The Beginning of the End of the Affair

Diane di Prima (1934-2020) was a poet, writer, publisher and playwright whose work has been associated with the Beat movement. Born and raised in New York City, she associated with poets such as Amiri Baraka, Jack Kerouac and Frank O’Hara, co-editing The Floating Bear magazine with Baraka in the 60s and co-founding the Poets Press and the New York Poets Theatre. Throughout her life in New York and later out West, both her sense of anarchic limitlessness and her zeal for collaboration guided her work.

Diane di Prima (1934-2020) was a poet, writer, publisher and playwright whose work has been associated with the Beat movement. Born and raised in New York City, she associated with poets such as Amiri Baraka, Jack Kerouac and Frank O’Hara, co-editing The Floating Bear magazine with Baraka in the 60s and co-founding the Poets Press and the New York Poets Theatre. Throughout her life in New York and later out West, both her sense of anarchic limitlessness and her zeal for collaboration guided her work.

In 1973, at age 39, Brigitte Bardot decides to stop her acting career at the height of her fame to dedicate herself to Animal welfare and protection. Her rebellious nature finds in this cause a genuine expression of who she really is. This intimate portrait including exclusive interviews provides a unique account of her journey as a movie icon turning into a radical advocate for wildlife protection ahead of her time.

In 1998 Marco Pantani, the most flamboyant and popular cyclist of his era, won both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, a titanic feat of physical and mental endurance that no rider has repeated since. He was a hero to millions, the saviour of cycling following the doping scandals which threatened to destroy the sport. However, less than six years later, aged just 34, he died alone, in a cheap hotel room, from acute cocaine poisoning. He had been an addict for five years. This is the story of the tragic battles fought by the most important Italian cyclist of his generation; man verses mountain, athlete verses addiction, Marco Pantani verses himself.

A walk through the life and career of the legendary French photojournalist Christine Spengler, known as Moonface, one of the few female war reporters in the seventies, also a writer and surrealist painter, who worked in Chad, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and other places where unfortunately war and death prevailed for years.

He was one of the most notorious Nazi war criminals, infamous for his assassination attempts on twins. But at the end of World War II, he simply disappeared...

The tale of an activist’s journey during the turbulent years of Martial Law, until his capture in the mountains and the dark, nine years of imprisonment that followed, leading to his birth as a poet.

A portrait of Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017), a witness of the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989), a dissident, a woodpecker who tirelessly pecked the putrid brain of the Communist regime for decades, demanding democracy loudly and fearlessly. Silenced, arrested, convicted, imprisoned, dead. Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2010, alive forever. These are his last words.

In interviews, various actors and directors discuss their careers and their involvement in the making of what has come to be known as "cult" films. Included are such well-known genre figures as Russ Meyer, Curtis Harrington, Cameron Mitchell and James Karen.

Transcending cultural barriers and consistently going against the grain, female Nepali climber Pasang Lhamu Sherpa attempted to summit Everest four times in the early nineties. Although she was not allowed to attend school as a child, Pasang did not let that stop her from pursuing her dreams. After founding her own trekking company in Kathmandu, she blazed a trail for Nepali women via her efforts to summit Everest. Proving how big you can dream and how far you can go to achieve those dreams, she left a legacy not only for the family she has left behind, but for the myriad women following in her footsteps.

A collection of recollections and opinions of and about Glenn Gould, interspersed with excerpts of archive footage of the great Canadian pianist speaking and playing.

A dialogue-free documentary on former magazine model Pandora Peaks, with narration by Peaks and Meyer.

Il était une fois... Patrick Bruel

In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social criticism. For nearly 27 years he was a monk of the austere Trappist order, where he became an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace. Merton: A Film Biography provides the first comprehensive look at this remarkable 20th century religious philosopher who wrote, in addition to his immensely popular autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, over 60 books on some of the most pressing social issues of our time, some of which are excerpted here. Merton offers an engaging profile of a man whose presence in the world touched millions of people and whose words and thoughts continue to have a profound impact and relevance today.

Former yakuza gang boss Noboru Ando reminisces about old partner in crime Kei Hanagata.

One of Sweden's most successful humor groups of all time; we tell their story. How it all started with small steps of success, radio sketches, folk park tours, setbacks and eventually like an albatross that is difficult to lift, in the end the humor group flies and once it lifts it flies well and long. Still after 40 years, they work together. The film also contains never before shown material, and premieres in connection with the group's 40th anniversary.

Actor/director Sidney Poitier discusses his life and career. He tells of his upbringing in Jamaica; the difficulties he encountered in New York City at the start of his career; his involvement in the US civil-rights movement; and efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. Friends and acquaintances, as well as other performers, give their insights about what makes him so special.

Born in Berlin in 1896, Lotte Eisner became famous for her passionate involvement in the world of both German and French cinema. In 1936, together with Henri Langlois, she founded the Cinémathèque Française with the goal of saving from destruction films, costumes, sets, posters, and other treasures of the 7th Art. A Jew exiled in Paris, she became a pillar of the capital's cultural scene, where she promoted German cinema.

Kate Winslet has charted her own course, choosing to play authentic women with complex psyches and realistic bodies, showing unfailing resolve in her acting choices. A portrait of a determined actress who, through a broad range of acting roles, has remained resolutely herself.

In a Hollywood career spanning more than 50 years and with 60 movie credits to his name, Jack Nicholson has conquered everyone, becoming the archetypal star who lives according to his own rules. Unmoved by critical approval and conventions he remains the most elusive of American actors.