Behind the Screens, Hollywood Goes Hypercommercial

Hollywood movies are rapidly becoming vehicles for the ulterior marketing and advertising motives of studios and their owners, rather than entertainment in their own right. Behind the Screens explores this trend toward "hypercommercialism" through phenomena such as product placement, tie-ins, merchandising and cross-promotions. It combines multiple examples taken directly from the movies with incisive interviews provided by film scholars, cultural critics, political economists, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Behind the Screens presents an accessible argument designed for school and college-age audiences-- precisely the demographic most prized by both Hollywood studios and advertisers alike. It features examples drawn from movies such as Wayne's World, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Summer of Sam, and Toy Story.

2000-01-01 | en

Katharine Hepburn: All About Me

In a rare interview, Katharine Hepburn shares her memories and memorabilia.

1993-01-18 | en

Night and Fog

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

1959-04-27 | fr

Kouzelný kopec

Documentary about Barrandov studios.

2023-09-09 | cs

The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone

An attempt to create a bridge between the different political positions that coexist, sometimes violently, in the Basque Country, in northern Spain.

2003-10-03 | es

Hannibal Lecter, l'icône du mal par excellence

Everyone knows his name. The novels on the life and crimes of Hannibal Lecter are a worldwide phenomenon, and so are the movies and the TV show. Not mentionning the parodies, the plays... and even a wine named after him! He has become an icon of evil, but also of intelligence and refinement. Let's look back on the incredible Hannibal Lecter phenomenon.

2010-01-01 | en

Popatopolis

In 20 years, he's directed more films than Martin Scorsese, He's produced more profitable movies than Jerry Bruckheimer, And he's infuriated more actors than Alfred Hitchcock. The ultimate B Movie Documentary, focusing on B Movie Giant Jim Wynorski (and B Movie Celebration Mentor) and his attempt to make a feature film in 3 days. He's directed seventy feature films, but he's never made one... in THREE DAYS. Jim cuts the shooting schedule, has the actors cook their own food. A documentary featuring B-Movie legends Roger Corman, Andy Sidaris, Julie Strain, Julie K. Smith and Stormy Daniels, Popatopolis follows Jim Wynorski as he begins to film one of his many opuses "Witches of Breastwick" Jim's frenetic pace demands 100 setups per day (the Hollywood standard is 20), and he reduces his electric package to just two lights so he can concentrate on the task at hand.A great overview of a true master at work and in many ways a laser sharp dialectic on the state of B filmmaking today.

2009-06-10 | en

Outrage

An indictment of closeted politicians who lobby for anti-gay legislation in the US.

2009-04-24 | en

Artur

2011-05-10 | pt

The Blade Runner Phenomenon

Ridley Scott's cult film Blade Runner, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick and released in 1982, is one of the most influential science fiction films ever made. Its depiction of Los Angeles in the year 2019 is oppressively prophetic: climate catastrophe, increasing public surveillance, powerful monopolistic corporations, highly evolved artificial intelligence; a fantastic vision of the future world that has become a frightening reality.

2021-05-27 | de

The Horse Boy

Filmmaker Michel Orion Scott captures a magical journey into a little-known world, in a documentary which chronicles Rupert Isaacson and Kristin Neff's personal odyssey to make sense of their child's autism, and find healing for him and themselves in the unlikeliest of places.

2009-11-25 | en

VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media

This lively documentary explores the rise and fall of physical media from the origin of film all the way through the video store era into digital media, focusing on B-movie and cult films. With icons like Joe Bob Briggs (MonsterVision), Lloyd Kaufman (Toxic Avenger), Greg Sestero (The Room), Debbie Rochon (Return to Nuke 'Em High), Deborah Reed (Troll 2), Mark Frazer (Samurai Cop), James Nguyen (Birdemic) and many others.

2016-06-20 | en

Neither Old Nor Traitors

Pierre Carles and Georges Minangoy go to meet former French and Catalan partisans engaged in the anti-Franco anarchist struggle of the 1970s.

2006-01-01 | fr

Requiem for a Killer: The Making of 'Blast of Silence'

Allen Baron, director of "Blast of Silence" visits locations from the film and recalls the production.

2007-01-31 | en

Cinéastes de notre temps : Sacha Guitry

Documentary about French playwright and film director Sacha Guitry.

1965-05-20 | fr

Melville-Delon: Honor and Night

Documentary exploring the friendship between French director Jean-Pierre Melville and actor Alain Delon, and their collaboration on the 1967 film Le samouraï.

2011-01-31 | fr

Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum

The film tells the story of the intimate and unprecedented encounter between the photojournalists of the Magnum Agency and the world of cinema. The confrontation of two seemingly opposite worlds – fiction and reality. For 70 years their paths crossed: a family of photographers, amongst them the biggest names in photography, and a family of actors and filmmakers who helped write the history of cinema, from John Huston to Marilyn Monroe to Orson Welles, Kate Winslet and Sean Penn.

2017-05-31 | fr

Morgan Freeman: Breaking Barriers

Perhaps it is his distinctive velvet smooth voice and calming demeanor that made Morgan Freeman a household name. World-renowned actor, Freeman has starred in over 100 movies in just three decades and continues to break barriers.

2021-01-01 | en

Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema

BBC documentary about the rise of the New German Cinema and several of its most important figures.

1976-12-02 | en

The Definitive Elvis: Elvis and the Colonel

One of the dominating figures in Elvis Presley's life was his manager, who was known as the "Colonel". No other relationship in Elvis' life was as controversial and misunderstood as the one he had with Colonel Tom Parker. The truth about their unique friendship is revealed in this documentary.

2002-03-31 | en