Vera Parks, an overly intense and demanding Broadway director, gets fired from yet another job, leaving her no choice but to take a gig directing a small town Christmas pageant in upstate New York. Stunned at how basic the production is, Vera attempts to back out, but is convinced by some of the locals to give their town a chance. To her surprise, the warmth and charm of the small town grows on Vera and she even enjoys the experience of directing the pageant. When Vera discovers her former fiancé Jack recommended her for the job, she is outraged. But over time Vera appreciates the gesture, as she grows close to both Jack and his young daughter. Will love stay in the wings this time around?
Filmmaker Wes Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums" ) interviews Peter Bogdanovich ("The Last Picture Show, "Paper Moon") about Bogdanovich's film "They All Laughed," the film Bogdanovich calls his personal best.
Guillaume Canet is told by a young co-star that he's no longer Rock'n' Roll and can't sell films anymore. He then tries to prove her wrong and gets help from his girlfriend, Marion Cotillard.
Set in 1977, back when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, idealistic porn producer Jack Horner aspires to elevate his craft to an art form. Horner discovers Eddie Adams, a hot young talent working as a busboy in a nightclub, and welcomes him into the extended family of movie-makers, misfits and hangers-on that are always around. Adams' rise from nobody to a celebrity adult entertainer is meteoric, and soon the whole world seems to know his porn alter ego, "Dirk Diggler". Now, when disco and drugs are in vogue, fashion is in flux and the party never seems to stop, Adams' dreams of turning sex into stardom are about to collide with cold, hard reality.
The Characters of Star Wars is a Video Documentary included in the 2004 DVD release of the Star Wars Original Trilogy. It explained the Mythos of many of the "Star Wars" Characters.
Filmmaker Ian Taylor examines the impressive legacy of Hong Kong cinema -- specifically, how martial arts crossed borders and become an international phenomenon -- with the help of footage and interviews with the stars who made the genre what it is today. Director Lau Ka Leung (who helmed The 36th Chamber of Shaolin) joins in, sharing his thoughts on how certain cinematic technologies have improved martial arts films and expanded their appeal.
Fulton and Pepe's 2000 documentary captures Terry Gilliam's attempt to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground. Back injuries, freakish storms, and more zoom in to sabotage the project (which has never been resurrected).
When looking at Pedro Almodóvar’s filmography, it becomes evident that women are everywhere; in fact, his work revolves around them. His divas are the best to create a real portrait of Almodóvar and evoke the emotional power of his films. These women are the ideal observers of a cinematic career that, from La Mancha to Hollywood, has changed the image of Spain in the world.
Iconic writer, director, actor, comedian and musician Woody Allen allowed his life and creative process to be documented on-camera for the first time. With this unprecedented access, Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert B. Weide followed the notoriously private film legend over a year and a half to create the ultimate film biography. "Woody Allen: A Documentary" chronicles Allen's career - from teen writer to Sid Caesar's TV scribe, from stand-up comedian to award-winning writer-director averaging one film-per-year for more than 40 years. Exploring Allen's writing habits, casting, directing, and relationship with his actors first-hand, new interviews with A-listers, writing partners, family and friends provide insight and backstory to the usually inscrutable filmmaker.
From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.
In 1931, at the height of his artistic powers, Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein travels to Mexico to shoot a new film to be titled Que Viva Mexico. Freshly rejected by Hollywood and under increasing pressure to return to Stalinist Russia, Eisenstein arrives at the city of Guanajuato. Chaperoned by his guide Palomino Cañedo, he vulnerably experiences the ties between Eros and Thanatos, sex and death, happy to create their effects in cinema, troubled to suffer them in life.
Peter Greenaway's film explores the mind of a creative genius facing the desires and fears of love, sex and death through ten passionate days that helped shape the rest of the career of one of the greatest masters of Cinema.