Documentary: Biography
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- StarsMassimo MarinoniPeter GuinnessRoss KingFrom a small Italian community in 15th-century Florence, the Medici family would rise to rule Europe in many ways. Using charm, patronage, skill, duplicity and ruthlessness, they would amass unparalleled wealth and unprecedented power. They would also ignite the most important cultural and artistic revolution in Western history--the European Renaissance. But the forces of change the Medici helped unleash would one day topple their ordered world.
- DirectorRobert SnyderStarsRobert SnyderFlashbacks from the 89 year old artist, having just completed a Pieta in St.Peter's, carry the viewer through the Renaissance background and a tour of sculptures and frescoes.
- Paintings and etchings of Rembrandt are used in revealing his life and career. Describes Rembrandt's early success as a fashionable portrait painter in Amsterdam and explains how his uncompromising devotion to realism cost him his reputation. Discusses the many personal disappointments of Rembrandt's later years, including failure of his contemporaries to acclaim his greatest masterpieces.
- StarsPhilippe LeroyGiulio BosettiGiorgio PiazzaMiniseries dramatizing the life of the Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).
- DirectorJoe KrakoraStarsMeryl StreepMeryl Streep narrates this technologically complex profile of Vermeer.
- Vincent Van Gogh remains the ultimate example of the tortured artistic genius. His whole life was a struggle against poverty, loneliness and mental disorder. In a feverish spell of painting prior to his death, Vincent Van Gogh proved himself a great artist. The hundreds of canvases that he painted in the South of France are now recognized as masterpieces of the Post-Impressionist age. His use of thick, swirling color was a conscious attempt to express his own tortured state of mind through his work. In his landscapes, still-lifes and portraits, he succeeded. Though he sold just one painting in his lifetime, works such as "Sunflowers" now sell for tens of millions of dollars.
- Paul Gauguin was thirty-five when he made the momentous decision to abandon his lucrative career as a Paris stockbroker and devote himself full-time to painting. Gauguin's bold use of flat, unmixed color gave his paintings a strong sense of personal expression, but his work struggled to find acceptance at the time. Poverty and obscurity dominated Gauguin's years as an artist. Not even a move to Tahiti could bring him happiness. Yet the paintings that he created there are now recognized as masterpieces of the Post-Impressionist age.
- 1998–200046mNot Rated6.6 (117)TV EpisodeDirectorTeresa GriffithsStarsJackson PollockEd HarrisRuth KligmanA documentary about the life of artist Jackson Pollock.
- DirectorChrista SingerIn 2001, on the occasion of a retrospective exhibit of his work, painter Samuel Bak returned to his hometown of Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania). There, he walked the streets of the Vilna ghetto where he was interned with his parents during the Holocaust and visited the nearby forest where his father and grandparents were murdered. Amongst the tall trees of the Ponari forest, Samuel Bak's life came full circle. Painter of Questions explores Bak's work and life through the lens of his childhood experiences. Born in 1933 in Vilna, Poland, young Samuel was declared a child prodigy. The happiness of his childhood came to an end, however, the day his family was marched into the Jewish Ghetto, changing his life and his artistic vision forever. Saved from the death camps by his father, the miracle of his survival became and still is a recurring theme in his art. Insightful Interviews with the artist, Holocaust scholar Lawrence Langer, and Pucker Gallery director Bernard Pucker explore the unique and powerful visual vocabulary and iconography of Bak's work, which is held in museums, galleries, and collections worldwide.
- DirectorEdward QuinnStarting in 1896, when he was only 15, we trace Picasso's artistic development, exploring his work as a youth, from the Blue period to the Pink period and his first steps into Cubism in 1906. Then we discover the Chrysteline period where he went from analytical to synthetic Cubism until entering his Neoclassical period in 1918. Part 1 culminates with the painting of his masterpiece "Guernica" in 1937.
- DirectorEdward QuinnDuring the last 22 years of Picasso's life, filmmaker Edward Quinn had complete access to the artist. Through a combination of exclusive home movies and intimate photos, as well as over 600 of the artist's works (many never seen in public), a living, breathing scrapbook of Picasso is realized. The film follows the parallel development of the artist's life and work, giving insight into his creative processes. Among other highlights are some of the last pictures ever taken of him. The second part of this fascinating documentary focuses on Picasso's expansion into ceramics, sculpture and pottery. Rare home movies depicting the artist interacting with his children and the women in his life are used, as is footage of a 90-year-old Picasso pouring over a copper plate engraving.
- DirectorDidier BaussyStarsHenri MatisseMatisse: Voyages traces the development of the artist's brilliantly colored work, from his early canvases, images of dance and music, and odalisques to his cut-out pieces and chapel decorations. Filmmaker Didier Baussy draws on a wealth of paintings, archival footage, photographs, and extracts from Matisse's Notes of a Painter to capture the richness of the artist's legacy and the splendor of his achievements.
- DirectorJean-Claude SéeStarsJoan Miró
- DirectorHeinz-Günter Zeiss
- DirectorDominique MougenotGeorgia O'Keeffe was an American abstract painter, famous for the purity and lucidity of her still-life compositions. O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico in 1949, and is best known for her large paintings of desert flowers and scenery, in which single blossoms or objects such as a cow's skull are presented in close-up views.
- DirectorKent MartinStarsJohn DunsworthDocumentary about Canadian painter Miller Brittain.
- DirectorDavid VaisbordStarsAttila Richard LukacsNotorious bad-boy painter Attila Richards Lukacs got the lyrics to Leonard Cohen's famous song backwards when he moved from Berlin to take over Manhattan. But if conquering New York was on his agenda, what he finds instead is a harrowing journey through hell. His plans to rule the world's toughest art scene take a back seat to an artistic mid-life crisis and a drug addiction. His world upside down, will Attila's gift for painting be strong enough to pull him from the brink of disaster? Drawing Out The Demons unflinchingly brings the audience to one mans' hazardous crossroad of destiny, where Attila is sure to meet either greatness, or death.
- DirectorRic BurnsStarsAnsel AdamsJosh HamiltonBarbara FeldonAn in depth study of Adams's life and work.
- DirectorAdrian MabenStarsAdrian MabenCandice BergenTina BrownA camera crew follows Helmut Newton, the fashion and ad photographer whose images of tall, blond, big-breasted women are part of the iconography of twentieth-century erotic fantasy. He's on the go from L.A., to Paris, to Monte-Carlo, to Berlin, where he was a youth until he escaped from the Nazis in 1936. We see him on shoots, interviewing models, and discussing his work. It's not art and it's not good taste, he tells students. We meet June, his Australian-born wife, whom he married in 1948. Three actresses talk about working with Newton and how posing is different from acting. A heart attack in 1973 helps Newton re-focus, resulting in more personal photographic projects.
- DirectorJohn-Paul DavidsonStarsGore Vidal
- DirectorDeborah DicksonSusan FroemkeAlbert MayslesStarsJacques ChiracChristoJeanne-ClaudeThis is the story of the quest of the artist Christo to wrap the famous Pont Neuf in France in fabric. It took Christo and his wife ten years to get permission from the Parisian government, and the project created a storm of dialogue throughout Paris.
- DirectorGene FeldmanSuzette WinterStarsLauren BacallScotty BeckettEric BloreHer story is well-known - the lonely child who yearned for affection and approval which she finally seemed to find as Hollywood's greatest love goddess. But even though she scaled heights few could even dream of, she was one of the loneliest of stars. And yet, in spite of the breakdowns, the failed marriages, the sordid rumors surrounding her life -- and her death
- DirectorJan HarlanStarsKatharina KubrickMalcolm McDowellStanley KubrickThe career and life of Stanley Kubrick is explored through pictures, clips from his films, his old home movies, comments from his colleagues and a narration by Tom Cruise.
- DirectorTed HaimesStarsKevin SpaceyJonathan DemmeAlfred HitchcockThis documentary is a fascinating look at the cinematic genius of Alfred Hitchcock. Briefly covering much of his early British works, the film primarily focuses on his American classics, such as "Shadow of a Doubt", "Notorious", "Rear Window", "Vertigo", "Psycho" and "The Birds". The movie also covers his television years and neatly examines the Hitchcock signature touches, from his inevitable brief cameo to his famous MacGuffin. Kevin Spacey narrates, and there are interviews with his delightful daughter Pat as well as such film directors as Brian De Palma, Jonathan Demme, Curtis Hanson, Robert Altman, Ronald Neame and Peter Bogdanovich, along with cast and crew members Tippi Hedren, Joseph Stefano, Norman Lloyd, Robert F. Boyle, Teresa Wright and Janet Leigh.
- DirectorMorgan SackettStarsJason AlexanderTy CopemanLarry DavidThe origins of the "Seinfeld" TV series.
- StarsTony NaumovskiFyodor Dostoevsky, one of the greatest novelists of all time, penetrated the human mind and heart with insight. His fiction has had a profound and enduring influence on the modern intellectual climate. Dostoevsky was born in Moscow on November 11, 1821. His first novel, Poor Folk (1846) was highly praised for its sympathetic treatment of the downtrodden. His other works included The Insulted and Injured (1861), Notes From Underground (1864), Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1868), The Possessed (1872), The Brothers Karamazov (1880).
- StarsTim CurryPaul FreemanJohn NormingtonBiography of William Shakespeare.
- DirectorJon BlairStarsKenneth BranaghGlenn CloseIsa BaschwitzTells the story of the Frank family and paints a portrait of their brash and free-spirited daughter Anne, perhaps the world's most famous victim of the Holocaust.
- DirectorCatherine WarnowRegina WeinrichStarsPaul BowlesEdouard RoditiAllen GinsbergFilmed in Morocco and featuring exclusive interviews with cultural icons such as Allen Ginsberg, PAUL BOWLES: THE COMPLETE OUTSIDER explores the esoteric life of the man who wrote the The Sheltering Sky, one of the most provocative and influential novels of the 20th century. As an icon to the Beat Generation, Bowles' writing and life has influenced everyone from William Burroughs (whose Naked Lunch was inspired by Bowles), to David Cronenberg's film of the same name, to Bernardo Bertolucci, whose film adaptation of The Sheltering Sky was a critical and popular hit. Bowles led an enigmatic existence on the outskirts of accepted moral behavior in harsh but beautiful Morocco. Despite being married (to fellow author Jane Bowles), Bowles and his wife had numerous homosexual affairs. The film explores not only his development as a writer and composer, but also his complicated personal life.
- DirectorPaul PissanosStarsAnthony BurkDavid BowlesCarolina Liriti
- StarsGuido KnoppA three-part documentary about Joseph Stalin, hosted and narrated by German television notorious personality Prof. Dr. Guido Knopp.
- StarsRichard EastonDylan BakerColm FeoreThe story of the renowned American polymath.
- DirectorShekhar KapurStarsCate BlanchettLiz GilesRod CulbertsonThe early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.
- StarsDavid StarkeyMichelle BunyanImogen SlaughterThe life of Queen Elizabeth I of England
- StarsBill Blakemore
- DirectorSusan ToddAndrew YoungStarsKeith DavidExamines the modern monarchies in Great Britain, Uganda, Tonga and Nepal. contains archival news footage and interviews with some of the monarchs and their subjects.
- DirectorSue JuddStarsWill HartmannDorothea RöschmannDiana DamrauOne of the most iconic operas of all time; "The Magic Flute" (Die Zauberflöte) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is about a Prince, Tamino, conquering all odds to be wise and to rescue the daughter, Pamina, of the Queen of the Night. This is one of the best known productions of this opera, in Covent Garden- London 2003. Conducted by Sir Colin Davis, performers include Simon Keenlyside as Papageno, Dorothea Röschmann as Pamina, Will Hartmann as Tamino and the legendary Diana Damrau as the Queen of the Night (Königin Der Nacht).
- DirectorPhil GrabskyStarsEmanuel AxJonathan BissRiccardo ChaillyThe first truly comprehensive feature length cinema documentary ever made about Beethoven. With over 60 live performances.
- StarsPlácido Domingo
- StarsAnne-Sophie Mutter
- StarsMartin Luther King
- 1985– 1h 26mTV-147.6 (390)TV EpisodeDirectorMichael EpsteinStarsGene HackmanAlfred HitchcockDavid O. SelznickWith Hitchcock's career just beginning and Selznick's on the decline, the final year of their collaboration would mark turning points in both men's lives.