Sur la route de la grande vadrouille

Stefan Zweig was the most read author of the German language in the 1930s. He believed in a united, peaceful Europe and travelled most parts of the world. He was a pacifist and was torn apart by to the cruelties and horrors of the second World War. He committed suicide in Brasil. This documentary tells the story of his life.

A documentary about the life and career of Maurice Pialat produced by his widow, the accomplished film producer Sylvie Pialat. The film interweaves clips from his films with interview footage of Pialat, who speaks of growing up as an only child, his interest in painting, his early influences in cinema from Yasujiro Ozu to John Ford, his disaffection with the French New Wave, and the theme of abandonment in his films. Pialat’s remarks offer insights into his aesthetic strategies and hint at his reputation as a challenging, irascible director, known for having pushed his actors to deliver raw and powerful performances.

At the dawn of World War II, the French resistance organized an incredible exfiltration of masterpieces from the Louvre Museum to save them from the hands of the Nazis. Operation Jacques Jaujard, the museum's director, who had previously participated in the evacuation of the Prado Museum during the Civil War, directs the operation. Jaujard had an extraordinary personality and was madly in love with art. Although he was a faithful servant of the State, he used his knowledge of the system and his audacity to serve a noble cause: to save the artistic heritage of Humanity.

The many references in contemporary film to Edward Hopper's works, as well as the widespread reproduction of some of his paintings have made his universe familiar to many. His unclassifiable figurations weave a dialogue between appearances and light, between the unmistakeable and enigma. Focusing on the artist's personal life in the context of 20th century America, "Edward Hopper and the Blank Canvas" bears witness to a fiercely independent painter, who was aware of the issues of his era, and who was hostile to the imprisonment that a modern American art opposing realism and abstraction could lead him to. This film brings the artist to life, transposing his realist and metaphysical poetry. It is a subtile and passionate work, which at last unveils one of the most important painters of American modernity.

French soccer fans, celebrities and athletes retrace the exhilarating events of July 12, 1998, as France earned a historic win in the World Cup final.