A tribute to a fascinating film shot by Alfred Hitchcock in 1958, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, and to the city of San Francisco, California, where the magic was created; but also a challenge: how to pay homage to a masterpiece without using its footage; how to do it simply by gathering images from various sources, all of them haunted by the curse of a mysterious green fog that seems to cause irrepressible vertigo…
Yul Brynner, the Magnificent (2020)
The incredible story of the mythical Russian-American actor and filmmaker Yul Brynner (1920-85), the most exotic sex-symbol since Rudolph Valentino; the story of the atypical destiny of an international nomad: from the Parisian cabarets to the stages of Broadway and the Hollywood studios. The rise to fame of a multidisciplinary genius who became a king of the screen.
In the Intense Now (2017)
A personal essay which analyses and compares images of the political upheavals of the 1960s. From the military coup in Brazil to China's Cultural Revolution, from the student uprisings in Paris to the end of the Prague Spring.
A Portrait of N. B. (2020)
Through his own photographs, the Basque artist Néstor Basterretxea (1924-2014) is portrayed by the art critic and exhibition curator Peio Aguirre, a great connoisseur of his work and personal archives.
Hitler's Hollywood (2017)
Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1933, when the Nazis came into power, until 1945, when the Third Reich collapsed. (A sequel to From Caligari to Hitler, 2015.)
Talking About Myself Is Hard (2021)
Spanish actress Charo López finds it hard to talk about herself; but she only needs to start reminiscing to discover that her life has been truly exceptional. The story of a legendary actress told by herself.
Michael Douglas: The Prodigal Son (2023)
As the eldest son of the legendary actor and producer Kirk Douglas (1916-2020), it was not easy for Michael Douglas to make his way in Hollywood and, like his father, become a recognized actor and a prestigious producer.
Caligari: When Horror Came to Cinema (2014)
On February 26, 1920, Robert Wiene's world-famous film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin. To this day, it is considered a manifesto of German expressionism; a legend of cinema and a key work to understand the nature of the Weimar Republic and the constant political turmoil in which a divided society lived after the end of the First World War.
Clawing! A Journey Through the Spanish Horror (2014)
In the late sixties, Spanish cinema began to produce a huge amount of horror genre films: international markets were opened, the production was continuous, a small star-system was created, as well as a solid group of specialized directors. Although foreign trends were imitated, Spanish horror offered a particular approach to sex, blood and violence. It was an extremely unusual artistic movement in Franco's Spain.
Auge in Auge - Eine deutsche Filmgeschichte (2008)
This is not merely another film about cinema history; it is a film about the love of cinema, a journey of discovery through over a century of German film history. Ten people working in film today remember their favourite films of yesteryear.
Stephen King: A Necessary Evil (2020)
The American writer Stephen King has been one of the world's best-selling authors for decades. How can the overwhelming success of his numerous works be explained? Perhaps by the boundless inventiveness of his literature? And what else is behind the longevity of his astonishing career?
Charlton Heston: Radical to Right Wing (2023)
A look at the life and work of the iconic US actor Charlton Heston (1923-2008); the embodiment of many mythic heroes who was both a staunch defender of the Civil Rights movement during the sixties and a spokesman for the National Rifle Association in his later years. The extraordinary and controversial public and personal career of one of the greatest film personalities of all time.
Jean-Pierre Mocky, libre et sentimental (2023)
A journey into the mind of French actor and director Jean-Pierre Mocky (1929-2019), author of films both playful and profound, of an impressive richness.
The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy (2013)
This feature-length documentary delves into the trilogy, opening with the inspiration and vision for the new Batman films and inching its way toward the Rises finale and the culmination of nearly a decade of creative blood, sweat and tears. Candid, thoughtful and extensive, and comprised of revealing behind-the-scenes footage, countless interviews, audition tapes (with Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy doning the cape and cowl), and a narrative grip and momentum all its own, it leaves no stone unturned.
Fantômas: A Thoroughly Modern Villain (2022)
The story of Fantômas, the first villain of modernity, from his birth in 1911 as a novel character to his contemporary vicissitudes, passing through Louis Feuillade, André Hunebelle, surrealism and Moscow.
Revolutions Per Second (2012)
A 25-minute visual essay by Kent Jones about Jean-Luc Godard and his film 'Weekend'.
Once There Was Everything (2017)
Kogonada looks at how the motif of doors reverberates through Robert Bresson's work.
The Universe of the Manas (1995)
It has been a lifelong dream of Kyrgyz director Melis Ubukeyev to create an elaborate film version of the Kyrgyz national epic 'Manas'. He spent years working with the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan to gather material for this film project, which was ultimately to remain a dream. However, the director's efforts were not in vain: Not only did he make films in 1962 and 1988 about the highly respected Manasçı – folk singers who passed on the epic over countless generations in melodic speech –, but in 1995, on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of 'Manas', he also made a beguiling essay film that not only outlines the plot of the epic with the help of magnificent images and lavish costumes, but also gives a semi-documentary account of the history of the Kyrgyz people interwoven with the myth. Long inaccessible, the essay film has recently been restored by the film studio Kyrgyzfilm and uploaded to YouTube in 4K.
Sex, Sensations & Superstars: The History of Danish Silent Cinema (2020)
Documentary on the rise and fall of the Danish silent film industry.
The Untameable Kirk Douglas (2017)
The story of actor Kirk Douglas, the man and the legend, one of the last stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. An epic journey through the 20th century and the entire history of Hollywood. A testimony of the huge scope of his life and the scale of the myth. The untameable Kirk Douglas, the ragman's son.