With Closed Windows

Escapes blazes a path through mid-20th-century Hollywood via the experiences of Hampton Fancher – flamenco dancer, actor, and the unlikely producer and screenwriter of the landmark sci-fi classic Blade Runner. Fancher recounts episodes from his life — romantic misadventures with silver-screen stars, wayward acts of chivalry, jealousy, and friendship — matched with a parallel world of film and TV footage wherein Fancher plays cowboys, killers, fops, cads, and the occasional hero. Escapes shows how one man’s personal journey can unexpectedly shape a medium’s future.

Some celebrate him as a sex symbol and the most interesting actor of our time. Envious people talk about his smooth face, his washboard stomach, and thus explain his fame. It is undisputed that Ryan Gosling is one of the most successful actors of our decade.

Talented and enduring Academy Award-winning star, Gregory Peck, tells how it was when studios ruled and a shy boy from a broken family could rise to become a famous leading man. Unfashionably modest, Peck describes his fascinating journey from early theater roles, through his first films, to Hollywood’s elder statesman.

Dance, espionage and passion come together in this powerful and exciting docudrama that tells the extraordinary story of how Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West in 1961 and became a living legend.

Before Avicii, there was Tim. Through his own words, witness how a prodigious musical talent became one of the defining artists of his generation.

Merely Marvelous is a celebration of the art and life of Broadway's greatest dancing star, Gwen Verdon. She overcame many obstacles, including rickets, the Hollywood system, a loveless first marriage and a difficult second marriage to choreographer/director Bob Fosse, to become a multi-Tony Award-winning performer. Gwen's life is told through interviews with family members and theatre associates as well as a mine of rare footage from her Broadway and Hollywood careers. Merely Marvelous is the story of a brave woman who rose to the very top of her profession.

Interviews and archival footage weave together to tell the story of the Master of Suspense, one of the most influential and studied filmmakers in the history of cinema.

Released from prison, former oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky expounds on his newfound freedom and complex relationship with Vladimir Putin.

Based on photographer William Yang's one man stage show, "Sadness" chronicles two diverging narratives through the use of slide photography, oral history and stylised recreation. One story follows Yang's pilgrimage into the heart of the North Queensland sugar cane fields as he investigates the murder of his uncle Fang Yuen. The other is a series of moving portraits of the many friends and lovers Yang has lost to AIDS. Director Tony Ayres skillfully weaves these two separate stories together creating a powerful testament to family, friends, love and loss. Cinematography by Tristan Milani. Narrated by William Yang.

The story of a family marked by tragedy gives rise to a reflection on memory, emotional ties, family secrets and the difficulty for new generations of knowing and accepting life events.

Dance and prostitution play the same role for Cristhian’s body. Virtuosity, desire, technique, and sex intertwine, granting coherence to a way of life that offers many answers to few questions. A leitmotiv that reconciles opposites and contradictions. Answers that are sometimes painful, like all truths.

The decisive years of Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimović, told through rare archive footage in which a young Zlatan speaks openly about his life and challenges. The film closely follows him, from his debut with the Malmö FF team in 1999 through his conflict-ridden years with Ajax Amsterdam, and up to his final breakthrough with Juventus in 2005.

This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.

It Doesn't Work

Curator Robert Storr takes us through the 2002 MoMA Gerhard Richter retrospective.

Kim Novak never dreamed on being a star, but she became one. Most famous for her enigmatic performance in Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), the Chicago-born actress never quite fitted into the Hollywood mould and wanted to do things her own way.

Singer, songwriter, business man, family man, civil rights activist: Sam Cooke transcends all barriers of race, faith and talent. This first-ever biography of the definitive soul singer looks at his extraordinary career and personal life - from his gospel-singing roots through his R&B and pop music career.

Czech painter and illustrator Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) ranks among the pioneers of the Art Nouveau movement at the end of the 19th century. Virtually overnight, he becomes famous in Paris thanks to the posters that he designs to announce actress Sarah Bernhardt’s plays. But at the height of his fame, Mucha decides to leave Paris to realize his lifetime project.

Sir Elton John looks back on his life and the astonishing early days of his 50-year career in this emotionally charged, full-circle journey. As he prepares for his final concert in North America at Dodger Stadium, Elton takes us back in time and recounts his struggles with adversity, abuse, and addiction, and how he overcame them to become the icon he is today.

Filmmaker Werner Herzog combs through the film archives of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft to create a film that celebrates their legacy.