In 1988, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff sat down with legendary director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) at his office in Beverly Hills, California, and turned on his camera for a series of filmed interviews. (A recut of the 1992 TV miniseries Billy, How Did You Do It?)
Billy WilderSelf - Filmmaker
Volker SchlöndorffSelf - Filmmaker / Interviewer
Hellmuth KarasekSelf - Writer / Interviewer
Documentary on the making of Gus Van Sant's "Psycho."
Collection of songs performed at the "Frank Sinatra Spectacular," a 1965 benefit by the various members of the Rat Pack.
Benjamina Miyar Díaz (1888-1961) led an unusual life in her house on calle del Agua in Corao, Asturias, at the foot of the Picos de Europa mountain range in northern Spain: she was a photographer and watchmaker for more than forty years, but she also fought in her own humble and heroic way against General Franco's dictatorship.
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.
An account of the personal and artistic life of the Spanish singer Peret (1935-2014), the artist who imaginatively mixed various musical styles, such as mambo, tanguillo and rock, to create the gypsy rumba. An epic adventure, from a humble neighborhood of Barcelona to the biggest stages of the world.
On September 14, 1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini played his last game of football, before his death, in San Benedetto del Tronto. “The last match of Pasolini” starts from a pretext of a football game, to tell a historical period that was fundamental for the whole of Italy, with its contradictions and tragedies, through an apparently playful vision of Pasolini, but that allows us to understand better the importance of the Italian poet and director.
Actors Anne Dorval, Suzanne Clément, Monia Chokri, Gaspard Ulliel, Vincent Cassel, Niels Schneider and Melvil Poupaud discuss working with the young Canadian director Xavier Dolan, who has conquered the hearts of both cinema lovers and prestigious festival juries with his films. To French actress Nathalie Baye, he seems very experienced despite his young age, while Cannes Director Thierry Frémaux says he may be insolent, but everyone agrees he is passionate, creative, a perfectionist and... in a hurry.
Handbook of Movie Theaters’ History is a documentary about the history, the development in the present days and the future of movie theaters in the city of Turin, Italy. It mixes the documentary language with comedy and fiction, and is enriched by interviews to some of the most important voices of Turin cinematography. The film follows the evolution of movie theaters by enlightening its main milestones: the pre-cinema experiences in the late 19th Century, the colossals and the movie cathedrals of the silent era, the arthouse theaters, the National Museum of Cinema, the Torino Film Festival, the movie theaters system today and the main hypothesis about its future.
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.
Comedy special spotlighting Tracey Ullman’s larger than life character Ruby Romaine from HBO's Tracey Takes On (1996–1999). After an illustrious career, veteran Hollywood makeup artist Ruby has decided to call it quits. Or has she? In her makeup trailer, Ruby tells a series of hilarious tales and explains why she reconsidered her retirement. With Debbie Reynolds, Jane Kaczmarek.
In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, and left Stockholm to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special film buffs, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An abridged version of Bergman's Video, 2012.)
When Forgotten Silver — the story of pioneer filmmaker Colin McKenzie — unspooled on 29th October 1995, in a Sunday TV slot normally reserved for drama, many believed the fable was fact. Controversy ensued as a public reacted (indignant, thrilled) to having the wool pulled over their eyes. Costa Botes, who originated the mockumentary, later made this doco, looking at the construction of McKenzie's epic, tragic, yet increasingly ridiculous story. He interviews co-conspirator Peter Jackson and other pranksters, and they muse on the film's priceless impact.
A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.
A detailed history of documentary filmmaking in the US and the UK from 1929 to 1945. The first part, Working for Change, focuses on 1929-1941 and the social movements of the times, The Great Depression, The New Deal, and the awakening of the Leftwing in the UK. The second part, The Strategy of Truth, focuses on 1933-1946 and explores the role of film as propaganda during World War II, and the different forms it took in the US, the UK, and Germany.
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.
How did Marilyn Monroe become one of the greatest sex symbols of all time? What drove a prudish little Californian girl, who was not especially pretty nor exceptionally talented, to become this incredibly striking platinum blonde superstar? How did she become the icon capable of balancing innocence with raw sensuality, whilst continuing to captivate the masses to this day? How did she achieve this? And what price did she pay?
A documentary on Fellini’s lost alternate ending for 8½
A moving account, in his own words, of the personal life and work of the brilliant Czech filmmaker Miloš Forman (1932-2018): his tragic childhood, his major contribution to the cultural movement known as the Czech New Wave, his exile in Paris, his troubled days in New York, his rise to stardom in Hollywood; a complete existence in the service of cinema.
Film director and screenwriter Seijun Suzuki (1923-2017), who in the sixties was the great innovator of Japanese cinema; and his collaborator, art director and screenwriter Takeo Kimura (1918-2010), recall how they made their great masterpieces about the Yakuza underworld for the Nikkatsu film company.
A look at the life and work of Christina Lindberg, the most famous Swedish model of the 1970s and star of exploitation cinema.