Concerto Macabre: The Films of John Brahm

In the work of Jack Garfein - Holocaust survivor, theater and film director, key figure in the formation of the Actors Studio - past and and present freely intermingled to contribute to memorable stage productions and in two films, many which were ahead of their time in tackling such issues as homosexuality, race and violence. Powered by his vivid recollections and augmented with readings by Willem Dafoe, The Wild One traces Garfein’s life: his Czechoslovakian youth, his family’s fleeing the Nazis, surviving in Auschwitz and other camps, his 1946 arrival at 16 in New York and coming under the wing of Lee Strasberg, Hollywood, his marriage to actress Carroll Baker.

A strange interview with JUDAT about the new generation of underground cinema.

While making a portrait of a single gay man in Lisbon, a Vietnamese filmmaker offers his character a little gift from the bottom of his heart. This is a film about the act of filming.

Fight alongside Sylvester Stallone as he creates a brand-new director's cut of Rocky IV: ROCKY VS. DRAGO. This feature-length documentary offers a personal and uncompromising look into the editing process, captured by Sly's longtime friend and fellow filmmaker John Herzfeld.

Un p'tit truc en plus, bien plus qu'un film

In 1988, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff sat down with legendary director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) at his office in Beverly Hills, California, and turned on his camera for a series of filmed interviews. (A recut of the 1992 TV miniseries Billy, How Did You Do It?)

How the cinema industry does not respect the author's work as it was conceived, how manipulates the motion pictures in order to make them easier to watch by an undemanding audience or even how mutilates them to adapt the original formats and runtimes to the restrictive frame of the television screen and the abusive requirements of advertising. (Followed by “Filmmakers in Action.”)

Clint Eastwood made his mark on cinema by abandoning violent action films to turn his attention, behind the camera, to more substantial productions that were praised by critics.

What is the state of cinema and what being a filmmaker means? What are the measures taken to protect authors' copyright? What is their legal status in different countries? (Sequel to “Filmmakers vs. Tycoons.”)

James Gray, l'odyssée intérieure

American film director and screenwriter Oliver Stone is behind films such as Platoon, JFK, Natural Born Killers and Scarface. For decades, he has challenged the image of the United States and its history. This documentary portrays the Oscar-winning filmmaker who has made the search for truth his life's work. The Vietnam War and the assassination of Kennedy were decisive events that shaped both Stone and the modern United States. Through unique material from his personal archive and filmography, a close portrait emerges of a controversial filmmaker obsessed with exposing power and national traumas.

A short film in which Isabella Rossellini discusses the life and work of her father, Roberto Rossellini.

Everyone has a skeleton or two in his or her closet, but what about the director behind some of the most successful thrillers ever to hit the silver screen? Could M. Night Shyamalan be hiding a deep, dark secret that drives his macabre cinematic vision? Now viewers will be able to find out firsthand what fuels The Sixth Sense director's seemingly supernatural creativity as filmmakers interview Shyamalan as well as the cast and crew members who have worked most closely with him over the years. Discover the early events that shaped the mind of a future master of suspense in a documentary that is as fascinating as it is revealing.

Artavazd Pelechian, le cinéaste est un cosmonaute

Juan Antonio de la Riva: el cine de un duranguense

A documentary analyzing the furore which so-called "video nasties" caused in Britain during the 1980s.

Starting with her own memories of working as an actress on Abbas Kiarostami's Ten, filmmaker Roya Akbari proceeds to elicit other testimonies on the masters of Iranian cinema from three people who are themselves among the foremost Iranian directors: Rafi Pitts on Parviz Kimiavi; Amir Naderi on Sohrab Shahid Saless; and Bahram Bayzai on Arby Ovanessian. Bayzai also analyses Haji Agha, the Cinema Actor (1933) by Ovanes Ohanian, considered the first feature film made in Iran.

The film builds up a portrait of a great Sudanese film-maker, Gadalla Gubara. At eighty-seven, he is one of the pioneers of cinema in Africa. He has recently lost his sight but still continues to film life in Sudan as no one before him. Through his oeuvre, Gadalla reveals to us a Sudan both mysterious and misunderstood. Despite censorship and lack of financial support over sixty years, he has produced cinema that is independent and unique in a country where freedom of expression is a rare luxury.

A portrait of film director Andrzej Żuławski. This biographical documentary shows the different layers of the personality of the artist and doesn't hide the contradictions of his nature. The confessions of Żuławski are alternated with fragments of his films, showing the twists and turns of his personal life and art.

George Orwell was one of the most visionary authors of the 20th century, whose novels 1984 and Animal Farm foretold a chilling, authoritarian future. Acclaimed director Raoul Peck interweaves clips, readings from Orwell's diary, cinematic references, and modern-day footage to craft not only a portrait of the writer, but a fresh take on how prophetic his work has become.