Actor William Hartnell felt trapped by a succession of hard-man roles while wannabe producer Verity Lambert was frustrated by the TV industry's glass ceiling. Both of them were to find unlikely hope and unexpected challenges in the form of a Saturday tea-time drama. Allied with a team of unusual but brilliant people, they went on to create the longest running science fiction series ever made.
On the 20th anniversary of Federico Fellini's death, Ettore Scola, a devoted admirer of the incomparable maestro, commemorates the lesser-known aspects of his personality, employing interviews, photographs, behind-the-scenes footage as well as his drawings and film clips.
The true story of baseball star Ron LeFlore, from his days as a street-corner punk with no future to his days behind bars on a petty robbery conviction to his ultimate once-in-a-lifetime chance with the Detroit Tigers, where he became an outstanding baseball player.
Like the play from which it derived, the film tells of the early struggles of composer Edvard Grieg and his attempts to develop an authentic Norwegian national music. It stars Toralv Maurstad as Grieg and features an international cast including Florence Henderson, Christina Schollin, Robert Morley, Harry Secombe, Oskar Homolka, Edward G. Robinson and Frank Porretta (as Rikard Nordraak). Filmed in Super Panavision 70 by Davis Boulton and presented in single-camera Cinerama in some countries, it was an attempt to capitalise on the success of The Sound of Music.
Towards the end of the 16th century, the Spanish conquerors living in the New World faced a serious problem: the evangelization of the indigenous people, who did not understand or accept Christianity due to their unshakable faith in their own religion. The court of the Inquisition cracks down on heretics and the natives prepare for a general uprising ...
Escaping the torment of growing up with an abusive older brother, he and his friends found further suffering at the hands of Japanese soldiers, forced into sex work to survive. But even after the war, Markova's struggle continued.
Maybe the best thing to come out of Scandinavia during the hippie years was, in fact, the story of a radical libertarian and a hedonist capitalist. Their friendship, forged by being outsiders in a conformist country, took them through years of adulation and success, with slight detours into the welcoming arms of vilification and imprisonment. A joyride through taxation, mass travel, hookers and politics. Not feeling too constrained by historical facts, director Christoffer Boe's story of Simon Spies and Mogens Glistrup covers just a few of their decades in a tale of warmth and humour, defiance and eccentricity.
A filmmaker's insight into the biggest gathering on earth -the Kumbh Mela.
Errol Flynn, the swashbuckling Hollywood star and notorious ladies man, flouted convention all his life, but never more brazenly than in his last years when, swimming in vodka and unwilling to face his mortality, he undertook a liaison with an aspiring actress, Beverly Aadland. The two had a high-flying affair that spanned the globe and was enabled by the girl's fame-obsessed mother, Florence. It all came crashing to an end in October 1959, when events forced the relationship into the open, sparking an avalanche of publicity castigating Beverly and her mother - which only fed Florence's need to stay in the spotlight.
The Man Who Saved the World is a feature documentary film about Stanislav Petrov, a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces.
Casper Van Dien of Starship Troopers stars as James Dean, whose remarkable talent and rebel attitude took Hollywood by storm. But as Dean's star begins to rise, his passionate affair with Italian ingenue Pier Angeli (Carrie Mitchum of The Bold and the Beautiful) angers her disapproving mother (Academy Award nominee Diane Ladd) and studio chief Jack Warner (Mike Connors). How did a broken heart, reckless behavior and his relationships with Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo and director George Stevens (the legendary Robert Mitchum in his final screen role) lead to Dean's ultimate race with destiny? Connie Stevens, Joseph Campanella and Casey Kasem co-star in this revealing biopic that goes behind the myth to tell the true story of the superstar who lived fast, died young and left a legacy that changed movies forever.
The story of the life and career of football star Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch (who plays himself).
This biographical drama, based on the late actress's autobiography, chronicles her attempts to rescue her drug addicted son while simultaneously trying to overcome her life-threatening cancer.
The last years of Heinrich George's life are reconstructed with documentary footage and play scenes. His son Götz, named after Heinrich's favorite role of the peasant war hero from Goethe's play "Götz von Berlichingen", plays scenes from his father's life and allows his enormous creative power to shine through. Nothing is left out, nothing glossed over in this story of a man with many facets. Götz George, one of Germany's best-known actors, is at the center of this homage, which is also a reappraisal of the contradictions in his father's life. As the only follower from the acting profession, Heinrich George had to pay with his life. He was not officially rehabilitated until 1998.
Alberta (Canada) rural farm-boy Sheldon Kennedy feels abused by dad when punished for poor performances compared to big brother Troy. being recruited for professional ice-hockey at age 14 seems an ideal way out, straight to a party animal's good life. Yet after a Vegas marriage with Jana and hearing she's pregnant, Sheldon breaks down and tells her what's eating at him for years: coach Graham James, whoa arranged for him to be transferred each time James was, sexually abused Sheldon, who fears to be laughed away as a queer and loose his only career avenue if he goes public
Film biography of Eileen Joyce, the celebrated Australian pianist, concentrating on her childhood in the Tasmanian bush and the Kalgoorlie goldfields. Opening and closing scenes showed the pianist herself performing at a concert.
Joaquim Pinto has been living with HIV and VHC for almost twenty years. “What now? Remind Me” is the notebook of a year of clinical studies with toxic, mind altering drugs as yet unapproved. An open and eclectic reflection on time and memory, on epidemics and globalization, on survival beyond all expectations, on dissent and absolute love. In a to-and-fro between present and past memories, the film is also a tribute to friends departed and those who remain.
Pasteur, l'homme qui a vu
Rhodes of Africa is a 1936 British biographical film charting the life of Cecil Rhodes. It was directed by Berthold Viertel and starred Walter Huston, Oskar Homolka, Basil Sydney and Bernard Lee.
The true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope.