A fascinating chronology of 100 years of mountain film history in the Alps. This documentary focuses primarily on films shot on the Matterhorn, the Eiger, and the Grandes Jorasses, considered until the 1930s as the "last problems of the Alps," and shows the evolution of mountain filmmaking through numerous excerpts from documentaries and feature films – notably on the Matterhorn in 1901. The genre, appropriated as a means of mass exaltation by "fascist" regimes during the Second World War, was reinvented in the 1950s by Gaston Rebuffat, Marcel Ichac, and Lionel Terray in the Mont Blanc massif, avant-garde figures of French mountain cinema, who reintroduced, beyond performance, the values of the mountains – and in color – poetry, humor, and sharing among people from all walks of life.
Kurt Diemberger, Jean Afanassieff, Lothar Brandler, Leo Dickinson, Philipp Stölzl, Gaston Rébuffat, Catherine Destivelle, Patrick Berhault, Jean-Marc Boivin, Alexander Huber, Thomas Huber, Roger Moore

2024

In one of those wonderful coincidences of history, lumière, the French word for “light,” was also the last name of brothers Auguste and Louis, whose brilliant invention, the cinematograph, helped to inaugurate the most beloved art form of the last 130 years. Institute Lumière director Thierry Frémaux uses Lumière, Le Cinema! to guide the viewer through over a hundred shorts—some famous, some forgotten, some never before seen—directed by Lumière and company. In the process, Frémaux illuminates how the brothers employed the camera as a creative instrument as they (and their operators) mastered framing, staging, and subject selection for quotidian and exotic microdocumentaries as well as the first ever fictional motion pictures. The result is not only a glorious re(telling) of the genesis of cinema but a profound meditation on the beautiful world captured—and the mysterious world imagined—by the Lumières.
2024

Joža Čop, an illiterate man of the people, earned great respect from his fellow compatriots. He once famously said: "I’ve never climbed for fame and newspapers, so that people could wipe their asses with me." The film is also a story of the cradle of Slovenia's intellectual and sporting elite, Slovenian vitality, confidence and national pride.
2024

Documentary about Barrandov studios.
2023

An inventive remembrance of the impact of the Hollywood blacklist on two American classics, rendered as a visually mesmerizing dialogue between Carl Foreman and Elia Kazan.
2022

A nostalgic journey through ’80s Sci-Fi-films, exploring their impact and relevance today, told by the artists who made them and by those who were inspired to turn their visions into reality.
2022

Ferruccio Castronuovo was the only authorized eye, between 1976 and 1986, to film the brilliant Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini (1920-1993) in his personal and creative intimacy, to capture the gears of his great circus, his fantastic lies and his crazy inventions.
2021

Hawaii, May 1977. After the success of Star Wars, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg meet to find a new project to work on together, the former as producer, the latter as director. The story of how the charismatic archaeologist Indiana Jones was born and how his first adventure, released in 1981, triumphed at box offices around the world.
2021

Rotpunkt documents the advent, the agony and the art of the redpoint through Alex Megos’s efforts to redefine the boundaries of the form. The film traces the redpoint—which transformed rock climbing from an engineering problem into a brilliant test of mental and physical strength—from its origins with a ragtag bunch of tights-wearing revolutionaries in rural Bavaria, to its golden era with Wolfgang Güllich, to its new ideal in the German phenom Megos as he battles to unlock new levels of human potential.
2019

A documentary about the rise and fall of the Cannon Film Group, the legendary independent film company helmed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.
2014

A story of chopped fingers, fun, friendship and the First Ascent of Kunyang Chhish East (7,400m). Following the rules of true alpine style Hansjörg Auer, Matthias Auer and Simon Anthamatten embark on an adventure for the summit and for survival on Kunyang Chhish East.
2014

In 1970, Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell set out to climb Early Morning Light, better known as Dawn Wall, in Yosemite National Park. Arguably the most controversial climb in the park's history, due to multiple storms and a rescue attempt by the Yosemite Service. The climb thrust the event into the media spotlight, creating a controversy within the local climbing community. In this short documentary, Warren Harding himself recounts the climb.
2011

On November 12, 1958, nearly a year and a half after planting his first piton, Warren Harding climbed to the summit of El Capitan, the legendary face of Yosemite, which he became the first to climb via the equally legendary Nose route. An extraordinary undertaking closer to a heavy Himalayan expedition than to rock climbing. Climbing mainly on weekends in the fall and spring with companions whose level of skill was of little importance to him, Warren Harding spent a total of 47 days (spread over 17 months) on the face. 675 pitons (including 125 expansion pitons) and several thousand hammer blows were necessary to build his legend, despite the displeasure of the "Christians of the valley," as he somewhat sardonically nicknamed Royal Robbins and his cronies, who swear by style.
2011

Documentary short regarding the preservation and restoration of the worldwide remains of the Keystone films.
2010

The Captains' Summit documents the first time in Star Trek history that four stars who at some point have played Captains in Star Trek (William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, Jonathan Frakes) have been brought together for a 70-minute rare and unprecedented round table event. Whoopi Goldberg, star of Star Trek: The Next Generation, hosts the event.
2009

The history of the Yakuza Eiga at the TOEI studio is roughly outlined. Real Yakuza and also their connections to the movie business are discussed, and many important actors and directors of the genres are interviewed. Former real yakuza boss turned actor Noboru Ando, Takashi Miike, Sonny Chiba and many more get a chance to speak.
2009

Blind climber Erik Weihenmayer and his team's highly successful ascent of Mount Everest along with four other remarkable milestones on the mountain. Time magazine called this the most successful Everest expedition of all time.
2003

Examines the early 1980s Hong Kong filmmaking community. Tony Rayns interviews some of the new generation of filmmakers and figures from the wider film culture.
1983

Behind the scenes of the filming of a film on climbing a cliff by Patrick Berhault and Georges Unia on the parishes of the route "La Tête de Chien" in Monaco. Director Laurent Chevallier explains the difficulties of filming at height, the kind of shots that are suitable and the specifications of equipment suitable for filming on a cliff.
1983

A documentary about Fassbinder and the early years of the legendary Antiteater, the group he was a member/leader of. You can here see and hear some of the actors he was going to use in his movies for the next years. The movie shows rehearsals for his play "The Coffeehouse," which also became a television movie, and you can watch unique footage from the 19th Film Festival in Berlin (1969) where "Love is Colder Than Death" was shown. As told in this documentary, his first feature movie was given a cold shoulder by many of the journalists and visitors at the festival. You can in "End of the Commune" watch Fassbinder and actor Ulli Lommel walk out on stage after the opening of "Love is Colder Than Death,” while a man in the audience is shouting "Out with the director!” In this documentary, Fassbinder also talks a lot about his father, who was a respectable doctor.
1970