Salò: Fade to Black

The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal

July 1986 •English

Among the legends of Hollywood, George Pal takes his place as a true visionary, an innovator and a showman who profoundly shaped the art of motion pictures. A peer of Walt Disney, Pal pioneered stop motion animation and went on to virtually invent the modern science fiction and fantasy film genres. Pal's extraordinary genius molded a dazzling array of films, which earned an incredible total of eight Academy Awards and left a cinematic legacy that served as formative inspiration for the movies of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Gene Roddenberry.

Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood

April 2001 •English

Documentary about the making of 20th Century Fox's 1963 film "Cleopatra," then the most expensive film of all time.

Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star

August 2002 •English

In this documentary on the life of Joan Crawford, we learn why she should be remembered as the great actress she was, and not only as "mommie dearest." caricature she has become. Friends, fellow actors, directors, and others reminisce about their association with her, and numerous film clips show off her talent from her start in silents to bad science fiction/horror movies at the end of her career.

Glorious Technicolor

December 1998 •English

The history of color photography in motion pictures, in particular the Technicolor company's work.

Welcome to Sherwood! The Story of 'The Adventures of Robin Hood'

January 2003 •Dutch

Film historians examines the making of the 1938 "The Adventures of Robin Hood."

Embracing Chaos: Making The African Queen

March 2010 •English

The epic story of how the film The African Queen (1951), directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, was shot on real African locations, barely overcoming all kinds of hardships and disasters.

The Rules of Film Noir

August 2009 •English

Matthew Sweet explores his rules of 1940s and 50s American film noir thrillers.

Wagner & Me

November 2012 •English

Actor and writer Stephen Fry explores his passion for the world's most controversial composer, Richard Wagner. As a life-long fan can Stephen, who is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust, salvage Wagner's music from its dark associations with anti-Semitism and Hitler?

Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker

September 1995 •Dutch

A biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, mogul and the power behind 20th Century Fox throughout the Golden Age.

Disneyland Dream

July 1956 •English

A home movie made by Robbins and Meg Barstow that documents their family's free trip to the newly opened Disneyland. The one-week trip was a prize that they won in a contest sponsored by Scotch tape.

Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic

January 1993 •Dutch

The story of how the classic epic "Ben-Hur" was made.

I Don’t Just Want You to Love Me

June 1992 •German

A documentary about the life and work of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'

March 2008 •English

The making-of documentary of Bonnie and Clyde.

Brando

May 2007 •English

The life and legacy of Marlon Brando and how he changed acting.

The Augustas

February 1930 •English

Scott Nixon, a traveling salesman based in Augusta, Ga., was an avid member of the Amateur Cinema League who enjoyed recording his travels on film. In this 16-minute silent film, Nixon documents some 38 streets, storefronts and cities named Augusta in such far-flung locales as Montana and Maine.

A Personal Journey Through Cinema History with Thomas Pollock

July 2016 •English

Covering over 100 years of cinema, this is a journey of discovering and exploring the magic of cinema from a personal perspective. Looking at the changes and developments of cinema Thomas explains how film has deeply affected his life as a person and a filmmaker.

Monsieur Truffaut Meets Mr. Hitchcock

August 1999 •English

When Francois Truffaut approached Alfred Hitchcock in 1962 with the idea of having a long conversation with him about his work and publishing this in book form, he didn't imagine that more than four years would pass before Le Cinéma selon Hitchcock finally appeared in 1966. Not only in France but all over the world, Truffaut's Hitchcock interview developed over the years into a standard bible of film literature. In 1983, three years after Hitchcock's death, Truffaut decided to expand his by now legendary book to include a concluding chapter and have it published as the "Edition définitive". This film describes the genesis of the "Hitchbook" and throws light on the strange friendship between two completely different men. The centrepieces are the extracts from the original sound recordings of the interview with the voices of Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, and Helen Scott – recordings which have never been heard in public before.

Vivement Truffaut

July 1985 •French

A tribute to the late, great French director Francois Truffaut, this documentary was undoubtedly named after his last movie, Vivement Dimanche!, released in 1983. Included in this overview of Truffaut's contribution to filmmaking are clips from 14 of his movies arranged according to the themes he favored. These include childhood, literature, the cinema itself, romance, marriage, and death.

Le Club: Claude Jade

April 2001 •French

Silent Shakespeare

June 2000 •English

A BFI collection of 7 short films from the USA, England and Italy scored for Piano, Guitar and String Quartet.