Danielle Mitterrand, une certaine idée de la France (2019)

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?

Older, Stronger, Wiser

In this short documentary, five black women talk about their lives in rural and urban Canada between the 1920s and 1950s. What emerges is a unique history of Canada’s black people and the legacy of their community elders. Produced by the NFB’s iconic Studio D.

All Quiet on the Western Front

At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.

Would-Be Gentleman

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme satirizes attempts at social climbing and the bourgeois personality, poking fun both at the vulgar, pretentious middle-class and the vain, snobbish aristocracy. The title is meant as an oxymoron: in Molière's France, a "gentleman" was by definition nobly born, and thus there could be no such thing as a bourgeois gentleman.

When Trumpets Fade

In WWII Western Germany, Private David Manning reluctantly leaves behind a mortally wounded fellow soldier and searches for survivors from his platoon, only to learn from commanding officer Captain Pritchett that they have all been killed in action. Despite requesting a discharge on the grounds of mental disability, Manning is promoted to sergeant and assigned to lead a new platoon of young inductees.

Mon Chirac

At the close of Jacques Chirac's life, politician Jean-Louis Debré has wished to make a film to celebrate his friend, to tell the story of their friendship and professional understanding, and to make an intimate portrait of the former President of France through the accounts of a few very close friends. Thanks to Jean-Louis Debré's presence, Claude Chirac and some of Jacques Chirac's closest friends, famous or unknown, agreed to talk to the camera, sometimes for the first time, to evoke their untold-before memories and tell about the moments that bonded the two men for a lifetime.

Un peu, beaucoup, passionnément... Les Présidents et les Français

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Prisoner of Honor

France, 1897. Colonel Georges Picquart challenges the French government when he discovers the obscure political maneuvers that led to the imprisonment of the Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus after being convicted of espionage in 1894.

Mister Karim

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Rodez

An exploration of Rodez Cathedral and its stained glass windows: praying figures and scientific imagery. A study on color, repetition and flickering consisting of 292 photographs.

1974, l'alternance Giscard

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became the third President of the Fifth Republic. An alternation of power that did not speak its name opened the doors of power to a reforming president. Abortion, divorce by mutual consent, lowering the age of majority to 18 - in less than two years, the youngest President of the Republic - at the time - carried out reforms with a vengeance, without a united majority in Parliament, before failing in the economic sphere and losing the battle against unemployment. At the age of 90, the former President of the Republic has agreed to look back on these years and gives us a valuable account of his time in power.

10 mai 1981 : Changer la vie ?

Fourty years ago, in May 1981, with François Mitterrand's election, some people were letting themselves dream about a better life while others were predicting the coming of soviet tanks upon the Champs-Élysées. If we gladly remember the turning point of austerity in 83, there were also the wage rises, the fifth week of paid leave, the abolition of death penalty, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, or the advent of independent radio stations. Rare archives and accounts by those who were at the heart of this story give an overview of it and shed light on lesser-known aspects.

Cyrille

Cyrille, a young gay farmer from Auvergne, has only one friend, a homosexual like him. One day, he goes on vacation to a beach in Charente Maritime. He cannot swim and sees the sea for the first time. It was there that he met the director Rodolphe Marconi who decided to devote this sensitive and gentle portrait to him, plunging us into an agricultural world in crisis and into a life often lonely and made up of hard work rarely pays off.

Joan of Arc: God's Warrior

Writer and historian Dr Helen Castor explores the life - and death - of Joan of Arc. Joan was an extraordinary figure - a female warrior in an age that believed women couldn't fight, let alone lead an army. But Joan was driven by faith and today, more than ever, we are acutely aware of the power of faith to drive actions for good or ill. Since her death, Joan has become an icon for almost everyone: the left and the right, Catholics and Protestants, traditionalists and feminists. But where, in all of this, is the real Joan - the experiences of a teenage peasant girl who achieved the seemingly impossible? Through an astonishing manuscript, we can hear Joan's own words at her trial and, as Helen unpicks Joan's story and places her back in the world that she inhabited, the real human Joan emerges.

Building the Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel linking Britain with France is one of the seven wonders of the modern world but what did it take to build the longest undersea tunnel ever constructed? We hear from the men and women, who built this engineering marvel. Massive tunnel boring machines gnawed their way through rock and chalk, digging not one tunnel but three; two rail tunnels and a service tunnel. This was a project that would be privately financed; not a penny of public money would be spent on the tunnel. Business would have to put up all the money and take all the risks. This was also a project that was blighted by flood, fire, tragic loss of life and financial bust ups. Today, it stands as an engineering triumph and a testament to what can be achieved when two nations, Britain and France put aside their historic differences and work together.

Balladur-Chirac, mensonges et trahisons

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The Trans List

A documentary that explores the range of experiences lived by transgender Americans.

In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis

A chronicle of the first nine years of Pope Francis' pontificate, including trips to 53 countries, focusing on his most important issues - poverty, migration, environment, solidarity, and war - while also giving rare access to the public life of the pontifical.

Joanna and Jennifer: Absolutely Champers

Ab Fab stars Jennifer Saunders & Joanna Lumley share 25 years of friendship. The two funny ladies head to the Champagne region of France to find out how their favourite glass of fizz is made.

Olympics! The French Games

27 Olympic and Paralympic champions, aged 20 to 100, share their stories in this Mickaël Gamrasni documentary narrated by actress Marion Cotillard. As heirs to previous generations, they trace the incredible genealogy of French Olympism. The documentary revisits over a century of French participation in the Olympics, from their inception in 1896 to the recent feats that have elevated France to the summit. It’s a human adventure, brimming with memories, acts of bravery, and epic emotions: the collective narrative of France winning.

La Ve République vue d'ailleurs : Du général de Gaulle à Emmanuel Macron

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Tartuffe ou l'Imposteur

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Lynx

In the heart of the Jura mountains, a call resounds through the forest. The silhouette of a Eurasian lynx creeps through the trees. A male is looking for its mate. Suddenly a call answers back. It is the beginning of the story of a lynx’s family we will follow over the seasons. While it is rare to come across this private feline, it is exceptional to discover its daily life in the wild.

Un été à la Garoupe

La Garoupe, a beach in Antibes, in 1937. For one summer, the painter and photographer Man Ray films his friends Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar, Paul Eluard and his wife Nusch, as well as Lee Miller. During these few weeks, love, friendship, poetry, photography and painting are still mixed in the carefree and the creativity specific to the artistic movements of the interwar period.

La Cerisaie

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L'Âge d'or de la pub

55 years ago, on October 1 1968, the first brand advertising spot appeared on the French television screen. Over the next three decades, thousands of creative little films would seduce and build our collective memory. Kitschy or cult spots, humor, slogans, music, stars, gimmicks, grand spectacle or sex appeal: during its golden age, how did advertising convince? Thierry Ardisson has brought together almost 400 advertising clips to relive the era of the conquest of minds and wallets.

Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels

Following the artist Phil Collins' search for a decommissioned statue of German philosopher Friedrich Engels in eastern Ukraine, and documenting its journey and arrival to a homecoming party in Manchester.

Berhault

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L'Énigme Mylène Farmer

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Moi, Magyd Cherfi : portrait intimiste d'un chanteur devenu écrivain

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The Unheard Woman

What if nobody wants to believe you? Hanni, a farmer's wife and mother of three, is worried about her daughter Magdalena. The girl is smaller than the others, more sensitive, vomits more often and has increasingly poor eyesight. The doctors, the teacher and the family all say it must be her psyche. Glasses with normal lenses will certainly help. But as a mother, Hanni senses that a new pair of glasses won't change anything and that there is more at stake. Even plagued by an unheard-of memory from her youth, she begins to fight unwaveringly and unstoppably for her daughter's suffering, not only putting her family's happiness and her livelihood at risk, but also not shying away from the Bavarian justice system in the end.

Becoming

Join former first lady Michelle Obama in an intimate documentary looking at her life, hopes and connection with others.

Show!

A surprisingly intimate portrait of how the dream of running one’s own business can take on monstrous contours. Managed by the father of one of the singers, over the course of five years the girl band 5Angels had reached the gates of pop fame. But it is a path paved not only with the songs of Michal David, but also with the dogged determination of a man who loses any notion of where his role as manager ends and his role as parent begins. An emotionally moved Karel Gott, five angelic girls, and one overly involved father, thanks to whom the behind-the-scenes pre-Christmas atmosphere melts away just as rapidly as the fat should disappear from the belly. “A singer can’t be a lard bucket!”

Le Dernier Voyage de Patrick Edlinger

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Touring France

Touring France ventures off the beaten path to bring you the definitive video portrait of this colorful country, from fairy tale castles to the Cannes Film Festival, from the serene countryside to Paris' museums and cafes.

The President's Man

To many, Joshua McCord is a charismatic Asian studies professor. To the President of the United States, he's America's greatest secret weapon; a covert operative charged with only the most sensitive and dangerous missions.

The Siege of Mecca

On November 20, 1979 at 5:30 in the morning, hundreds of armed men take over the Grand Mosque of Mecca, transforming the holiest shrine of Islam into a fortress and a trap for almost 100,000 pilgrims inside. This was the beginning of the siege of Mecca…

Race d'Ep!

"Race d’Ep!" (which literally translates to "Breed of Faggots") was made by the “father of queer theory,” Guy Hocquenghem, in collaboration with radical queer filmmaker and provocateur Lionel Soukaz. The film traces the history of modern homosexuality through the twentieth century, from early sexology and the nudes of Baron von Gloeden to gay liberation and cruising on the streets of Paris. Influenced by the groundbreaking work of Michel Foucault on the history of sexuality and reflecting the revolutionary queer activism of its day, "Race d’Ep!" is a shockingly frank, sex-filled experimental documentary about gay culture emerging from the shadows.

The Loire Valley

This film exposes the vineyards, press houses, cellars, caves, and tasting rooms of the wine-producing area of the Loire Valley in Touraine, Anjou and Saumur, and the Pays Nantais. Observes the different grape varieties and production methods that yield such well-known wines as the cabernets of Bourgdeill, sparkling Saumur, Rose d'Anjou, Coteaux du Layon, Gros Plan, Muscadet, and the sparkling wines made by the champagne method in Vouvray.

In the Eye of the Beholder

Maurizio is a young university student living in Zürich, with a passion for diseases. Unlike many others, he can see an inherent beauty in them. Afterall, what difference can exist between a flower and an infection, if they are both a gift of nature?

Brassens by Brassens

An intimate portrait of Georges Brassens, giant of French song.

De Gaulle, the Last King of France

Charles de Gaulle, the first president (1958-1969) of the Vth Republic, France’s current system of government, left his mark on the country . He was statesman of action and has been compared to a monarch. This film depicts the general’s personality through the great events of his presidential term, at a time when the world was undergoing considerable changes.

The Gleaners and I

Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.

Ivan the Terrible

Ivan, first tsar of Russia. History will remember him as "the Terrible. Russian people love him for centuries. He liberates Russia from foreign oppressors, demands absolute obedience and loyalty in order to radically modernise Russia? Ivan IV, Grand Duke of Moscow, first Tsar of Russia by the grace of God. A madman? A sadist?

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.

The Grass Dwellers

Juan Méndez Bernal leaves his house on the 9th of april of 1936 to fight in the imminent Spanish Civil War. 83 years later, his body is still one of the Grass Dwellers. The only thing that he leaves from those years on the front is a collection of 28 letters in his own writing.

Anouk Aimée, la beauté du geste

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A French Revolution

October 2018, France. Macron’s government decrees a tax increase on the price of fuel. A wave of protests starts to grow. Citizens mobilize throughout the country: this is the beginning of the Yellow Vests movement. In Chartres, a group of men and women gather daily. Among them, Agnès, Benoît, Nathalie and Allan commit themselves to the collective struggle. Like a whole nation, they discover that they have a voice to be heard...