and memories of sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick. In his career, Philip Kindred Dick (1928–82) published dozens of science fiction novels and short stories. His work has reached a wider audience due to such film adaptations as BLADE RUNNER (1982), TOTAL RECALL (1990), MINORITY REPORT (2002), and A SCANNER DARKLY (2006).

Orchard House: Home of Little Women(en)

Emmy Award-winning chronicle of the history of Orchard House, the home in Concord, Massachusetts where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set Little Women.

The Penultimate Truth About Philip K. Dick(en)

This in-depth program explores Philip K. Dick`s world, a universe full of mysteries and intrigues.

Colette, l'insoumise(fr)

The incredible life of novelist, screenwriter, actress and nude dancer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954), who led her life to the beat, constantly reinventing herself through words, scandals and metamorphoses; a peasant woman who became an icon of the European Belle Époque; an artist who defied religion and social prejudices to live a hedonist existence worthy of her desires; a real woman who turned herself into a fictional character…

Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime(en)

British author Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the world's most translated author: her heroes, private detective Hercule Poirot and amateur sleuth Miss Marple, are known the world over. But who is the woman behind her bestsellers? A biographical search for clues, the unraveling of an iridescent personality whose existence and works were shaped by the tragic history of the 20th century: the eventful life of the Queen of Crime.

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women(en)

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.

Me To Play(en)

As their bodies give way to Parkinson's disease, two New York actors put their hearts into one final Off-Broadway production of Beckett's "Endgame," the play that posits, "there's nothing funnier than unhappiness."

Gravel In Her Gut and Spit In Her Eye(en)

Dorothy Johnson was a Western writer ahead of her time. Women saved men, heroes died unwept and unsung, whites lived with Indians and benefited from the experience. Three of her stories were made into films and many critics consider "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" to be the cornerstone of the modern western. This documentary looks back on Dorothy's life, and her place in history.

I Hate Jane Austen(en)

While it may be universally acknowledged that she’s one of the great English writers, Giles Coren breaks down his many reasons for hating Jane Austen.

Inverosímil Jardiel Poncela(es)

The Spanish author Enrique Jardiel Poncela (1901-1952) was one of the best comedy writers of all time, a novelist and newspaper columnist, misunderstood, even censored, both by the Second Republic government and Francoism, an outsider ahead of his time; also a filmmaker and screenwriter in Hollywood, architect of a revolutionary theatrical building and scenographer, cartoonist and illustrator. An implausible genius.

Erich Maria Remarque und Marlene Dietrich - Flucht in die Liebe(de)

The Orphan’s Kaddish(fr)

An elderly man is working tirelessly to revive the Jewish world lost in the Holocaust. His name is Aharon Appelfeld, and he became one of the greatest Jewish writers of our time. Every day, through his murmuring voice and handwriting, the survivors, the children of Ukraine, the peasants of Yiddishland come alive in the tiny office of a Jerusalem apartment. Aharon Appelfeld, solitary, wants to fight this battle to his last breath.

Thomas Hardy: A Haunted Man(en)

Drama documentary from 1978 exploring the private feelings of novelist Thomas Hardy through the poems of love and remorse that he wrote after the death of his first wife, Emma.