A documentary portrait of the pioneering indigenous filmmaker and activist Merata Mita and an intimate tribute from a son about his mother that delves into the life of the first woman from an Indigenous Nation to solely direct a film anywhere in the world. Known as the grandmother of Indigenous cinema, Merata’s independent political documentaries of the 1970s and 80s highlighted injustices for Māori people and often divided the country. Mita was fearless in her life, her activism and her art. Chronicling the director’s journey to decolonize the film and television screens of New Zealand and the world, the film documents her work, her early struggles with her family and her drive for social justice that often proved personally dangerous.
A look at the legendary Czech sound designer and his profession. Editor and documentary filmmaker Adéla Špaljová has her father Ivo Špalj talk about his life, career, and working methods. Over the course of his long life, sound designer Ivo Špalj (*1940) has collaborated on hundreds of films and become a mentor for at least one generation of men and women behind the mixing board. This gentle documentary also shows “Engi” (as he is known to his colleagues) again working with Jan Švankmajer, whose films he has lent their typical, dense, and sophisticated sound mix.
An immersive journey into the world of wild horses, Wild Beauty illuminates both the profound beauty, and desperate plight faced by the wild horses in the Western United States. Filmmaker Ashley Avis and crew go on a multi-year expedition to uncover the truth in hopes to protect them, before wild horses disappear forever.
The pianist Miguel Ángel Lozano embarks on a personal and artistic journey with the purpose of reconstructing the life of his grandmother, Maria Forteza (1910-60), singer and pioneer of Spanish sound films.
A portrait of the Swedish director Roy Andersson, dealing with obsessions of the film maker considered as the origins of his last incredible project : Songs from the Second Floor. 20 years of reflection and creation, 4 years to shoot a masterpiece with a unique way of filming. A meeting with the Nordic Kubrick, rebel with a cause : responsibility and humanity.
A peculiar, meticulous, vocationally archeological account of the professional life of the actor, Spanish by birth, Argentinean by adoption, Narciso Ibañez Menta (1912-2004), spiritual disciple of Lon Chaney, the new man of a thousand faces, master of horror, star of Argentinean theater, cinema and television for decades.
Through the life and career of Marcel Carné, using film excerpts and archives (including touching interviews with the director), François Aymé weaves a fascinating portrait of a hypersensitive man who had to deal with his homosexuality and who, despite his brilliance, was long relegated to the shadow of his actors and Prévert, who were credited with their greatest success.
In this previously unseen backstage documentary, Peter Greenaway responds with great generosity to the open-ended questions posed by an off-camera Gideon Bachmann about the process which led to the creation of one his most important films, The Belly of an Architect, giving contemporary audiences an insight into his ideas, the rigour of his reflections and the development of the project.
Run Wrake is an English filmmaker, animation director, and music video director. He studied graphic design at Chelsea College of Arts before completing a master's degree in animation at the Royal College of Art in London. In this interview for the BBC's Channel 4, he describes some of his films, their inception, and their production. He also comments on technological and cultural developments that have changed how animated films are produced and perceived.
The life and work of one of the great masters of Italian cinema, Sergio Leone (1929-89); a rich and fascinating portrait through unpublished testimonies of collaborators, actors, directors and critics who reconstruct every aspect of his creative activity.
The house he lived In: A conversation with Fred Baker (1932-2011) filmmaker , director , screenwriter , film producer, actor and jazz musician. A shining example of America's bohemian underground that has been around since the days of Walt Whitman. A sensualist. His favorite topics are sex, art, food and politics. To the rhythm of New York and Lenny Bruce.
A look at the life and work of Spanish filmmaker and film critic Fernando Méndez-Leite, as he writes his memoirs and a novel with autobiographical resonances.
The life and work of the brilliant German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff, a cross-border artist who, by leaving Germany and making the whole world his place of work, acquired the objective perspective necessary to portray his country's society better than anyone else while providing a unique and original point of view on the troubled history of the European continent.
The incredible story of the Italian Emilio D'Alessandro, personal driver of the great director Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), who met Emilio by chance in London in 1971 and hired him, thus establishing a deep friendship that lasted thirty years and helped create four masterpieces of cinema. A moving tale about two seemingly opposing people who found their ideal travel companion far away from home…
In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, left Stockholm and went to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special cinephiles, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An abridged version of Bergmans video, 2012.)
A look at Kevin Smith's life and career from his childhood in New Jersey, to the day they cemented his footprints at the world famous TCL Chinese Theater, with a flock of famous folks testifying on Silent Bob's behalf!
Documentary on the life and work of F.W. Murnau.
This documentary composed of numerous testimonies and archives, filmed in Japan highlights the extraordinary career of the actress-director Kinuyo Tanaka and her singular ambition to impose a female point of view on cinema, reflecting her own vision of the world.
A moving account, in his own words, of the personal life and work of the brilliant Czech filmmaker Miloš Forman (1932-2018): his tragic childhood, his major contribution to the cultural movement known as the Czech New Wave, his exile in Paris, his troubled days in New York, his rise to stardom in Hollywood; a complete existence in the service of cinema.
An autobiographical essay film structured as a letter to the director’s young daughter, "Où en êtes-vous, Bertrand Bonello?" weaves clips from Bonello’s films, excerpts from his scripts, pop songs, and snippets of original footage into a lyrical, reflexive cinematic self-portrait. "Où en êtes-vous?" is a collection initiated by Centre Pompidou, who asked directors to make retrospective and introspective films.