“The Ambassadors,” the hidden side of the world
2025 · 52m · Documentary · History
A Renaissance masterpiece painted by Hans Holbein the Younger, “The Ambassadors” is teeming with details and hidden messages. By deciphering the enigmas of the canvas, this documentary recounts a troubled era in which advances in knowledge were intertwined with brutal political and religious upheavals.
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Visite à Oscar Dominguez
1947 · ★ 5.7
This is the legendary meeting between a young filmmaker and one of the masters of surrealism: the spanish painter Óscar Domínguez, born in La Laguna, Tenerife, in 1906, died in Paris in 1957. In the "Visite," the artist -admirer of Picasso, rebellious disciple of Breton- is presented in solitude, far from the tumult of the exhibitions and parisian circles. An austere approach, almost “povera”, with no audio, nor flashy camera movements, but rarely attractive. Why Resnais could not finish his movie? Hope one of our experts help us to solve the mystery.
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Paris, the Mystery of the Disappeared Palace
2023 · ★ 7.3
In the heart of Paris, an entire palace has disappeared. It was the very first residence of the kings of France. Long before Versailles, long before the Louvre, the Palais de la Cité stood on the most prestigious island in Paris, the historic cradle of France, facing Notre-Dame. So majestic in the Middle Ages, this palace has become a ghost of history. Over the centuries, this architectural masterpiece has almost completely disappeared. A trio of experts will resurrect it in 3D. Using science and unprecedented excavations, they will track down the pieces of the puzzle to reconstruct it at its peak in the 14th century, and bring back to life those who inhabited it. From the Romans to the Vikings, from Saint Louis to the cursed kings, all have left clues of this 'Versailles of the Middle Ages'.
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Speaking of Abstraction: A Universal Language
1999
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, abstraction - that most quintessentially modernist innovation - maintains a peculiarly contradictory position. Used, on one hand, by post-modernist artists as just one more quotable style amongst many, it is on the other hand still considered an elitist or hermetic language by audiences intimidated by its lack of recognizable subject matter. Yet ultimately, abstraction continues to be a viable creative path for contemporary artists of all generations, many of whom embrace it as the most inclusive and fundamentally resonant of artistic languages. Filmed at the artists' studios, the Dia Center for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Museum during their exhibition, "Abstraction in the Twentieth Century."
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Bone Wind Fire
2011
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The Genius of Turner: Painting the Industrial Revolution
2013 · ★ 7
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A portrait of Spanish comic book author Paco Plaza.
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Master filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) transforms a portrait of the world-renowned museum into a magisterial, centuries-spanning reflection on the relation between art, culture and power.
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1993 · ★ 6.6
The Quays' interest in esoteric illusions finds its perfect realization in this fascinating animated lecture on the art of anamorphosis. This artistic technique, often used in the 16th- and 17th centuries, utilizes a method of visual distortion with which paintings, when viewed from different angles, mischievously revealed hidden symbols.
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Bloodlines: The Art and Life of Vincent Castiglia
2018
Vincent Castiglia paints in human blood.
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Miss Hokusai
2015 · ★ 6.7
A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.
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