At the heart of the Syrian civil war, a group of activists created an underground library in the besieged outskirts of Damascus. After years of blockade, they were forced to leave their city. But they managed to save their videos illustrating a unique experiment of cultural resistance under the bombs. This film, built between the past and the present, follows the story of three friends who met during the 2011 revolution and never gave up on their cultural resistance and peaceful struggle. Despite ceaseless bombing, they not only saved books from the rubble, but created a secret library, which quickly became a safe haven for peace, freedom and democracy: a special experience that they filmed and documented meticulously. Separated by war and exile, they are striving to reunite with each other. They reminisce on the past and tell us the extraordinary story of the library, based on dozens of hours of video archives. “A Library Under Bombs” is a story of hope and survival.
This short documentary tells the intensely personal story of Namrata Gill – one of the many real-life inspirations for Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth – in her own words. After six years, Gill courageously leaves an abusive relationship and launches a surprising new career.
For nine months in 1930, seven Bretons, lobster fishermen, were "forgotten" on a volcanic island by their employers, Normans from Le Havre, heirs of the last French whalers. Four employees would die on the spot. Their descendants today revive the memory of this human tragedy which also struck 42 Madagascans. Starting from a sordid social conflict, the documentary shows that the “Forgotten Saint Paul” mark the end of an era of “colonization”, a term rarely used for the French Southern Territories, but nevertheless close to reality. This is the story of the Third World, as its discoverer, Yves de Kerguelen, named it.
A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
This documentary follows the French soccer team on their way to victory in the 1998 World Cup in France. Stéphane Meunier spent the whole time filming the players, the coach and some other important characters of this victory, giving us a very intimate and nice view of them, as if we were with them.
Nausicaa: The Largest Aquarium in Europe
Philippe Pétain
Foccart, l'homme qui dirigeait l'Afrique
Following disastrous floods, a vast construction project is in the process of revitalizing the Rhone by removing the concrete straitjacket, and instead enlarging the river's bed to promote river life. The filmmaker follows the development of this unusually inclusive project through its diverse protagonists, including hydrobiologists, fishermen, farmers, engineers and concerned citizens. Their divergent concerns permit a fuller and unbiased understanding of the complexity of such a project. As a result, this engaging and lyrical film is a journey that prompts a universal questioning of our past and future relationship with nature and territory.
Philippe Ginestet, 66, is the owner of the GIFI and TATI chain of stores. With his fortune estimated at 2.3 billion euros, he is the 27th richest Frenchman. But within the closed club of the great French bosses, he is not the only one. Self-made man, French incarnation of the American dream, his management methods are atypical: motivation seminars organized in his luxurious chalet in Megève, poker tournaments between employees, trips to Las Vegas... A corporate culture pushed to the extreme.
In France’s last presidential election, Marine Le Pen, a right-wing candidate, won over 30 per cent of the vote after an attempt to rebrand a party long associated with her controversial father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. See how three of her supporters faced similar obstacles in changing the narrative.
Widely considered an important milestone in Indian Architectural history, the Kanade brothers are a testimony of how life and work can coexist with honesty as the fundamental driving factor. The film ‘Kanade’ gives an insight into the journey and experiences of Shankar & Navnath Kanade as architects and teachers.
This documentary charts 20 years of the French national soccer team, Les Bleus, whose ups and downs have mirrored those of French society.
"Jeunesse Rouge" is a documentary exploring young French Communist revolutionaries fighting for a just and equal society. The film follows their organizing and mobilizing, while delving into the history of the Communist movement in France. Archival footage and interviews with activists show their passionate commitment, from protests and strikes to political education. It highlights the power of youth activism and their potential to bring about change in the face of systemic inequality.
An overview of the works of French film pioneers Louis and Auguste Lumière from 1895 to 1897.
An intimate window into one of the great movements in film history that brought about an evolution in the art of cinema. The documentary portrays the movement with insight on the lives and works of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and other principal players in the New Wave.
When Ines died, she left a very particular legacy, 10 books that read 'For my children'; it was the story of her life. Marked by a youth idyllic love, Ines was forced to marry a violent and womanizer man with whom she had 20 children. In the 50s, she managed to get divorce and 20 years after her death, Luisa, great-granddaughter of INES, reads, rescues and makes visible her history.
Der Glanz von Berlin
DGSE : La Fabrique des agents secrets
At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.