Saul's 108th Story

Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy

2000

For more than 30 years, Lucille Ball was one of the most recognized and loved entertainers in the world. Known to all simply as Lucy, she portrayed a scatterbrained housewife with the ability to turn simple chores into humorous disasters.

Doris Dörrie - Die Flaneuse

2024

Why does Doris Dörrie have a bag on her head in the interview? Consistent in the sense that in her works she always poses the question of how we want to be perceived. Dörrie takes us through the most important stages of her life, her films, her work as a mentor and teacher, and also addresses existential themes: Identity, motherhood, her role as a woman. And she talks openly about fears, setbacks and crises, such as the untimely death of her partner and cameraman Helge Weindler. "Shut up and breathe", the advice of a Tibetan lama, carries her through life - even beyond the screen.

Nedosněné sny

1989

Jean-Claude van Damme: Karate King

2023

An American low-budget action film celebrated an unexpected worldwide success in 1988: "Bloodsport". With its, the world of film fans and martial arts cinema discovered a new idol: Jean-Claude Van Damme. In the 1970s there was Bruce Lee, but at the end of the 1980s a Belgian won the day. Van Damme was a karate master and had unparalleled strength and flexibility. For ten years he was one of Hollywood's hottest action stars. But excessive overconfidence and drugs bring him down again. At home in Europe he becomes a laughing stock on talk shows. Only with "JCVD" does he manage to get back on his feet, playing his character with perspective and self-irony, but without ever giving up the reputation that his action films brought him and which has been a cult for several generations. The highs and lows of his eventful life are told through archive footage and contributions from people close to the popular Belgian actor.

Gregory Peck, le gentleman acteur

2022

A legend of the Hollywood Golden Age, Gregory Peck (1916-2003) had an exemplary career, working under some of the greatest directors: Alfred Hitchcock, Elia Kazan, Raoul Walsh, Vincente Minnelli... Portrait of an actor with irresistible charm and strong political commitments.

Nostradamus and the Queen

1953

An elderly Catherine de Medici reflects back on how the prophecies of Nostradamus accurately predicted the fates of her husband, her three sons and herself.

The Driver

1953

A poor taxi driver works hard in order to pay off his car and to marry his fiancee.

Topsy-Turvy

1999

For nearly a decade, Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations have delighted the English people. But in 1884, as a London heat wave cuts into the theater trade, their latest work, "Princess Ida", receives lukewarm press. In an effort to reconcile their creative differences and drawing inspiration from Japanese culture, they went on to create the hit opera "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.

The Magic Voice of a Rebel

2014

'The Magic Voice of a Rebel' portrays the story of the Czech singer Marta Kubisová, who without never intending it, became a symbol of freedom for all generations in the newly free Czhecoslovakia in 1989. It is Marta herself who tells us her life story and how the Soviet invasion in Czechoslvakia in 1968 changed her life. Because of her deep involvement in the Prague Spring movement, she went from being the most popular singer in the country to being banned and suffering a sudden removal from the public scene by the new authorities imposed from Moscow. She refused to escape to exile and together with other banned intelectuals and artists became a disident instead. Blacklisted and persecuted by the secret police, she also suffered the betrayal of beloved people who were collaborating with the regime.

Taxi, Trailer and Bullfight

1958

A chaotic family go on holiday to Spain and get mixed up with a gang of diamond thieves.

Pink Floyd's The Wall: The Ultimate Critical Review

2008

It is now over 25 years since the launch of The Wall. Conceived by Roger Waters as an ambitious double album, a spectacular live show and a ground breaking feature film. The Wall has gone on to achieve iconic status in the history of popular music. This program draws on live performance footage of Pink Floyd and highlights from the film. Also includes extracts from archive interviews with Gerald Scarfe and Alan Parker, the director of The Wall, along with the views of a team of leading musicians and musicologists. This is the independent critical review of a milestone in popular culture, which strips away the prejudice to produce the ultimate retrospective on one of the most important and iconoclastic popular works of the twentieth century. Featuring Highlights From: • Another Brick in The Wall Part 2 • Comfortably Numb • One Of My Turns • Plus Many More!

Mexican Bus Ride

1952

Newlywed Oliverio receives disturbing news that his mother is on her deathbed. He travels to a remote part of Mexico to fetch a lawyer who can sort out her will. Leaving his wife behind, he embarks on a bus ride that’s interrupted by an increasingly absurd series of episodes, including an impromptu birthday celebration; a one-legged man writhing in the mud; come-ons from an insatiable small-town belle, Raquel; and Oliverio’s frequent, Freudian nightmares.

The Grandmaster

2013

Ip Man's peaceful life in Foshan changes after Gong Yutian seeks an heir for his family in Southern China. Ip Man then meets Gong Er who challenges him for the sake of regaining her family's honor. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide for his family. In the mean time, Gong Er chooses the path of vengeance after her father was killed by Ma San.

Priest Daens

1992

In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director

1975

In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with film excerpts and stills, Shindō recounts the life and career of his friend and mentor Mizoguchi.