Paris: The Luminous Years

A storm of Modernism swept through the art worlds of the West in the early decades of the twentieth century, uprooting centuries of tradition. The epicenter of this storm was Paris, France. For an incandescent moment from 1905 to 1930, Paris was the magnetic center for radical innovation and experiment, and the Mecca for creative talents who would change the course of art throughout the Western world.

Maria Callas: Débuts à Paris

The career of Maria Callas was just a bit too early and too brief to receive full and satisfying video documentation like that now being accorded to such singers as Renée Fleming and Luciano Pavarotti. This black-and-white televised recital (Callas's Paris debut) took place at the Paris Opera on December 19, 1958 when television was still in its infancy. We might wish that it had happened earlier, when her voice was in better condition, or later, when video recording technology was more advanced--so that, for example, we would not have to take the narrator's word that Callas is wearing a red dress. But this is probably the best available Callas video recording, and her fans will welcome it warmly. Visual elements were as important as the vocal dimensions in her art.

Martha & Niki

In 2010 Martha Nabwire and Niki Tsappos took part in the biggest international Street Dance Competition, Juste Debout in Paris. It was the first time ever two women became World Champions in Hip Hop. This film depicts their love of dance, each other and about friendship put to the test. About desires, yearning and finding the right path in life.

Grands soirs et petits matins

Filmmaker William Klein documents the Paris student riots that occurred in May of 1968.

Les Parisiennes

Gares de Paris : Un patrimoine révélé

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.

Métro

A short documentary about the construction of the parisian subway in the 50s.

D’Artacán: el largometraje

France, 17th century, under the reign of Louis XIII. Dogtanian is an impetuous and innocent peasant from Gascony, as well as a skilled swordsman, who travels to Paris with the purpose of making his dream come true: to join the Corps of Muskehounds of the Royal Guard. (Edited version of the 1981 animated television series Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds.)

Echos aus einem düsteren Reich

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

La Seine a rencontré Paris

A poetic ode to the River Seine, Ivens' distinguished camera eye surveys its lively banks and step-stone canals with a vérité candor, a beguiling elan.

L'Hôtel de ville : Mégastructure parisienne

Madeline

In a Parisian girls school, our perky, popular heroine charms her eleven classmates with funny pranks and youthful wit. But when Madeline needs her appendix out, it's she who needs charm and humor for a speedy recovery.

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.

Paris, entre rêves et arnaques

Les Trésors du Paris haussmannien

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.

Paris on Parade

This Traveltalks short showcases the Paris International Exposition of 1937. It features a tour of the pavillions of several nations, as well as the spectacular water and light displays.

Qu'est-ce que la haute couture ?

Rue Campagne-Première

Man Ray shoots from a window on 31 bis rue Campagne-Première, in the heart of Montparnasse, where he rented a ground-floor studio.

Ils ont libéré Paris !