Candid interviews of ordinary people on the meaning of happiness, an often amorphous and inarticulable notion that evokes more basic and fundamentally egalitarian ideals of self-betterment, prosperity, tolerance, economic opportunity, and freedom.
Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate (2010)
Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate is a French documentary film that consists primarily of interviews with Kurosawa’s European collaborators from the time of the making of Ran, with footage from the film interspersed between the talking heads.
The Comic Book Greats: Rob Liefeld and Todd McFarlane (1991)
Rob Liefeld and Todd McFarlane create a new character.
The Comic Book Greats: Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis (1992)
Stan Lee interviews Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis
Panoramas (2019)
In 1829 the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt attempted a russian-siberian expedition. Humboldt travelled to obtain a clear view of nature, people and life in this immense country. 2019 naturalists and humanists attempted a transdisciplinary expedition on the trails of Humboldt. To capture the events various cameras were taken along. A non-chronological narration.
Mach 2 (2016)
The Concorde remains a legend of the sky. In both looks and performance, it was incomparable, and the technology behind it was nothing less than revolutionary. Learn all about this magnificent craft that was able to fly at over 1300 mph, linking Paris and London to New York in under 4 hours. A unique flying machine, it remains the only supersonic commercial aircraft in the history of aviation.
Birds of America (2022)
In the first half of the 19th century, the French ornithologist Jean-Jacques Audubon travelled to America to depict birdlife along the Mississippi River. Audubon was also a gifted painter. His life’s work in the form of the classic book ‘Birds of America’ is an invaluable documentation of both extinct species and an entire world of imagination. During the same period, early industrialisation and the expulsion of indigenous peoples was in full swing. The gorgeous film traces Audubon’s path around the South today. The displaced people’s descendants welcome us and retell history, while the deserted vistas of heavy industry stretch across the horizon. The magnificent, broad images in Jacques Loeuille’s atmospheric, modern adventure reminds us at the same time how little - and yet how much - is left of the nature that Audubon travelled around in. His paintings of the colourful birdlife of the South still belong to the most beautiful things you can imagine.
Paul Schrader: Man in a Room (2020)
In the sixth installment of the Criterion Channel's Meet the Filmmakers series, director Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Listen Up Philip) visits the ever-iconoclastic auteur Paul Schrader during the making of his 2017 masterpiece First Reformed. On set and at home- where, for his own pleasure, he continues to work and rework his previous films- Schrader reflects on the highs and lows of his legendary career, the challenges and rewards of slow cinema, and the influences and experiences that continue to shape his approach to filmmaking. With this insightful portrait of one of his filmmaking heroes, Perry captures an artist who is continually at play, intentionally provocative, and never less than vital.
An Obese World (2020)
As obesity progresses inexorably, Sylvie Gilman and Thierry de Lestrade investigate the causes of this planetary plague and reveal the fight waged in certain countries to stem it.
Global Metal (2008)
In GLOBAL METAL, directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn set out to discover how the West's most maligned musical genre - heavy metal - has impacted the world's cultures beyond Europe and North America. The film follows metal fan and anthropologist Sam Dunn on a whirlwind journey through Asia, South America and the Middle East as he explores the underbelly of the world's emerging extreme music scenes; from Indonesian death metal to Chinese black metal to Iranian thrash metal. GLOBAL METAL reveals a worldwide community of metalheads who aren't just absorbing metal from the West - they're transforming it - creating a new form of cultural expression in societies dominated by conflict, corruption and mass-consumerism.
Betty Boop Forever (2020)
Betty Boop was one of the stars of the early cartoon era. As her name suggests - Boob stands for breasts - Betty Boop's trademark is her sex appeal. But what does the black and white female figure really embody? Is she a child woman, an object of lust, a femme fatale or an early feminist?
L'Âge d'or de la pub (2023)
55 years ago, on October 1 1968, the first brand advertising spot appeared on the French television screen. Over the next three decades, thousands of creative little films would seduce and build our collective memory. Kitschy or cult spots, humor, slogans, music, stars, gimmicks, grand spectacle or sex appeal: during its golden age, how did advertising convince? Thierry Ardisson has brought together almost 400 advertising clips to relive the era of the conquest of minds and wallets.
Packed Lunch (2005)
What is it about Speedos? Well here Australian director Tim Hunter is on a mission to find the answer to the question of why so many gay men can't seem to get enough of hunks in tight fitting trunks? Although somehow I think the answer can be found in the question! Anyway in a bid to discover the truth, Hunter has carried out a series of interviews with men who have more than a passing interest in this briefest of garment, including that of Speedo designer Peter Travis, who here relates his part in the history of 'the male equivalent of the Wonder Bra.'
American Hardcore (2006)
Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.
Eduardo Coutinho, 7 de outubro (2013)
A conversation with Brazilian documentary filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho about his work and methods.
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000)
Revisiting the 1994 Arkansas murder of three 8-year-old boys and the three teenagers convicted of the crime. A follow up to Paradise Lost, Revelations features new interviews with the convicted men, as well as with the original judge and police investigators.
Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998)
Roddy McDowall takes you, film by film, from production meetings to make-up sessions, then right onto the movie set to see the actual filming of the science fiction masterpiece. The most comprehensive history of Planet of the Apes ever created, this fascinating 127-minute documentary explores one of the most imaginative and influential series in movie history.
Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex (2015)
The Frankenstein Complex takes a historical as well as a creative perspective, with a mix of fascinating scenes behind the camera, film clips, and dozens of interviews with all the big names in the industry. In addition to the many wonderful anecdotes, the film also offers a wealth of beautiful test material, while along the way showing how the art of filmmaking has changed over the years. An affectionate ode to monster makers throughout history.