What makes European cinema so special? Find out in Paul Joyce’s feature-length documentary, Pictures of Europe, which examines the differences between American independent and Hollywood movies and films from European directors. Featuring luminary iconoclasts from European cinema such as Agnes Varda, Bernardo Bertolucci and Pedro Almodovar, as well as American counterpoints from Paul Schrader, and those who have crossed back and forth, such as Paul Verhoeven
The first major profile of the great British film director Nicolas Roeg, examining his very personal vision of cinema as in such films as Don't Look Now, Performance, Walkabout and The Man Who Fell to Earth. Roeg reflects on his career, which began as a leading cinematographer, and on the themes that have obsessed him, such as our perception of time and the difficulty of human relationships.
In Los Angeles, Max Carlyle makes a good living directing commercials and has a happy home life with his wife, Mimi, and two children. When Carlyle travels to New York City to visit his friend Charlie, who has been diagnosed with AIDS, he has repeat run-ins with a beautiful woman, Karen, and eventually sleeps with her. Though he goes home the next day and doesn't return until a year later, Carlyle's infidelity still lingers.
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
Two disconnected English brothers are ostracized in a small village in the west of Ireland. Drawn back together by the unexpected and mysterious death of their father, they are immediately at odds until they find a girl dumped still alive in the moors. What follows is a bizarre turn of events, both beautiful and surreal, as the two brothers search for their own resolutions. At times both a love story and a tragic tale, the story is inspired by a piece in John Steinbeck's East of Eden.
MLE ('My Little Eye') is based on a true story - Julie Robert, (nope, not Julia Roberts, as she corrects on a daily basis) is a broke actor who just lost her only gig. Stranded in a new country with her trouble-making friend Camila, and struggling to find a sane new agent, Julie finds herself taking on spy work from a strange family. What seems fun at first turns life belly-up for Julie (spy name, Emily) - the awkward, amateur spy.
Keen young Raymold Avila joins the Internal Affairs Department of the Los Angeles police. He and partner Amy Wallace are soon looking closely at the activities of cop Dennis Peck whose financial holdings start to suggest something shady. Indeed Peck is involved in any number of dubious or downright criminal activities. He is also devious, a womaniser, and a clever manipulator, and he starts to turn his attention on Avila.
Cinematographer John A. Alonzo was one of the driving creative forces in the resurgence of expressionistic American movies of the late 1960s and '70s. Director Axel Schill's documentary explores Alonzo's work on key films of that era and beyond. Clips from Chinatown, Scarface, Internal Affairs and other movies accompany interviews with stars such as Richard Dreyfuss, Sally Field and contemporary cinematographer Haskell Wexler.
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.
