Breaking the Sound Barrier

Military Strongholds: Megastructures of Genius

May 2021 •French

In the heart of central Europe are some of the world’s most impenetrable military strongholds. In France, 160 megastructure fortresses still line the country’s borders 3 centuries after they were constructed. As solid as ever, how did they withstand attack after attack? Was the secret in their materials? Their shape? In fact, the strength and resilience of these megastructures is due to the genius of one man: Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban.

Kourou et l'épopée spatiale française

June 2019 •French

Cinema's First Colors

October 2021 •French

Art and science have worked together to allow cinema to switch to color. Numerous processes have succeeded one another to try to solve this difficulty.

Road to the Stars

November 1957 •Russian

This film consists of three parts. The first dramatizes the life of the founder of Soviet astronautics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; the second describes the development of rocket technology; and the third visualizes the future with enactments of the first manned spaceflight, spacewalk, space station construction and humans on the moon.

Moka Malo, des corsaires à la conquête du café

October 2016 •French

La capitale gauloise disparue

December 2020 •French

Magellan sur la route des épices

December 2021 •French

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Fernand de Magellan and his men embarked on an expedition that would forever change the way we see the world. Like Christopher Columbus before him, he set out in search of a western sea route to Asia's legendary Moluccan archipelago.

Boulogne-Billancourt - Le temps des studios

December 2020 •French

Since 1922, Boulogne-Billancourt cinema studios have welcomed the greatest actors, directors and technicians of French cinema and have given birth to many masterpieces.

On a volé le Maréchal !

April 2012 •French

Le dernier guillotiné

February 2011 •French

No Highway in the Sky

June 1951 •English

James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, but brilliant. His studies show that the aircraft being manufactured by his employer has a subtle but deadly design flaw that manifests itself only after the aircraft has flown a certain number of hours. En route to a crash site to prove his theory, Honey discovers that he is aboard a plane rapidly approaching his predicted deadline.

The Glass Bottom Boat

June 1966 •English

Bruce, the owner of an aerospace company, is infatuated with Jennifer and hires her to be his biographer so that he can be near her and win her affections. Is she actually a Russian spy trying to obtain aerospace secrets?

Spaceways

August 1953 •English

A rocket engineer, responsible for sending a satellite into space, is accused of committing the most extraordinary crime.

House of Z

June 2016 •English

A feature documentary on the life and career of designer Zac Posen.

Niñato

April 2017 •Spanish

Jobless and with no prospects, Niñato (Brat) lives with his parents and does hip-hop music. He lives the life of the outskirts, it's the Madrid of the chronic crisis. But he is 34 years old and has three children to bring up. Time goes by, the kids are growing up and Niñato carries on, making music and looking after the children, without worrying too much about his future. Oro, the smallest one, not too motivated at school, will demand more attention and drive Niñato to face his own conflicts.

BE' JAM BE the Never Ending Song

April 2017 •English

“The Mutan tree, well we say tree, but originally it’s a liana that uses the tree to climb. And its grasp ends up killing the tree. That’s what is going to happen between us and the companies.” In Sarawak, one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo, the Penan — who not that long ago were still nomads — are the first to be affected by deforestation.

Long Echo

April 2020 •German

Dobropillia is a town located in Eastern Ukraine: 70 km from the border where conflicts with the breakaway republics are raging on and people feel always like being on the verge of total war. The sheer uncertainty about the future pushes folks to cling on to their daily habits while trying to get along with the ever-shifting political landscape. A wide array of wildly diversified characters try to cope as good as they can with the hardships in their town. A death metal band keeps rehearsing daily. A teacher guides visitors through the story of the city. The wonders of a vibrating armchair are tested as a tool against stress and anxiety. An elderly lady who has lost her son tries to talk some sense into her fellow citizens urging them to accept peace.

Cassini's Grand Finale

April 2017 •English

To help visualize the dramatic final chapter in Cassini's remarkable story, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory produced this short film that features beautiful computer-generated animation, thoughtful narration and a rousing score. Producers at JPL worked with filmmaker Erik Wernquist, known for his 2014 short film "Wanderers," to create a stirring finale video befitting one of NASA's most successful missions of exploration.

Encyclopedia

July 1998 •Spanish

Hollywood - The Second Step

June 1936 •English

This short follows the early career of actress Jane Barnes. She starts by doing extra work. After several months she is offered a studio contract (the "first step"). However, her work consists mostly of fashion shoots and bit parts that end up on the cutting room floor. She is even used as a stand-in for Maureen O'Sullivan on the set of a Tarzan movie when camera angles and lighting must be set up.