1958: Those Who Said No

On October 4, 2018, France celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Fifth Republic. It is a republic born in the throes of the Algerian War and one which—from the day it was founded by General de Gaulle until the presidency of a very Jupiterian Emmanuel Macron—has been assailed as a “Republican monarchy” by partisans of a more assertive parliamentarian state. By revisiting the struggle of those who dared oppose the new regime — only to suffer a crushing defeat on September 28, 1958, when they were barely able to garner 20% of the vote against the constitutional text — this film shines a powerful new light on the origins of the Fifth Republic and its consequences for the next 60 years. It is a constitutional debate that planted the seeds for a complete upheaval of the French political landscape, on the left in particular, and set the country in motion toward what would be called the Union of the Left.

2018-10-06 | fr

Mauss, Segundo Suas Alunas

Biography of the ideas and teachings of Marcel Mauss, considered the founder of Anthropology who lived and wrote in the first half of the 20th century, in France. His work is discussed through the testimony of three students, carried out in Paris between 1997 and 1999. Denise Paulme died 4 months after the interview, Germaine Diertelen died 9 months later and Germaine Tillion, aged 95 in 2002, still works. The three were part of the first generation of French anthropologists, formed in the 1930s.

2002-11-02 | pt

Dans les coulisses du métro de Paris

2016-10-20 | fr

Ministre ou rien

This is the unlikely story of 21 ministers and prime ministers who have crossed or are crossing the french Fifth Republic today. Twenty-one politicians who, from one day to the next, find themselves at the head of a ministry by the grace of a President of the Republic and his Prime Minister. The formation of the government, conflicts of attribution, reshuffles, rumours of appointments, evictions, casting errors: it is all the capricious backstage of the games of power examined here under the angle of confidence and which sheds light on the prestigious but unknown function of minister. An original and instructive political saga on the reality of those who hold or have held this prestigious position.

2014-06-25 | fr

L’enfer de Matignon

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.

2008-10-23 | fr

1940: Taking over French Cinema

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.

2019-05-19 | fr

The Blues: Another Story of France

This documentary charts 20 years of the French national soccer team, Les Bleus, whose ups and downs have mirrored those of French society.

2016-09-04 | fr

Dans le vent

Short subject on how fashion is created-- not by the great couturiers, but on the street.

1963-10-10 | fr

A World Within a World: The Bay Houses of Long Island

Bay houses were created in the late 1800s, and are maintained and enjoyed by families for generations. In this documentary, experience the unique and special way of life that, in our time, exists nowhere else in America but on the South Shore of Long Island, New York.

2020-03-01 | en

Cinéma! Cinéma! The French New Wave

An intimate window into one of the great movements in film history that brought about an evolution in the art of cinema. The documentary portrays the movement with insight on the lives and works of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and other principal players in the New Wave.

1992-06-18 | en

Nausicaa: The Largest Aquarium in Europe

2019-05-17 | fr

La Vie sans Brahim

2003-01-10 | fr

Rester là-bas

Algiers. From the port to the souks, passing through the Jardin d'Essai, Dominique Cabrera transports us to the land where she was born, on the other side of the Mediterranean "where the sea is saltier". If most of the pieds-noirs left Algeria in the summer of 1962, some -a minority- remained. By going to meet them, the director makes her own inner journey.

1992-01-01 | fr

This Naked Age

"This Nude World" is a groundbreaking 1932 "documentary" celebrating the age-old tradition of playing volleyball in you socks... and nothing else. The film purports to pose probing questions about the morality of nudist colonies o cover its actual aim of getting naked people on screen... primarily in long shots. A highlight of the film is the peeks at the phenomena in Germany, France (including Lido de Paris) and the United States along with wonderful pre-WWII footage of the cities visited A real hoot. It passed the National Board of Review in 1932.

1932-11-14 | en

La Garoupe

Home movie from Man Ray while on vacation with Pablo Picasso, Paul, Nusch and Cecile Eluard, Emily Davies, Valerie and Roland Penrose. The friends have fun with themselves and performing for the camera.

1937-12-29 | fr

Ady

Very brief view of Man Ray and his friend Ady Fidelin while at a seaside resort

1938-12-29 | fr

1789

Recording of the play 1789, a collective creation by Théâtre du Soleil at La Cartoucherie de Vincennes in 1970, edited from several shows.

1974-05-28 | fr

The Sociologist and the Bear Cub

Between September 2012 and May 2013, France is debating the upcoming marriage equality laws. During those nine months, sociologist Irène Théry talks about what is at stake with her son Mathias Théry, who will make a movie with Étienne Chaillou out of those hours of conversations. It is a documentary about the social debate in France, but also about family and intimacy.

2016-06-04 | fr

Les secrets de la belle endormie

2020-06-17 | fr

Chambord: The Castle, the King and the Architect

Chambord, the most impressive castle in the Loire Valley, in France, a truly Renaissance treasure, has always been an enigma to generations of historians. Why did King Francis I (1494-1547), who commissioned it, embark on this epic project in the heart of the marshlands in 1519? What significance did he want the castle to have? What role did his friend, Italian genius Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) play? Was he the architect or who was?

2015-12-05 | fr