Cinema's First Colors

Since 1922, Boulogne-Billancourt cinema studios have welcomed the greatest actors, directors and technicians of French cinema and have given birth to many masterpieces.

In 1900, the eyes of the whole world are on Paris. The World's Fair welcomed 50 million amazed visitors, and the city celebrated itself in a glamorous era. This period went down in history as the "Belle Époque." Elaborately restored and colorized historical photographs bring to life the exciting life in Paris between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of World War I in 1914. Bicycles, cars, airplanes, moving pictures, newly founded film studios, revolutionary composers and painters, avant-garde ballet performances, fashion houses, summer resorts on the Atlantic coast – life was intoxicating. People celebrate in the variety shows, cabarets, and revue theaters of Paris. Moulin Rouge, Folies Bergères, Bal Tabarin—in Paris, the nights are long and life is too short to sleep through. It is a dance on the volcano, given the political developments in the world.

Moka Malo, des corsaires à la conquête du café

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Fernand de Magellan and his men embarked on an expedition that would forever change the way we see the world. Like Christopher Columbus before him, he set out in search of a western sea route to Asia's legendary Moluccan archipelago.

La capitale gauloise disparue

On October 14, 1947, Captain Chuck Yeager accomplished what many thought was impossible: he broke the sound barrier and in doing so, changed aviation history forever. Behind this remarkable achievement was a dedicated team of rocket scientists and engineers, and one incredible plane, a Bell X-1 named "Glamorous Glennis." This is the story of the plane and the people who dared to travel faster than the speed of sound, pushing flight science forward and proving that no matter the barrier, humanity can find a way to break through.

On a volé le Maréchal !

Le dernier guillotiné

In the heart of central Europe are some of the world’s most impenetrable military strongholds. In France, 160 megastructure fortresses still line the country’s borders 3 centuries after they were constructed. As solid as ever, how did they withstand attack after attack? Was the secret in their materials? Their shape? In fact, the strength and resilience of these megastructures is due to the genius of one man: Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban.

Over the course of a fifty-year career, the British band The Cure has released fourteen highly successful studio albums; but it was their 1989 album Disintegration, released during a pivotal year for Europe and the world, that would capture the imagination of so many fans.

From pyongyang to Pluto and Black

Tells the story of Hendri who imagines his family's past just because he is too lazy to go to college.

This film explores how Canada wavers between rejection and acceptance of closer ties with the United States, tracing the historical precedents of current issues between the two nations. Canada continues to question her identity despite the influence of a powerful neighbour.

A slingshot is loaded, the stone flies and crashes - the neighbor's window breaks. Ramona and Nico are friends, lazy bums and fresh out of school. But instead of thinking about their future, they prefer to let the hot Berlin summer get the better of them. When they release a beloved neighbor's bird, they have to flee - into the politically charged world that they really don't want to be in. A road trip through Berlin begins - but on foot.

Hussain Shariff's first film, a documentary centred on a traditional fertility rite of the Ingessana people in the southern Blue Nile State, celebrating ashes, the sun and good harvests.

During a dynastic crisis in 14th century Portugal, the 10 year old Beatriz enters into a forced marriage to become the country’s new queen. At the Monastery of Sancti Spiritus in Toro, where the tomb of Beatriz is located, this story is re-enacted, re-imagined, and recreated with children of the same age. As their imagination is allowed to roam free, a different way to interact with their country’s history opens up.

X-hale

Not the Waters of the Moon is an educational documentary developed for UNICEF. The film is to encourage vaccination of children in rural areas. The title of the film was carefully selected by the Director, to explain simply to the villagers that it is not a difficult task to perform vaccination.

Eva Giolo’s latest work takes us to Val Gardena, where people still speak Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language. Giolo subverts the usual representation of mountain communities to deliver a portrait of a precious cultural heritage in constant evolution. Here, the inhabitants preserve and nurture their culture for future generations with awareness of the world and creativity. Shot on 16mm film sensitive to the grandeur and fragility of nature, Memory Is an Animal, It Barks with Many Mouths is an exquisite essay on the vital importance of linguistic diversity. Made in Ladin language.

Exceptional documentary devoted to Félix Leclerc. The images are taken from five films produced by the NFB during the 1950s (Un Canadien à Paris from the Coup d'oeil series, Chantons maintenant, Félix Leclerc, troubadour, La Drave and Les Brûlés). A commentary by writer Marcel Dubé, with narration by Monique Leyrac, enriches this previously unpublished documentary portrait.