Les Misérables: The History of the World's Greatest Story

Beatriz Portinari is not only the name of the inspiring muse of Dante Alighieri, but also the pseudonym with which the Platense writer Aurora Venturini was presented in 2007 to the Nueva Novela contest, organized by the newspaper Página 12, in which she won the grand prize for their work The bonuses. Full of mischief and grace, vitality and mystery, with great character and lucidity, this woman who throughout her ninety-one years never stopped writing, had a life totally linked to the literature and history of the twentieth century: she knew , was a friend and worked with Eva Perón in a minority center; in his exile he became associated with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, among others; and received a prize from Jorge Luis Borges, among many other things.

Likely in June 1897, a group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

The brilliant writing and troubled life of Californian Larry Levis came to an abrupt halt when he died at age 49. Is self-destruction required for a serious life of art? Featuring an original score by Iron and Wine and film excerpts by award-winning Spanish filmmaker Lois Patiño, this innovative documentary explores his childhood working alongside Mexican-American field hands, three marriages, friendships with America’s greatest poets, and his own words for answers.

A look at the rise of anti-Semitism and assaults against Jews in present-day France.

How have one poet and his single book of poetry from the last century continued to inspire people today? A Life That Sings follows the legendary poet Ya Hsien from Vancouver to Nanyan, to the mobile library from his childhood and to the basement of his current home. Through his collection of books and love letters, the film unearths the treasure trove abound with stories of Ya Hsien's life.

On the occasion of the fourty years anniversary of François Mitterand's election, a look back to the relationship between the President and artists, from admiration to manipulation.

Pai Hsien-yung has lent Chinese-language literature some of its most colorful and most memorable characters, and served as the inspiration of multiple generations of artists working in mediums as different as television, film, and theatre. From the youthful air of the Modern Literature magazine, which he helped launch at the age of 22, to the humanistic sincerity in his recent works My Father and the Republic and Healing the Pain, Pai looks back on his 29 years teaching at Santa Barbara, a four-decade relishing of Guilin rice noodles, and a return visit to the gardens of Suzhou after 10 years. Through the darkened realm of the stage, to the countless lectures and courses he taught, Pai has been at the forefront of literature for multiple generations, with his unique blend of resilience and tenderness reverberating through the film, and bringing audiences closer to his warmth as a novelist.

A documentary about writer and novelist Liu Yichang.

May 10th, 1981. François Mitterrand is elected President of the Republic. The “soviet tanks” supposedly coming upon the Champs-Élysées dressed in red, feared by some, did not march. Serge Moati takes a personal look at this episode, focusing on the relationship the president had with television, that he witnessed and played a role in.