Les Dessous Secrets de Paris (2017)

We

An urban train link, the RER B, crosses Paris and its outskirts from north to south. A journey within indistinct spaces known as inner cities and suburbs. Several portraits, all individual pieces that form a whole. We.

Maison du Bonheur

When asked to make a documentary about her friend’s mother—a Parisian astrologer named Juliane—the filmmaker sets off for Montmartre with a Bolex to craft a portrait of an infectiously exuberant personality and the pre-war apartment she’s called home for 50 years.

An Opera for an Empire

The amazing and epic story of how the Paris Opera House, the Palais Garnier, was built from 1852 to 1870, thanks to the decisive impulse of the French Emperor Napoleon III; a story that is also that of the birth of a golden age for orchestral music, opera and ballet; of the rise of the urban bourgeoisie turned social elite; and of a certain mysterious inhabitant of the darkest corners of a legendary place.

Chavela

Inspired by an exclusive interview and performance footage of Chavela Vargas shot in 1991 and guided by her unique voice, the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being.

Paris, the Mystery of the Disappeared Palace

In the heart of Paris, an entire palace has disappeared. It was the very first residence of the kings of France. Long before Versailles, long before the Louvre, the Palais de la Cité stood on the most prestigious island in Paris, the historic cradle of France, facing Notre-Dame. So majestic in the Middle Ages, this palace has become a ghost of history. Over the centuries, this architectural masterpiece has almost completely disappeared. A trio of experts will resurrect it in 3D. Using science and unprecedented excavations, they will track down the pieces of the puzzle to reconstruct it at its peak in the 14th century, and bring back to life those who inhabited it. From the Romans to the Vikings, from Saint Louis to the cursed kings, all have left clues of this 'Versailles of the Middle Ages'.

La Doctrine

Narrator dreams of Madrid while being caught in a repetitive loop somewhere in Paris. He questions if his interlocutor is a real human being, as their dialogue, mostly built of citations, doesn't seem to be helping with breaking the loop.

Ghost Dance

Through the experiences of two women in Paris and London, Ghost Dance offers an analysis of the complexity of our conceptions of ghosts, memory and the past. The film focuses on the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, who observes, 'I think cinema, when it's not boring, is the art of letting ghosts come back.' He also says that 'memory is the past that has never had the form of the present.'

Jim Morrison: The End

Paris, Rue Beautreillis, July 3, 1971. The corpse of rock star Jim Morrison is found in a bathtub, in the apartment of his girlfriend Pamela Courson. The chronicle of the last months of the life of the poet, singer and charismatic leader of the American band The Doors, one of the most influential in the history of rock.

Nadja in Paris

Nadja is a guest student, who stays at Cité Universitaire and visits the Sorbonne, while preparing a thesis on Proust; she also likes to stroll about Paris.

Diana: 7 Days That Shook the Windsors

This illuminating documentary examines the aftermath of Princess Diana's tragic death and the tense, dramatic week leading up to her funeral

Wonder Boy

At age 25, Olivier Rousteing was named the creative director of the French luxury fashion house, Balmain. At the time, Rousteing was a relatively unknown designer, but in the decade since, he’s proven his business prowess and artistic instinct by leading Balmain to new heights. Wonderboy gives the viewer the rare opportunity to experience the inner sanctum of the fashion world, as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with this extraordinary individual while he works.

Vjeran Tomic: The Spider-Man of Paris

In his own words, the burglar behind the 2010 robbery of the Paris Museum of Modern Art tells how he pulled off the biggest art heist in French history.

France 1939: One Last Summer

Gustave Folcher, a French farmer, wrote in his 1939 diary that the summer had been long and hot. He was not alone. Many other anonymous French men and women wrote of the beauty and warmth of those summer months and how threats of war were far from their minds. Through home movies, diaries and letters, One Last Summer describes the final weeks of peace in France and the mix of blindness, denial and prophetic clear-sightedness of those facing the war that was about to unfold.

Hauntology of the Retrodromomania

Hauntology of the Retrodromomania is an essayistic motion picture, a locomotory legwork, a deambulatory non-rural land survey, a casual journeying in a punctual dissertation around the phenomenon of the nostalgic feeling, discoursing on a late capitalistic landscape of social emotions, which are of yore, yet coloured of the postmodern tint of pixelated neo-noir, a socio-philosophical flâneur’s trip in critical theory escorted by the spirits of French post-structuralists. For a Sociology of Nostalgia revisited.

Life After People

In this special documentary that inspired a two-season television series, scientists and other experts speculate about what the Earth, animal life, and plant life might be like if, suddenly, humanity no longer existed, as well as the effect humanity's disappearance might have on the artificial aspects of civilization.

The Arc de Triomphe: A Nation's Passion

The pride of Napoleon's victories, the Arc de Triomphe, whose first stone was laid in 1806 at the top of the Champs-Élysées, is, along with the Eiffel Tower, one of the most visited monuments in the French capital. Wanted by an emperor, inaugurated under the reign of a king (Louis-Philippe) and sanctuarized by the Republic, this patriotic temple polarizes the passions of a whole nation. A historical portrait before "packaging", which teems with anecdotes and unsuspected details.

Celebration

A documentary on Yves Saint-Laurent and the legendary fashion designer's final show.

Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris

In 1970, a British film crew set out to make a straightforward literary portrait of James Baldwin set in Paris, insisting on setting aside his political activism. Baldwin bristled at their questions, and the result is a fascinating, confrontational, often uncomfortable butting of heads between the filmmakers and their subject, in which the author visits the Bastille and other Parisian landmarks and reflects on revolution, colonialism, and what it means to be a Black expatriate in Europe.

The True Legend of the Eiffel Tower

This movie is a docudrama relating the early history of the Eiffel Tower: From the planning to its first military use.

Paris Train Stations: Shaping the City

Every day, Paris’ six railway stations welcome over 3,000 trains and more than a million travelers coming from France and all over Europe. The stations’ sizes are impressive: Gare du Nord is bigger than the Louvre or Notre-Dame de Paris. These railway stations are architectural landmarks and a model of urban planning despite the radical changes they’ve undergone since their construction in the middle of the 19th century. How did the railway stations manage to absorb the boom of travelers in just a few decades? What colossal works were necessary to erect and then modify these now essential buildings? From the monumental glass walls of Gare du Nord to the iconic tower of Gare de Lyon, to the first-ever all-electric train station, each has its own story, technical characteristics, and well-defined urban image.

Rendez-vous With Maurice Chevalier

French artist Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972), a legend of stage and screen, was an accomplished singer, actor and entertainer, who embodied the charm of his native Paris throughout a decades-long career that brought him fame in Europe and America and left for show business history a vast repertoire of masterful classic songs and captivating film performances.

Girls' War

As the forces of ISIS and Assad tear through villages and society in Syria and Northern Iraq, a group of brave and idealistic women are taking up arms against them—and winning inspiring victories. Members of “The Free Women’s Party” come from Paris, Turkish Kurdistan, and other parts of the world. Their dream: To create a Democratic Syria, and a society based on gender equality. Guns in hand, these women are carrying on a movement with roots that run 40 years deep in the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey. GIRL’S WAR honors the legacy of Sakine Cansiz, co-founder of the PKK who was assassinated in Paris in 2013, and reflects on the sacrifices made by all of the women in the movement, who have endured jail, rape, war, and persecution in their quest to liberate their lives and sisters from male dominance. With scenes of solidarity, strength, and love amongst these brave women soldiers, GIRL'S WAR is a surprising story of Middle Eastern feminism on the front lines.

Chronicle of a Summer

Paris, summer 1960. Anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch and sociologist and film critic Edgar Morin wander through the crowded streets asking passersby how they cope with life's misfortunes.

Meet Me in Paris

Three single friends travel to Paris for ten days for the journey of a lifetime and in search of true love. From 'meet cutes' at the Luxembourg Gardens, to strolls down the tree-lined Champs-Élysées, will first dates lead to happily ever after or heartbreak?

Ecco

A documentary highlighting some of the oddest, strangest and more grotesque examples of human behavior. Included are a tour of the Grand Guignol theater in Paris, a man who sticks long needles through his body, reindeer being castrated, and footage of lesbians and strippers.

Undermining the Nazis: Paris' Secret Tunnels

Two men show extraordinary courage by secretly mapping Paris' underground during the 1940 German occupation.

TGV Paris-Bordeaux, la ligne de tous les records

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Apolonia, Apolonia

When Danish filmmaker Lea Glob first portrayed Apolonia Sokol in 2009, she appeared to be leading a storybook life. The talented Apolonia was born in an underground theater in Paris and grew up in an artists’ community—the ultimate bohemian existence. In her 20s, she studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, one of the most prestigious art academies in Europe. Over the years, Lea Glob kept returning to film the charismatic Apolonia and a special bond developed between the two young women.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.

Mucha: The Story of an Artist Who Created a Style

Czech painter and illustrator Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) ranks among the pioneers of the Art Nouveau movement at the end of the 19th century. Virtually overnight, he becomes famous in Paris thanks to the posters that he designs to announce actress Sarah Bernhardt’s plays. But at the height of his fame, Mucha decides to leave Paris to realize his lifetime project.

The Women and the Murderer

This documentary traces the capture of serial killer Guy Georges through the tireless work of two women: a police chief and a victim's mother.

The Cinematograph: Birth of an Art

Throughout the 19th century, imaginative and visionary artists and inventors brought about the advent of a new look, absolutely modern and truly cinematographic, long before the revolutionary invention of the Lumière brothers and the arrival of December 28, 1895, the historic day on which the first cinema performance took place.

My aunt Toty

A look at the life of Toty Rodríguez: An actress who made her career in France during the 60s, a well-known Diva in Ecuador as well as an icon of the women rights. She returns to Paris with her nephew to revisit her past in a town that changed her life.

The Plot Against the President

Based on Lee Smith's book of the same name, this documentary follows the story of the biggest political scandal in U.S. history.

Paris 2024 Olympic Closing Ceremony

Like an indelible memory, this Olympic closing ceremony will be marked by audacity, fraternity and emotion. In the heart of the Stade de France, athletes from all over the world will represent their countries one last time in an incredible moment of celebration and sharing. With their eyes riveted to the flame, the emotion will be immense as we close the great Olympic book of Paris 2024.

1924, le Paris des Jeux olympiques

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Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King

When the young founder of a collapsing cryptocurrency exchange dies unexpectedly, irate investors suspect there's more to his death than meets the eye.

Dans le vent

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

NBC's Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony in IMAX

For the first time ever, experience the world's biggest event on the world's biggest screens! It's NBC’s broadcast of the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics, live in IMAX theatres. Witness a ceremony with classic Parisian splendor and style, a star-studded cast of performers, and a spectacular parade of athletes in boats down the River Seine, past the city's most majestic landmarks.

Pacific Club

In 1979, the Pacific Club was opened in the basement of La Défense - the business district of Paris. It was the first nightclub for Arabs from the suburbs; a parallel world of dance, sweat, young loves, and one-night utopias. Azedine, 17 years old at the time, tells us the forgotten story of this club and of this generation who dreamed of integrating into France but who soon came face to face with racism, the AIDS epidemic, and heroin.

André Téchiné: A Passion for Cinema

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.

Paris mange son pain

This short documents the important role played by bread in the daily life of the city of Paris.

Merci Zaza - La folle histoire de la Cage aux Folles

A look back at "La Cage aux Folles", which ran non-stop for five years, from February 1973, on the stage of the Théâtre du Palais Royal in Paris. At a time when homosexuality was considered a crime by the law, Poiret and Serrault achieved great success in boulevard theater. Their success continued on the silver screen, with three Oscar nominations and a Broadway musical. Combining never-before-seen archives from the play, extracts from the film, confessions by Poiret and Serrault, and interviews with witnesses, this is the story of a wild epic.

Echoes from a Sombre Empire

Documentary examining Bokassa's rule in the Central African Republic using the testimony of witnesses and visits to key sites.

Liam

Just after Isidore moves to France to study filmmaking, his best friend dies back in the US. Through documentary, performance, and animation, a ghostly portrait emerges, prompting Isidore to question his relationships with his parents and his boyfriend in Paris.

Gare du Nord : La Plus Grande Gare d'Europe

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U2: iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Live in Paris

1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) 2. Vertigo 3. I Will Follow 4. Iris (Hold Me Close) 5. Cedarwood Road 6. Song For Someone 7. Sunday Bloody Sunday 8. Raised By Wolves 9. Until The End Of The World 10. The Fly 11. Invisible 12. Even Better Than The Real Thing 13. Mysterious Ways 14. Elevation 15. Every Breaking Wave 16. October 17. Bullet The Blue Sky 18. Zooropa 19. Where The Streets Have No Name 20. Pride (In The Name Of Love) 21. With Or Without You 22. Stephen Hawking 'Global Citizen' 23. City Of Blinding Lights 24. Beautiful Day 25. Mother And Child Reunion 26. Bad 27. One 28. People Have The Power 29. I Love You All The Time This special shows U2 playing the Bercy Arena in Paris, showcasing the inventive set that allows the band to explore the concepts of iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE via a performance that literally moves throughout the venue via multiple stages, a one-of-a-kind interactive floor-to-ceiling arena-length LED screen, and a radical new approach to surround sound.

Don't Work (1968-2018)

A year in the life of Elsa Michaud and Gabriel Gauthier, students of Fine Arts in Paris, lovers in troubled times, overwhelmed by maddening verbal and auditory stimuli, witnesses of a globalized violence more visible than ever in a chaotic digital era, in which the slow execution of simple gestures in a silent performance is an act of resistance.

Delphine and Carole

In the 70s, actress Delphine Seyrig and director Carole Roussopoulos, both militant feminists, were the pioneers of video activism in France. They documented the demonstrations of French feminists and used the new technologies to counter the poor representation of women in the public media.

Paris 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony

On 26 July 2024, the largest-ever Olympic Games Opening Ceremony took place, beginning at 7.30 p.m. CET. The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 was an unprecedented experience drawing on the natural light of the setting sun with all its nuances to illuminate the world’s best athletes as they travelled down the Seine, in the heart of the French capital.

When Paris was German

Discovering Paris under the German occupation through the story of an SS soldier and more generally of Wehrmacht soldiers allows us to follow the daily life on the German side. These soldiers enjoyed privileged status, during their stay, they were led to believe that they belong to a social elite, a status unreachable back in Germany during peacetime. And who better than a German who has led such lifestyle to serve as a common thread and tell this story?

Paris 2024 Paralympic Closing Ceremony

On Sunday 8 September at Stade de France, the Closing Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games officially drew 11 days of competition to a close. Called Paris est une fête, the ceremony, directed by Thomas Jolly and designed by Romain Pissenem, paid tribute to the 4,400 athletes who took part. But the ceremony also highlighted the history of electronic music and of Paris as a city of celebration and culture.

Rose, c'est Paris

Bettina Rheims and Serge Bramly's Rose, c'est Paris is both a photographic monograph and a feature-length film. This extraordinary work of art, in two different but interlocking and complementary formats, defies easy categorization. For in this multi-layered opus of poetic symbolism, photographer Bettina Rheims and writer Serge Bramly evoke the City of Light in a completely novel way: this is a Paris of surrealist visions, confused identities, artistic phantoms, unseen manipulation, obsession, fetish, and seething desire.

The Fifteen-Year-Old Widows

One of four film sketches on the problems of adolescents facing the adult world in the 1960s. The three other sketches were directed by Michel Brault, Hiroshi Teshigahara, and Gian Vittorio Baldi.

This Is Sparklehorse

An comprehensive look at the life and music of Mark Linkous, a influential figure in the alternative music scene. Critically-acclaimed Linkous had a dramatic life that saw him battle with drug and alcohol addiction, paralysis, and debilitating depression that resulted in his eventual suicide. Mark's music was heralded by his peers and critics; a mix of delicate pop, discordant punk and melodic odyssey; it has been described as defiantly surrealist with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and celestial bodies. The film mines Marks life and music and navigates the sacrifices and highs and lows of his art.

Peter Handke: In the Woods, Might Be Late

In the sixties, Peter Handke was one of the first to show how the business works: the writer as angry young man and pop star of the literary scene. As soon as he was on the bestseller lists, he turned his back on the hype. For many years, he has lived and worked in his house in a Parisian suburb, more quietly and more hospitably. Peter Handke's precise, free gaze becomes perceptible in his texts, his conversations, the cosmos of his notebooks.

High Tech Airport

With 66 million passengers coming through it each year, Roissy-Charles-De-Gaulle airport is Europe's second largest and busiest hub. Every day, up to 1800 aircraft land and take off in record time. This film provides a fascinating glimpse into how Roissy-Charles-De-Gaulle airport is able to welcome over 230,000 passengers a day with as little turbulence as possible.

Le monde est à eux

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From the Atoms to the Stars

An incredible travel through space and time between the walls of the Paris Observatory, which is celebrating its 350th birthday. Place of discoveries such as speed of light or Neptune’s existence, it is still today one of the oldest operating observatories and the greatest hub in the world for astronomy and astrophysics researches, second only to Harvard.

June 1940, the Great Chaos

From May 10, 1940, France is living one of the worst tragedies of it history. In a few weeks, the country folds, and then collapsed in facing the attack of the Nazi Germany. On June 1940, each day is a tragedy. For the first time, thanks to historic revelations, and to numerous never seen before images and documents and reenacted situations of the time, this film recounts the incredible stories of those men and women trapped in the torment of this great chaos.

D-Day to Berlin: A Newsnight Special

George Stevens's remarkable film is acclaimed by historians as the most important colour footage taken during the war. Milestones covered include the liberation of Paris, the link-up between the Russian and American armies on the River Elbe and the Allied capture of the Dachau concentration camp.