Shunga: The Lost Japanese Erotica (2023)

Les vendredis d'Apostrophes

Hours and historical meetings, Pierre Assouline has composed an anthology of the best extracts presented in the form of a primer, which he had commented on by a surprised Bernard Pivot.

Florence and the Uffizi Gallery

Follows a trail of over 10 museums and 150 artworks amongst the most well-known in the world. It is an artistic foray into Florence taking in everything from the Brancacci Chapel to the Bargello National Museum, from Palazzo Medici, to the narrow city streets and Brunelleschi’s Dome, from Palazzo Vecchio to the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Gallery, without neglecting picture postcard places such as the Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria.

Sunflowers

Working closely with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Sunflowers goes beyond a ‘virtual exhibition’, delving into the rich and complex stories behind each of the paintings to unveil the mysteries of the sunflowers. What did the flowers mean to Van Gogh, and why do they resonate so much with audiences today? With a striking portrayal of the artist by actor Jamie de Courcey and fascinating insights from art historians, botanists and everything in between, the film offers a unique insight into Van Gogh’s life and artwork.

Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color

Alma W. Thomas lived a life of firsts: the first Fine Arts graduate of Howard University (1924), the first Black woman to mount a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1972), and the first Black woman to have her paintings exhibited in the White House (2009). Yet she did not receive national attention until she was 80.

Secrets of the Mona Lisa

This landmark film uses new evidence to investigate the truth behind Mona Lisa's identity and where she lived. It decodes centuries-old documents and uses state-of-the-art technology that could unlock the long-hidden truths of history's most iconic work of art.

Young Picasso

Pablo Picasso is one of the greatest artists of all time - and right up until his death in 1973 he was the most prolific of artists. Many films have dealt with these later years - the art, the affairs and the wide circle of friends. But where did this all begin? What made Picasso in the first place? Too long ignored, it is time to look at the early years of Picasso; the upbringing and the learning that led to his extraordinary achievements.

Segantini: Back to Nature

Giovanni Segantini rose from humble origins to become the most important of Italian pointillists, and one of the most important symbolist painters in the 19th century. This film focuses on his way of feeling nature as a source of artistic and spiritual inspiration.

Derren Brown: The Great Art Robbery

In this brand new episode, master illusionist and showman Derren Brown plans to pull off the perfect crime. He’s bet renowned art collector Ivan Massow that he can steal a painting from right under his nose. In true Derren style, he will tell Ivan exactly which painting he plans to target – a work by Turner-nominated British brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman no less – as well as what time the theft will happen. He’ll even give him a photograph of the person that’s going to take it.

Palin on Redpath

Michael Palin travels to France in search of the Mediterranean view on his wall, captured by his favourite artist, Scottish painter Anne Redpath. He travels from a London bank, via a chateau in Cap Ferrat and a monastery in Edinburgh.

L'Affaire Caravage

In 2014 a large painting representing Judith Beheading Holofernes was discovered in an attic in Toulouse, France. A controversy ensued immediately about the attribution of the painting's authorship to Caravaggio. The documentary follows a famed art expert in charge of organizing the sale of the painting on behalf of the owners, while specialists debate on its authenticity.

Ashes and Snow

Ashes and Snow, a film by Gregory Colbert, uses both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. The 60-minute feature is a poetic narrative rather than a documentary. It aims to lift the natural and artificial barriers between humans and other species, dissolving the distance that exists between them.

Conquest of Light

Examines the mesmerising construction of clear crystal glass pieces created by the craftsmen of Waterford. The process from the intense heat of the furnace to glass blowing, shaping, cutting, honing, filling and finishing is all depicted in this celebration of the art of creation of Waterford Glass. Academy Award Nominee: Best Live Action Short - 1976.

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists

Directors Jonathan Alter, John Block and Steve McCarthy bring New York columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill’s courageous writing to life, celebrating the acclaimed journalists and the city they loved.

Michael Palin In Wyeth's World

Michael Palin heads for rural Pennsylvania and Maine to explore the extraordinary life and work of one of America's most popular and controversial painters, Andrew Wyeth. Fascinated by his iconic painting Christina's World, Palin goes in search of the real life stories that inspired this and Wyeth's other depictions of the American landscape and its hard grafting inhabitants. Tracking down the farmers, friends and family featured in Wyeth's magically real work, Palin builds a picture of an eccentric, enigmatic and driven painter. He also gets a rare interview with Helga, the woman who put Wyeth back in the headlines when the press discovered he had been painting her nude, compulsively but secretly for 15 years.

Beekeeper

The historical-revolutionary film by Dmitry Frolov, permeated with the romanticism of the revolutionary events of 1917, echoing the moods of August 1991. Since the film was shot the day after the victory over the coup plotters in the USSR in August 1991. All thoughts of the beekeeper - quotations from Lenin's works.

The Lost Leonardo

London, England, 2008. Some of the most distinguished experts on the work of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) gather at the National Gallery to examine a painting known as Salvator Mundi; an event that turns out to be the first act of one of the most fascinating stories in the history of art.

The Warhol Effect

Lifting the lid on the fascinating last decade of Andy Warhol's life and the legacy he left for future artists, through never-before-seen footage and interviews with insiders.

Dalíland

In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps aging genius Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York.

Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous

Mark Rothko, a master of abstract expressionism, created 835 paintings during his five-decade career.

The Naked Truth

A painter, a naked woman, and a camera. In this triple constellation we explore the power of the gaze and the roles it imposes on us. An artist's studio turns into the setting for questions about how we look at and perceive women. The naked skin of the model becomes the canvas for an audiovisual exploration of the ways in which seeing and being seen anchors us in our body. And how this body shapes our experience of the world and our role in it.

Francis Bacon: Fragments of a Portrait

Francis Bacon: Fragments of a Portrait explores the recurring themes in Bacon’s work, his influences and his life. The documentary is accompanied by a haunting score specially composed by Edwin Astley for the production.

Once upon a time... "I, Daniel Blake"

The documentary, filmed in England in autumn 2020, sheds light on the genesis and background of the social drama.

Botticelli, Florence and the Medici

Documentary on the art and culture of Florence in 15th century Tuscany and, in particular, the work of Eary Ranaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1501).

David Hockney: Time Reclaimed

He is a major figure in the pop art movement; one of the most popular and influential artists of his generation. The motifs and colors of his canvasses have been widely reproduced, and are now part of the 20th century art pantheon, changing the way we view the world. Hockney is typically seen as an artist who loves life, a good time, glamour and sex. The highly personal and emotional side of his work is often overlooked, much like the intensity and individuality he has shown in each of his successive periods and styles. Through images, anecdotes, and detailed pictorial analysis, this documentary highlights how the renowned painter defies classification and remains mysterious in many ways: an intense, profound, and infinitely passionate artist.

Factory Girl

In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.

Michael Palin & the Mystery of Hammershøi

In 2005, Michael Palin set out to unlock the mysteries and find out about the background and life of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. Hammershøi painted around the start of the 20th century and many of his pictures have a distinct coolness and distance about them. Palin, wanting to know of his inspirations and the reason for these mystical pictures, starts his search in Hayward Gallery in London, goes to Amsterdam and finally the painters home town, Copenhagen (Denmark).

The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz

The Emmy-winning story of how an American treasure hunter and a Mexican artist transformed a dying desert village into a home for world-class art.

Christo: Wrapped Coast

In 1969, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped 2.5 kilometers of coast and cliffs up to 26 metres along the coast of Little Bay, in Southeast Sydney, Australia.

!W.A.R.: !Women Art Revolution

Through intimate interviews, provocative art, and rare, historical film and video footage, this feature documentary reveals how art addressing political consequences of discrimination and violence, the Feminist Art Revolution radically transformed the art and culture of our times.

Lino Tagliapietra: The Making of a Maestro

Lino Tagliapietra, considered by most as the greatest glassblower in history, is a mentor, motivator, and visionary. Bridging the divide between Italian and American glassblowing, Lino's career has transcended continents and inspired a new generation of glassblowers. Now 85, Lino continues to push the boundaries of the medium, testing the limits to see what both the material and the man can do.

Abbas Kiarostami: The Art of Living

Through an interview with Kiarostami in the Aran Islands and interviews with film critics and scholars at Cannes, the director examines Kiarostami's themes and methods. The director also profiles Kiarostami as a poet and a photographer.