A never before seen look at the meteoric rise of Derrick Rose, the young Chicago superstar that was suddenly derailed by devastating injuries and unrealistic expectations for a hometown hero.
Mel Gibson, Australian-raised US actor and film director, rose to stardom in the late 1980s, a privileged status he enjoyed for nearly two decades until his fall from grace due to his controversial opinions and scandals. Angel face, tormented soul: who is Mel Gibson really?
Acknowledged as one of the greatest singers of the twentieth century, Arena explores the rise of the legendary crooner Frank Sinatra from his early family background to overwhelming show business success. Interviews with friends, family and associates reveal a star-studded career in music and film alongside a fascinating private life of four marriages, liaison with the Kennedy family, Las Vegas business interests and an alleged association with the Mafia
Kirk Douglas recounts his remarkable life in a celebrated one-man theater performance augmented with rare film highlights. He shares memories of family, marriages, other Hollywood greats, breaking the blacklist and his life-altering stroke – all with honesty and humor.
Anthony Perkin’s face and name remain familiar to a younger 21st century audience, fond of Giallo and slashers. But he has long struggled in the shadow of his most famous character, Norman Bater – the seria killer in Alfred Hitschcock’s masterpiece, “Psycho". We also discover that he was an amazing crooner. His greatest success, “Moonlight Swim”, will be taken up by Elvis Presley. He even directed “Psycho III” – proof of his reconciliation with his favorite bogeyman.
Heroine of the Halloween film series, or accomplice in a crazy scam in A Fish Called Wanda, Jamie Lee Curtis is, at 62, still as credible, funny, and a wildly free pop actress.
A walk through the career of French filmmaker André Téchiné, from his own point of view and that of those who worked with him: Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Béart, Juliette Binoche and Sandrine Kiberlain, among others.
A documentary by Donna Zaccaro about the political trailblazer, Geralidine Ferraro. Featuring interviews with Bill and Hillary Clinton, George and Barbara Bush, Walter Mondale, and Geraldine Ferraro herself, among others, this is a heartwarming and engrossing portrait of the first woman who was nominated for vice president, whose legacy still reverberates today.
An hour-long documentary on the life and career of actor David Gulpilil.
Surpassed only by the Bible and Shakespeare, Agatha Christie is the most successful writer of all time. We all know her characters and incredible plot twists, but what do we know about Agatha herself? Combining rare access to Agatha's family, her personal archive and speaking to those who know her work best, discover what made the world's most successful crime writer tick.
As if directing a science-fiction film, Johana Ožvold dissects the story of electronic music. From the pioneer sound engineers working behind the Iron Curtain, through the French avant-garde composers, up to the post-modern creators of digital sonic artefacts, the first-time filmmaker summons an abstract landscape that is haunting and yet achingly beautiful. A voice appears from old television screens forgotten in the maze of some futuristic archive where past and future seem to coexist in a complex and multi-layered way.
Johnny Depp started off as a punk band guitarist, turning to acting to help pay the bills. But his dabbling catapulted him to global fame and there was no going back. Throughout his career, Depp has had fame and infamy in equal measure. His roles are often that of the isolated anti-hero: Edward Scissorhands, Donnie Brasco, Raoul Duke in Las Vegas Parano, and Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. His poetic outsider characters reveal a critical view of American society.
The “Film about the Father” is a difficult genre. Andreas Goldstein, son of the GDR cultural functionary Klaus Gysi (1912–1999) has tackled this task with a complete lack of vanity, but with insistence: measured and calm, honest and intellectual, analytical and personal. He uncovers a mosaic that renounces both the teleologies of the self-styled winners of history and the simplifications of (West) German Oscar nominees. This film is not about the lives of others, but about his own life. Not about yesterday, about today, too.
It is the evocation of a life as brief as it is dense. An encounter with a dazzling thought, that of Frantz Fanon, a psychiatrist of West Indian origin, who will reflect on the alienation of black people. It is the evocation of a man of reflection who refuses to close his eyes, of the man of action who devoted himself body and soul to the liberation struggle of the Algerian people and who will become, through his political commitment, his fight, and his writings, one of the figures of the anti-colonialist struggle. Before being killed at the age of 36 by leukemia, on December 6, 1961. His body was buried by Chadli Bendjedid, who later became Algerian president, in Algeria, at the Chouhadas cemetery (cemetery of war martyrs ). With him, three of his works are buried: “Black Skin, White Masks”, “L’An V De La Révolution Algérien” and “The Wretched of the Earth”.
The life and times of Orlando Silva, the famed singer from the golden age of Brazilian radio.
Frank Scheffer's (collage like) documentary on the American composer and rock guitarist Frank Zappa, as broadcast by VPRO in the Netherlands April 22,2007. Most of what’s on here is seen before, particularly in Roelof Kier’s 1971 documentary and/or Scheffer’s own documentary “A present day composer refuses to die”. But there is some new stuff too, particularly interviews with Denny Walley, Haskell Wekler, Elliot Ingber and Bruce Fowler.
Artist Katinka Simonse, alias Tinkebell, is a controversial, very mediagenic phenomenon. In her universe there is no distinction between life, art and activism; Tinkebell is her own work of art. Everything she encounters on her life path can become part of her story. Filmmaker Judith de Leeuw was given access to all images about Tinkebell, including her entire private archive. She thus constructed an archive film about how as a human being, living on the ruins of the past, you can be a character in your own story. What is the price you can afford if you continue to believe at any cost?
From Vogue magazine fashion photographer to filmmaker, painter and sculptor, Bailey is the working-class Londoner who befriended the stars, married his muses (Jean Shrimpton, Catherine Deneuve, Marie Helvin) and captures the spirit and elegance of his times with his refreshingly simple approach and razor-sharp eye. He is also the man whose life and work inspired one of the cult movies of the sixties, Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up, and who has constantly travelled the globe either with the most beautiful models or chronicling the contemporary reality of Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Vietnam, Afghanistan and other countries with ground-breaking reportages. Above all, Bailey is a romantic with a delightful sense of humour approaching his 73rd year and showing no sign of slowing up. Director Jérôme de Missolz has created an engaging portrait of this very private man who bared the soul of the swinging sixties and seventies with his photographs and films.
“Grindland – Red, Monk and the Birth of DIY” is the story of Mark Scott and Mark Hubbard, two visionary skaters from the Pacific Northwest who, along with dedicated friends, kickstarted the modern DIY/concrete skatepark revolution. From the early days of Burnside to 2019’s Rip Ride Rally, this film explores the friendship, struggle, triumph and tragedy of true iconoclasts, hellbent on building the skateparks of their dreams. With commentary and appearances by Mark Scott, Mark Hubbard, Danyel Scott, Buddy Nichols, Sam Hitz, Peter Hewitt, Kaya Hubbard, Grindline the Band and many more. By Michael Burnett and Matt Bublitz
Helena Bonham-Carter narrates this explorative doc about Noele Gordon. Witness the rise & fall of a soapland queen with access to personal papers and never-before-seen pictures.