Paris, 1940. German occupation forces create a new film production company, Continental, and put Alfred Greven – producer, cinephile, and opportunistic businessman – in charge. During the occupation, under Joseph Goebbels’s orders, Greven hires the best artists and technicians of French cinema to produce successful, highly entertaining films, which are also strategically devoid of propaganda. Simultaneously, he takes advantage of the confiscation of Jewish property to purchase film theaters, studios and laboratories, in order to control the whole production line. His goal: to create a European Hollywood. Among the thirty feature films thus produced under the auspices of Continental, several are, to this day, considered classics of French cinema.
Sensitive lookback on Françoise Hardy's career and life.
Part of BBC Four's Black Music Legends of the 1980s, this documentary explores how Prince - showman, artist, enigma - revolutionized the perception of black music in the 1980s with worldwide hits such as "1999," "Kiss," "Raspberry Beret" and "Alphabet Street." He became a global sensation with the release of the Oscar-winning, semi-autobiographical movie "Purple Rain" in 1984, embarking on an incredible journey of musical self-discovery that continues to this day.
Year after year hundreds of thousands of fans line the route of the Tour de France, cheering on their heroes and willing them to victory, while millions of viewers worldwide tune in on their televisions. Academy Award-winning director Pepe Danquart, fascinated by the spectacle of the three week race, chose to focus on the courage, the pain and the fear of the riders of the Tour. Training his lens on German superstar sprinter Eric Zabel and his loyal domestique Rolf Aldag, Danquart captures the thrill of the race and the teamwork behind the stars of the peleton. He also shines light on the Tour's supporting cast - the director sportifs, masseurs, and, of course, the wildly enthusiastic fans. Reveling in the stunning landscape - from the Alps to the Pyrenees to the Massif Central to Paris - and with a nice dollop of Le Tour's history, HELL ON WHEELS transcends the sport it celebrates to reveal an astonishing human endeavor.
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.
Concerning Violence is based on newly discovered, powerful archival material documenting the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation in the Third World, accompanied by classic text from The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon.
A documentary that shows the different fauna that populates natural habitats of France, and the people that aims to protect and preserve them.
"I was visiting Jerome Hill. Jerome loved France, especially Provence. He spent all his summers in Cassis. My window overlooked the sea. I sat in my little room, reading or writing, and looked at the sea. I decided to place my Bolex exactly at the angle of light as what Signac saw from his studio which was just behind where I was staying, and film the view from morning till after sunset, frame by frame. One day of the Cassis port filmed in one shot." -JM
This short explores the possibility that Louis XVII, son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, escaped death during the French Revolution and was raised by Indians in America.
Three guys with a big dream: _taking part in the Tour de France with their own cycling-team._ In this documentary you'll see how three Youtubers start their proffessional cycling team in the lowest cycling-league; Continental, and climb the ladder to the next one in just one year. Are they ready for the next step: taking part in the biggest races on the planet? This is the story of Tour de Tietema-Unibet Cycling Team.
Mark Vashro travels by bicycle from Boston to San Diego through the southern regions of the United States. As he travels, he meets fascinating people and asks them how they ended up where they are. He meets Dave, an alcoholic from Virginia who is trying to reach his family in North Carolina. A woman in New Orleans who used to be an acclaimed designer in New York but realized it wasn't the right life for her. A fisherman living in a self built, single room house in the marshes of Louisiana, wondering how the oil spill will affect his life. These people along with amazing experiences and scenery tell a story of great adventure and human experience.
A tribute to the cartoonist and filmmaker Chaval, aka Yvan Francis Le Louarn.
Paris-Brest-Paris is a cycling spectacle like no other. Once every 4 years, over 7,000 cyclists from across the globe head to France’s capital to take on this gruelling 1200 km. Thousands of spectators flock to the roadsides of North-West France to support the riders; some of whom will be attempting to finish first, riding non-stop for over 48 hours, whilst others are just trying to make it back to Paris before the 90 hour cut off time. We follow British amateur riders Jack Thurston and Amy Hudson as they tackle this monumental challenge for the first time, along with veteran French rider Dominique Lamouller, racing Paris-Brest-Paris for the13th time, along with his son, ex-pro road racer Loïc Lamouller. A gruelling course, intense heat, and sleep deprivation, will our riders make it back to Paris?
Canyon//SRAM racing takes on one of the biggest races on the women’s calendar: the Giro Donne. The GCN+ cameras go behind-the-scenes to capture every single moment. With exclusive access to the team, including established stars and rising talents like Chloé Dygert, Tiffany Cromwell, and Antonia Niedermaier, this fly-on-the-wall documentary pulls back the curtain on how one of the best teams in the business navigates the emotional and physical rollercoaster of a truly dramatic race. With ex-pros Magnus Bäckstedt and Dani Christmas in the team car, expectations are for big performances and big wins. But, with treacherous conditions and big crashes across nine brutal stages, how does the team stay ahead of the competition and deliver results?
GCN presenter and ex-professional cyclist Conor Dunne heads to Midwest America to take on the infamous UNBOUND 200. Alongside 100 pro riders and more than 1000 amateurs, this is the biggest gravel race in the world. Across 330 km of unforgiving Kansas landscape, Conor must battle tyre-slashing flint, thick mud, and crippling heat exhaustion in a fight to make it to the finish. Conor is joined by former World Tour road pros Nathan Haas and Larry Warbasse, up-and coming gravel racer Anna Yamauchi, and 2022 Unbound champion Ivar Slik in this up close and personal, no-holds barred look at what it takes to survive this brutal event.
On the 19th of July 1903 60 cyclists left Paris for the maiden stage of the very first Tour de France, racing 467km through the night to the line in Lyon. 116 years later, two modern-day riders attempted to recreate the feat of endurance using bikes and equipment from the early 20th century to fully experience the highs and lows of the early Tour pioneers. Endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont and GCN presenter James Lowsley-Williams are pushed to the limits of their physical and mental ability, struggling with the midsummer heat, bikes borrowed from museums and a lack of sleep. How did they compare to the Tour’s first heroes?