Breaking the Sound Barrier

On October 14, 1947, Captain Chuck Yeager accomplished what many thought was impossible: he broke the sound barrier and in doing so, changed aviation history forever. Behind this remarkable achievement was a dedicated team of rocket scientists and engineers, and one incredible plane, a Bell X-1 named "Glamorous Glennis." This is the story of the plane and the people who dared to travel faster than the speed of sound, pushing flight science forward and proving that no matter the barrier, humanity can find a way to break through.

François Truffaut, le scénario de ma vie

At the end of his life, gravely ill, François Truffaut took refuge with his ex-wife Madeleine Morgenstern. She tried to keep him occupied during his long agony. The filmmaker confided in his friend Claude de Givray, with the intention of writing his autobiography. Too weakened, he abandoned the project. The film reveals part of this final story.

Jacques Rozier : d'une vague à l'autre

Jacques Rozier or the fierce, independent itinerary of a filmmaker in perpetual disarray, admired by his peers and pampered by the critics.

Jacques Demy, le rose et le noir

Jacques Demy’s ability to enchant audiences was rooted in his personal struggles and doubts as a showman, establishing him as one of French cinema’s greatest artists.

Truffaut / Godard, scénario d'une rupture

An inquiry into two of the most influencial French filmakers friendship and feud.

Jean-Pierre Mocky, libre et sentimental

A journey into the mind of French actor and director Jean-Pierre Mocky (1929-2019), author of films both playful and profound, of an impressive richness.

Maurice Tourneur, tisseur de rêves

Franco-American film pioneer Maurice Tourneur is a forgotten name in cinema history. This film traces the incredible journey of this crucial innovator from Paris to Hollywood. He inspired many of his peers and was also a mentor to some great filmmakers, including his son Jacques. Using previously unseen home movies, this film reveals the private man as well as the inspired artist whose career spanned four decades and two world wars.

Another Romance of Celluloid

This second entry in MGM's "Romance of Film" series documents how celluloid movie film is processed and features behind-the-scenes glimpses of current MGM productions.

Chabrol, l'anticonformiste

An account of the life and work of French filmmaker Claude Chabrol (1930-2010), a sybarite Buddha, a furtive anarchist, an insolent lover of life.

Cinéma! Cinéma! The French New Wave

An intimate window into one of the great movements in film history that brought about an evolution in the art of cinema. The documentary portrays the movement with insight on the lives and works of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and other principal players in the New Wave.

Magellan sur la route des épices

Vauban : Mégastructures de génie

In the heart of central Europe are some of the world’s most impenetrable military strongholds. In France, 160 megastructure fortresses still line the country’s borders 3 centuries after they were constructed. As solid as ever, how did they withstand attack after attack? Was the secret in their materials? Their shape? In fact, the strength and resilience of these megastructures is due to the genius of one man: Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban.

Jean-François Stévenin - Simple Messieurs

Jacques Tati, tombé de la lune

The crazy rise and fall of Jacques Tati, comedy genius, actor, director and athlete of laughter. Or how the inventor of the mythical Mr. Hulot made France laugh, then the world, flying from success to success, rising higher and higher, until he came a little too close to the sun.

Cinéastes de notre temps : Le Dinosaure et le Bébé, dialogue en huit parties entre Fritz Lang et Jean-Luc Godard

An hour-long discussion between Fritz Lang and Jean-Luc Godard in which they discuss a variety of art forms, the role of the cinema, their collaboration together, and much more. (Filmed in 1964 but released for TV in 1967.)

Une histoire du cinéma fantastique français

The story of the French fantasy cinema from Méliès to Raw.

La couleur des mots

This afterword to India Song (Duras' celebrated 1975 film) is organized in several parts. It begins with an interview to Marguerite Duras by Dominique Noguez, an expert in her work; the interview links the film to the two movies whom it's related to: The Ravishment of Lol V. Stein and The Vice-Consul. Several themes are tackled: childhood, autobiographical traces, relationships between differents characters and different films and more. India Song's main actors — Delphine Seyrig and Michael Lonsdale, who played Anne-Marie Stretter and the French vice-consul — join the conversation and talk about their roles and their craft. Marguerite Duras then evokes her memories of the shooting with the composer Carlos D'Alessio and her camera operato Bruno Nuytten. The conversations are punctuated by clips of the film.

André Téchiné, cinéaste insoumis

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.

Once There Was Everything

Kogonada looks at how the motif of doors reverberates through Robert Bresson's work.

Fantômas démasqué

The story of Fantômas, the first villain of modernity, from his birth in 1911 as a novel character to his contemporary vicissitudes, passing through Louis Feuillade, André Hunebelle, surrealism and Moscow.