Paris, 1960s. Momo, a resolute and independent Jewish teenager who lives with his father, a sullen and depressed man, in a working-class neighborhood, develops a close friendship with Monsieur Ibrahim, an elderly Muslim who owns a small grocery store.
"A Woman of Paris" (1923) was the first film Chaplin made for United Artists Film Corporation, which he founded with his friends Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith. Chaplin had long considered making a dramatic feature. For the first time, he decided to direct. Actress and filmmaker Liv Ullmann analyses the film. She talks about the acting, the originality of the characterizations, as well as the "feminine" viewpoint Chaplin adopted for the first time in his films.
In a series of long interviews, 12 prime ministers talk about their experience in the upper echelons of power. The function of prime minister, torn between the president and the parliament, appointed without necessarily being elected but responsible for everything, is at the center of debate. With the exception of Jacques Chirac (1974-1976 and 1986-1988), deliberately left out because of his image as French President, those who governed France for the past 35 years agreed to discuss the exercise of power, as seen through archive footage, but also how they experienced it personally. Filmed in the same studio and sitting in the same chair, 12 French prime ministers talk freely about their time in office, from their appointment until their resignation.
Ydessa Hendeles' exhibition entitled "The living and the Artificial" (consisting of works of art all comprising a photograph of living persons in the company of one or several teddy bears) had puzzled Agnès Varda so much that she decided to go to Toronto where the artist lives and interview her. In front of Agnes Varda's DV camera, Ydessa tells about the singularity of her artistic approach. She also expresses herself about the Holocaust, which both her parents survived.
A barefoot contessa, a screwed-up princess, an exquisite drunk, a bawdy aristocrat, a nightmare for puritanical America and the moguls of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Ava Gardner never stopped loving those she loved. She turned women green and made men sweat. And rejected with all her force the bulwark of normality.
A documentary on Louis de Funès based on unseen archives and film extracts, interviews from close friends and comedy specialists.
A top glamour girl in the 1940's, and the ultimate femme fatale, the"Love Goddess" Rita Hayworth went from a dancer in Brooklyn to Columbia Pictures' biggest star, sharing the screen with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, and Fred Astaire. As she tragically lost her memory to Alzheimer's disease, she could not escape the systematic manipulation she was forced to endure from the Hollywood elite.
Over the mountains of Northern Mongolia lies the shadow of a mystery that generations of adventurers, scientists, and historians have tried to solve since the 13th century: the location of the tomb of the greatest conqueror of all time, Genghis Khan.
Documentary about the making of Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film "Notorious."
Portrait of Panama Al Brown, a great boxer in the 30's, and its story with France, with a focus on its relationship with Jean Cocteau, surrealist, poet, director, artist.
Star at 17 years with the series of Sissi, Romy Schneider leaves Austria and glory for the love of Alain Delon. From Luchino Visconti to Otto Preminger, through Zulawski and Costa Gravas, she turned with the greatest. The directors interview those who knew her, who loved her, go back to the filming locations, make archive images speak for themselves... and try to detect the part of mystery that Romy Schneider conceals for ever.
The series explores the epic history of evolutionary challenges to mammals to reveal how they finally achieved predominance over other species in the world after dinosaurs and how the present ecosystem developed through meteorite impact, volcanic activities, and tectonic movements.
A native of the capital of Catalonia, the architect-urban planner, to whom we owe the Saint-Honoré market in Paris and the Donnelley Building in Chicago, speaks of Barcelona with infectious passion. "It's a unique city, difficult to understand with conventional diagrams, he explains, criss-crossing the main arteries of the city". It is an unfinished city, constantly changing, where everything has the charm of the unfinished". With a sharp eye, Ricardo Bofill observes and comments on volumes and scrolls. Standing, in the nave of the Sagrada Familia, arms outstretched, it pivots on itself as if to take in space. "You have to have your eyes wide open, move quietly, and at the same time remember what's behind. This is how we have the sense of space. Otherwise this art does not exist."
While the French are the second biggest consumers of pizza in the world, today premium pizza is everywhere. The dough is thick and soft, the toppings of high quality and the recipes inventive. The prices soar, however: the world champion of pizzas sells his for nearly 20 euros. But are they really worth their price?
An inquiry into two of the most influencial French filmakers friendship and feud.
July 1, 2004, Hollywood lost one of its biggest stars - Marlon Brando. He succumbs to pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 80. Even during his lifetime, the versatile actor was a legend. Surrounded by a unique aura and blessed with great talent, he advanced to become a celebrated star. But his private life resembles a Greek tragedy.
