We thought we'd seen, read, and heard everything there was to see about the Cannes Film Festival, from the glitz and gossip to the scandals and censorship. And yet, Emmanuel Barnault's "Morceaux de Cannes" (Pieces of Cannes), by this leading expert on Italian and French cinema, convinces us otherwise. The third largest event in the world (after the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup) reveals its secrets only sparingly, as this film attests. The result of passionate research in the INA archives, these 52 minutes, without interviews or voice-over narration, string together rare and sometimes previously unseen footage. Taken together, they tell a surprising, original, and heartwarming story of the Festival. On the beach, on a street corner, in a restaurant, or in the privacy of a hotel room, these forgotten archives summon the greatest filmmakers, actors, and actresses of the last seventy years, from Jean Cocteau to David Lynch, for an anthology of the Festival's history.
Between the French La Nouvelle Vague and the Italian Neorealismo, Europe had been undergoing a continuous cinema transformation since the 1950s, while the ailing American studio system groaned under its own weight and inertia. New Hollywood had arrived with Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, and already by 1968 it was changing how Hollywood thought and acted. The student film scene was getting ready to explode, and it knew it.
We’re travelling from luxury kitchen to luxury kitchen with Agnes, from Bergisch Gladbach via Barcelona to the Faroe Islands. The cook’s luggage always includes her backpack containing various knives, cleavers and tweezers. The camera watches over the inquisitive young woman’s shoulder as delicacies are being prepared. Our mouths water. At the same time, we get insights into the different ways of running a restaurant. It’s about team spirit and equality at the stove.
Sir Elton John looks back on his life and the astonishing early days of his 50-year career in this emotionally charged, full-circle journey. As he prepares for his final concert in North America at Dodger Stadium, Elton takes us back in time and recounts his struggles with adversity, abuse, and addiction, and how he overcame them to become the icon he is today.
Danish soldiers are sent to Afghanistan in 2009 for 6 months, to help stabilize the country against the Taliban. They're stationed on Armadillo military base in Helman province. Unlike other war movies, this is the real deal – no actors.
Has the famed Egyptian beauty, Queen Nefertiti, been found in a secret chamber deep in the Valley of the Kings? A Discovery Channel Quest expedition led by Dr. Joann Fletcher and a team of internationally renowned scientists from the University of York Mummy Research Team hopes to find out. If they find her, it will be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries since Nefertiti's stepson, King Tutankhamen, was discovered in 1922. The "Great Royal Wife" of the renegade Akhenaten, Nefertiti was a mother of six who helped lead a religious revolution that changed Egypt and the world forever. Yet after her death, her enemies destroyed all evidence of her life. Now, drawing on 13 years of research, Fletcher and her team bring Nefertiti's turbulent reign to life like never before with cutting-edge computer animations to recreate ancient Egypt's great temples, x-rays to reveal the telltale signs of foul play on her mummy, and forensic graphics to recreate the mummy's face.
Architect R.M. Schindler, transformed the way we see space and laid the foundation for what is now considered the California lifestyle of indoor-outdoor living. His life story (1887-1953) unfolds in parallel with that of Modern Architecture. The film follows Schindler's journey from Vienna through Chicago to Southern California, observing where possible through the lens of his own camera or listening to his own words. The story is told through narration, interviews, Schindler's theoretical writings, correspondence, photos and renderings of his many works and projects.
A passionate declaration of love for the cinema and poetry of Iran, which also offers a frank view of the precarious situation for critics of the regime and shows the uncompromising daily struggle of Iranian women against their oppression.
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a pro-Palestinian communist resistance fighter, is France's longest-serving political prisoner. Incarcerated for 40 years, he remains a symbol. He was suspected of being behind the attacks that sowed chaos in 1980s Paris and was convicted of murdering two diplomats. In the film *The Abdallah Affair*, which Pierre Carles dedicates to him, we discover a deeply troubling story: a country choosing an ideal scapegoat. An incredible piece of fake news and intense pressure exerted by the United States on France are at the root of this extraordinary length of detention. The official media machine went into overdrive, serving a national interest, blind and deaf to all the ambiguities of this case, which this documentary exposes. Georges Abdallah was imprisoned in France for nearly 41 years. Wrongfully. At 74, he managed to leave prison, standing tall, his political convictions intact.
YouTube documentary about the controversial relationship between filmmaker Eloy de la Iglesia and young actor José Luis Manzano, creators of such iconic films as Navajeros (1980) and Overdose (1983), and key figures of Spanish quinqui cinema.
Mostly Sunny is a documentary that tells the remarkable story of Sunny Leone, the Canadian-born, American-bred adult film star who is pursuing her dreams of Bollywood stardom.
[…] by shooting the fish in a globular bowl, the Lumières effectively use a fisheye lens, which offers distortions. The history of cinema has witnessed a struggle between the objective and subjective camera and the optically distorting lenses like the fisheye lens has been a powerful tool for the subjective camera. Here it is at the start.
Franco Maresco celebrates the heritage of Pier Paolo Pasolini on the 99th anniversary of his birth through a series of exchanges with renowned intellectuals which were involved or influenced by his works and ideas.
This two-part, three-hour biography, offers an incisive portrait of Henry Kissinger, the enigmatic powerbroker who served in the topmost echelons of American diplomacy. Whether celebrated or reviled, Kissinger’s contradictions reflect those at the heart of America’s foreign policy during the second half of the 20th century, a period in which America became the unchallenged superpower in the world yet often pursued policy at odds with its own highest ideals.By examining his life up to and throughout his tortured relationship with President Richard Nixon, Kissinger endeavors to understand precisely what drove his relentless drive for power. It is a story of deep contradictions — of Kissinger’s obsession with securing American supremacy, staving off nuclear war, and checking the power of our enemies, even while consorting with dictators and tolerating widespread violation of human rights.
Carroll Shelby came from humble beginnings working as a chicken farmer in rural Texas. He exploded into the auto-racing scene by beating all the top-tier drivers of the era and winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959. All while still wearing his chicken-overalls. Carroll had a heart condition that nearly killed him, forcing him to retire from racing. He started Shelby American and assembled a rag-tag team of hot-rodders to execute his vision of building groundbreaking sports cars like the Shelby Cobra. He also led Ford and the GT40 to multiple victories at Le Mans over Ferrari. Shelby’s cars, driven by the greatest drivers in the history of racing, cemented his legacy. He is the only man in history to win Le Mans as both a driver and a manufacturer. And is still the only American auto-manufacturer to win the World Manufacturing Championship.