In 1969 Palestinian Leila Khaled made history by becoming the first woman to hijack an airplane. As a Palestinian child growing up in Sweden, filmmaker Lina Makboul admired Khaled for her bold actions; as an adult, she began asking complex questions about the legacy created by her childhood hero. This fascinating documentary is at once a portrait of Khaled, an exploration of the filmmaker’s own understanding of her Palestinian identity, and complex examination of the nebulous dichotomy between ‘terrorist’ and ‘freedom fighter’.
Category: Documentary
The least known massively influential person in international cinema, Pierre Rissient is a samurai warrior on behalf of the films he believes in. Instigator of the Cercle MacMahon, assistant director on “Breathless,” champion of blacklisted filmmakers, confidant of Ford and Walsh, Hawks and Lang, Pierre was the first to detect the potential of Clint Eastwood, director, brought Chinese cinema to Cannes with “Touch of Zen,” discovered Jane Campion and has been a key behind-the-scenes figure in Cannes for more than forty years; he is also the only person who can circulate freely in the Palais du Festival at all hours in a t-shirt. In this film, surrounded by those he has promoted through the years, Pierre Rissient himself finally moves into the spotlight.
Celebrated pop diva, actress, filmmaker, human rights activist and artists’ muse Jane Birkin talks about her life on screen and in the recording studio, and her celebrated relationship with the late French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, in an intimate profile.
Broadcast in 2001, La Revolution Tropicaliste is a French TV documentary on the amazing Brazilian music movement known as Tropicália. Such brilliant artists as Gilberto Gil, Tom Ze, Os Mutantes, Gal Costa & Caetano Veloso all played a prominent part in the development of the genre, and they are all seen here in archival footage and recent interviews. Featuring a plethora of vintage live performances and great documentary footage of Brazil then and now, this doc is a must see for fans of the Tropicália genre.
In the following 1961 interview, Jean Renoir discusses with French New Wave director Jacques Rivette his design of the “seventh art” and art in general, demolishing certain generally accepted ideas, and evoking some memories from his own career.
Serge Toubiana spent a year in the company of Isabelle Huppert. Wherever she went he followed, including prepping for a theatre production of Medea, doing promo work at Cannes, posing for photo shoots, as well behind the scenes footage of Huppert working with Claude Chabrol on Merci Pour le Chocolat’ and Michael Haneke on The Piano Teacher.
Canadian documentary filmmakers Janis Lundman and Adrienne Mitchell, over the course of a year, gathered footage of five very different 16-year-old girls, who each offered her own views on a range of topics relevant to adolescents. Collecting the girls’ most intimate viewpoints on relationships, substance abuse, their families and their aspirations, Lundman and Mitchell offer a poignant look at the hopes and fears of young women at the brink of adulthood.
A global television revolution is underway. Who controls what audiences tune into? At the moment, the reality is that two or three in New York or L.A. can impose their views on the world more forcefully than any politician. Distress Signals takes a penetrating look at the business of marketing television world-wide.