Best of Thierry Le Luron

Celebrating the Rice Media Center

April 2024 •English

Through the Fondren Fellows program, the Rice Media Center Archive Project has spent the past few months sifting through material stored at the now-defunct Rice Media Center. The team has identified several films as especially notable and will be presenting them in conjunction with documentary footage the team shot of people involved with the films. From lectures featuring Roberto Rossellini and Werner Herzog to films from former Rice students and faculty, the film presentation will tell the narrative of the Rice Media Center through the films and filmmakers that passed through its corridors.

A Night at the Opera

September 2020 •French

A documentary view of the galas of Paris’s Palais Garnier in the 1950s and ’60s.

Fantom biografu

January 1977 •Czech

Singapore On Film

February 2019 •English

Rare archive footage reveals what Singapore was like dating back to 1900, showing coolies sharing lunch, rickshaw pullers, a grand Peranakan funeral, and more.

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

January 2022 •French

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.

Jean Gabin, le dernier des géants

January 2015 •French

Trains: Two Centuries of Innovation

February 2017 •French

Nearly 200 years ago, the train revolutionized our lives. It redrew the maps of states and nations, and changed concepts of distance and time like no other invention before. What visionaries imagined the development of the railroad? How did we get from the first chugging locomotives to the smooth giants of speed we see today? How does France's extensive rail network keep running smoothly, 24/7?

The Bloody Hundredth

March 2024 •English

Meet the real-life airmen who inspired Masters of the Air as they share the harrowing and transformative events of the 100th Bomb Group.

Phantasia

March 2024 •

X-ray images were invented in 1895, the same year in which the Lumière brothers presented their respective invention in what today is considered to be the first cinema screening. Thus, both cinema and radiography fall within the scopic regime inaugurated by modernity. The use of X-rays on two sculptures from the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum generates images that reveal certain elements of them that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes. These images, despite being generally created for technical or scientific purposes, seem to produce a certain form of 'photogénie': they lend the radiographed objects a new appearance that lies somewhere between the material and the ethereal, endowing them with a vaporous and spectral quality. It is not by chance that physics and phantasmagoria share the term 'spectrum' in their vocabulary.

Lawrence of Arabia: Britain's Great Adventurer

September 2020 •English

The epic story of Thomas Edward Lawrence the First World War military officer who united the tribes of Arabia against the Ottoman Turkish army. The film reveals that while being one of the most enigmatic figures of the 20th century, he was also a deeply troubled man, delving into his personal torment, the secret his family were hiding, and the punishment he endured.

Fernanda Young: Beyond My Control

August 2024 •Portuguese

A dive into the intimate and creative universe of writer, screenwriter, and presenter Fernanda Young. The documentary takes an unconventional approach and becomes a poetic essay, using disruptive archive collages and visual and soundscapes of intimate moments. The film is also an invitation to reflect on creativity and artistic courage.

The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt

January 1983 •English

Theodore Roosevelt was America's 26th president and a larger-than-life legend whose incredible story must be seen to be believed. Narrated by George C. Scott, this documentary weaves extremely rare archival footage with meticulous recreations alongside the music of John Philip Sousa in a dynamic panorama of the great events of Teddy Roosevelt in the early years of the 20th century.

42 Up

November 1999 •English

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

The Man Who Stole Einstein's Brain

May 2023 •English

On April 18, 1955, the pathologist performing the autopsy on Albert Einstein covertly steals the genius's brain, hoping to uncover the secret of brilliance. His good intentions and scientific ambitions collide with harsh realities as his world crumbles.

Le fabuleux destin de Jean Dujardin

August 2021 •French

Françoise d'Eaubonne: une épopée écoféministe

February 2023 •French

In the 1970s, Françoise d'Eaubonne stood out in the French intellectual landscape. At 50, she has already won several literary prizes and published around forty novels and essays, but is resuming her militant fight with renewed vigor. She is the first to define ecofeminism, denouncing the common oppression of women and the planet as a consequence of patriarchy. She participated in the actions of the MLF (Women's Liberation Movement), in the creation of the FHAR (Homosexual Revolutionary Action Front) and theorized counter-violence, going so far as to sabotage the construction site of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant. This film presents unpublished documents for the first time. Drawing freely from the manuscripts and photographic archives that she bequeathed to the Memory Institute for Contemporary Publishing, her relatives and researchers, historians and publishers comment on the resonance of her feminist and ecological heritage.

Muzika pro dva

June 1980 •Czech

Time Bomb Y2K

March 2023 •English

As the clock counted down to the the 21st century, the world faced a potential technological disaster: a bug that could cause computers to misinterpret the year 2000 as 1900. Crafted entirely from archival footage and featuring first-hand accounts from computer experts, survivalists, scholars, militia groups, conservative Christians, and pop icons, Time Bomb Y2K is a prescient and often humorous tale about the power and vulnerabilities of technology.

The Unbelievable Story of Carl Beech

August 2020 •English

The jaw-dropping story of Carl Beech, a former nurse from Gloucester who claimed he had been sexually abused by a group of prominent men in the 1970s and 80s.

Queen : The American Dream

November 2017 •English

Created from backstage material filmed during Queen’s 1977 USA News of the World tour, this documentary was included in a special box set of Queen's landmark 1977 album News of the World, marking the 40th anniversary of the original release.