New York in the 1920s. Max Perkins, a literary editor is the first to sign such subsequent literary greats as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. When a sprawling, chaotic 1,000-page manuscript by an unknown writer falls into his hands, Perkins is convinced he has discovered a literary genius.
Clara Immerwahr and her husband to be Fritz Haber are both young and gifted chemists. Their struggle for acknowledgment in nationalistic Germany during World War I lead to the development and use of the first chemical weapons.
Joshua Seigel, the director of the film, tries to find a way to keep himself from disappearing.
Paris, France, February 2, 1922. The novel Ulysses, by Irish writer James Joyce (1882-1941), is published by US poet Sylvia Beach (1887-1962), owner of the small bookstore Shakespeare & Co. The book, whose writing consumed seven years of Joyce's life, years in which his family was in financial need, would have a profound and unprecedented impact on 20th century literature and culture.
The buried memories of the Spanish Civil War are unearthed as a woman searches for the remains of her grandfather's father and discovers the story of an idealistic young teacher from Tarragona.
In 1968 Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys met a dynamic and passionate singer/songwriter and introduced him to Hollywood. The two set out to record that artist's first professional album. The album became known as LIE. In 1969 this artist achieved incredible fame, but not for his music. The artist's name was Charles Manson.
Porto (Portugal), beginning of the 80s. A film crew seeks to understand if there's really the figure of Chico Fininho, immortalized in the popular song of the same name. A bunch of people are interviewed taking us to Boavista - where we find him in a club. After a brief hesitation, the interview happens and we're taken to everyday situations, that can happen to any "freak" of the city...
A biography of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a gangster who started his career at a young age after seeking revenge for his father's murder.
Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. Television producer by day, CIA assassin by night, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA at the height of his TV career and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said.
A Stalinist assassin tracks exiled revolutionary Leon Trotsky to Mexico in 1940.
Already a famous painter, Rembrandt van Rijn is commissioned to paint the Amsterdam Archers' Guild. But upon completion of the picture, the men of the guild feel duped, because they don't consider themselves flatteringly depicted in the painting. They therefore decline to pay for the work. During this dispute, the painter finds out his wife is close to death. He finds himself terribly lonely after her passing and suffers from depression until he decides once more to marry.
Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought together in the French Revolution, but by 1793 Robespierre was France's ruler, determined to wipe out opposition with a series of mass executions that became known as the Reign of Terror. Danton, well known as a spokesman of the people, had been living in relative solitude in the French countryside, but he returned to Paris to challenge Robespierre's violent rule and call for the people to demand their rights. Robespierre, however, could not accept such a challenge, even from a friend and colleague, and he blocked out a plan for the capture and execution of Danton and his allies.
An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting The Night Watch.
The Joan of Arc Case
Dramatization of Russian ballet star Vaclav Nijinsky's diaries which detail his madness as well as his homosexual relationship with Ballet Russe impresario Sergei Diaghilev and his marriage to his Hungarian wife.
After leaving the asylum, Vincent van Gogh settles in the home of Doctor Gachet, where he keeps painting amidst the torments of his failing mental health. He begins an affair with his host’s daughter, however, she soon realizes that he doesn’t love her and that his heart beats only for art.
In the 1960s, British painter Francis Bacon surprises a burglar and invites him to share his bed. The burglar, a working class man named George Dyer, accepts. After the unique beginning to their love affair, the well-connected and volatile artist assimilates Dyer into his circle of eccentric friends, as Dyer's struggle with addiction strains their bond.
The Hitler Gang adopts the style of a gangster film as it charts Adolf Hitler’s rise from small-time politico to dictator of Germany.
An actress will play Barbara, the French singer. The shoot will soon start. The actress works on her character, her voice, the songs, scores, the gestures, knitting, scenes she has to learn, things are going okay, there's progress, development, she is even overwhelmed. The film director also works, through his encounters, through archives, music, he let's himself be submerged, overwhelmed like the actress, by the actress.
An Indonesian man with a communist background named Ramli was brutally murdered when the "Communist" purge occurred in 1965. His remaining family members lived in fear and silence until the making of this documentary. Adi, a brother of his, decided to revisit the horrific incident and visited the men who were responsible for the killings and one survivor of the purge. These meetings uncovered sadistic details of the murders and exposed raw emotions and reactions of the killers' family members about what happened in the past - much to Adi's disappointment.