Je me soulève

"BACKSTAGE: The Movie" takes you behind the curtains into the bustling world of a passionate group of students striving to create their most spectacular show to date. Delve into the intricate process of staging a musical while embarking on an emotional odyssey alongside the graduating seniors as they prepare for their final performance. This film unravels the dedication, challenges, and camaraderie integral to producing a show, inviting audiences of all interests to witness the captivating journey of these determined students.

This touching documentary follows a cast of blind and visually impaired actors as they prepare Dancing to Beethoven, a play about blindness. The film takes us deep into the lives of the actors. We hear stories of their shock and disbelief at first losing sight and of their struggles coping with a life without it. We hear them talk about grieving and pining for the visual world. They tell the moving story of how this play is itself a victory, a type of salvation, for each of them. By opening night, at the renowned Place des Arts in Montreal, they are a close-knit cast, well-honed and ready to step out of the wings and into the light.

Directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, this tribute film was created as a gift for Lorraine Pintal, director of Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. Featuring some of the most memorable characters and performers of Pintal’s career, the film’s succession of surreal scenes from different dramatic worlds introduces viewers to the exceptional woman of theatre, stage director, and friend whom they consider to be the “ghost light” of Quebec theatre.

Marta and Karina are sex workers also studying to become lawyers. Filmed over ten years, this documentary captures their unlikely journey from prostitution to the defense of women's rights.

Triptych – SĽUK

The hour before actors go on stage at the National Theatre in London is a performance in and of itself.

Marusya is 16 and, like many Russian teenagers, is determined to end her life. Then she meets her soulmate in another millennial, Kimi. They spend a decade filming the euphoria and anxiety, the happiness and misery of their youth, muzzled by a violent and autocratic regime in the midst of a “depressed Russia”. This film is a cry from the heart, a tribute to an entire silenced generation.

A group of actors in Madrid are cast in a theatre show conceived as a dance marathon and as an unscripted competition. ‘Malditos’ follows their drifting between success, failure, fame and self-realization, interweaving non-fiction interventions and staged representations, constantly blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality.

Franco Zeffirelli passed away on 15th June 2019. Chris Hunt's biography explores how Zeffirelli's sense of drama was born out of his own experience and how his life inspired his productions. Chris Hunt interviewed him and other famous actors, friends and associates, had a camera at Zeffirelli's 94th birthday and during the opening of his foundation in Florence. This documentary, including clips from operas, films and plays aims to be the definitive portrait of a Renaissance man larger than life.

From PBS - With unprecedented access, The Shaw Festival: Behind the Curtain captures the unique creative process of one of North America's longest running, most distinctive and exciting theatre experiences. Each year between April and October, the Shaw Festival--which began in 1962 with the mandate on works by George Bernard Shaw--presents around 10 plays on four stages that attract patrons from all over the world. Located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada--the Shaw's one-of-a-kind schedule has actors and directors working on several plays at once. Over eight months, crews design and build sets on a finely honed schedule that is both frenetic, creative, and amazingly well planned and executed. Follow the process of getting the play from the page to the stage as The Shaw Festival: Behind the Curtain provides insight into every aspect of production at a summer theatre festival.

A documentary on Jan Slovak, a 55-year-old welder, who fell in love with acting. His desire began, when he got the lead role in a theatrical adaptation of the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 From Outer Space by Ed Wood Jr. The passion for theater became his destiny.

Although the past two years have been challenging for the Theatre industry, they also showed its incredible strength and resilience. Through interviews with West End performers and creatives, this documentary outlines the difficulties presented to our industry over the course of the pandemic, as well as highlighting changes - both positive and negative - that have come from it. An emotional reflection on a battle it was worth fighting for. All profits will be going to 'Acting for Others', an organisation that provides support to all theatre workers through 14 member charities. We hope these stories full of passion for Theatre inspire you just as much as they inspired us!

Despejadas

Bez humoru není legrace

Ralph Fiennes is joined in dress rehearsals as he discusses his involvement in and the themes relating to David Hare’s brand-new play Straight Line Crazy.

Take a revealing tour along a coast of contrasts, from the folksy freshness of Whitby to the coaly Tyne, queen of all rivers.

A joyful insight into the creative world of Barry and Joan Grantham, two British eccentrics who have kept the skills of vaudeville alive for over seventy years. Since becoming stage-struck lovers in 1948, Barry and Joan have taught, danced and acted alongside the greats of British film and theatre. They are the last of the golden generation of vaudeville, eager to pass their legacy on to future generations.

Taipei's Bohemians: The Life of Theatre

Sale race

Sigrid Koetse, award-winning actor and grande dame of Dutch theater, lived most of her life in the public eye and was always surrounded by a crowd of admirers. With this short documentary, filmmaker Wytse Koetse shows how his aunt spends her days nowadays, lonely in her Amsterdam home.