Les Conquérants De l'Impossible : Portrait De René Desmaison

This episode is part of the series "The Conquerors of the Impossible (2/3)". From the 1950s to the 1980s, René Desmaison achieved a large number of "firsts". A specialist in normal routes (west face of Les Drus, Pilier du Freyney, Shroud...), he experienced a tragedy at the Grandes Jorasses, where his exceptional resistance allowed him to survive against all logic. He is the first to claim the practice of the mountain as a high level sport. A man of contrasts, his apparent strength hides great shyness and an unalterable enthusiasm despite the years. Beyond mountaineering, it is the spirit of adventure that has always inhabited him. A whole life devoted to mountaineering.

Stephen King: Master of Horror

Melville Steps Out of the Shadows

A documentary about the making of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1949 film "Le silence de la mer"

The El Duce Tapes

A wilfully offensive band, The Mentors gained infamy for performing in black executioner hoods and spewing cartoonishly racist, homophobic and misogynistic lyrics in the 1980s and ‘90s—but was their use of shock meant to propagate hate or confront it?

Mountain Girl

Reflections on life and her journey by Diane - a retired model and a star of a cult classic horror film "Manos: the Hands of Fate".

The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky

Dramatization of Russian ballet star Vaclav Nijinsky's diaries which detail his madness as well as his homosexual relationship with Ballet Russe impresario Sergei Diaghilev and his marriage to his Hungarian wife.

Patuchas, el hombre de los mil limones

Documentary film about the life of musician and theater writer Juan Antonio Castillo "Canta" (Córdoba, 1966-1996), known as "Patuchas" by his friends.

Gray Matters

Gray Matters explores the long, fascinating life and complicated career of architect and designer Eileen Gray, whose uncompromising vision defined and defied the practice of modernism in decoration, design and architecture. Making a reputation with her traditional lacquer work in the first decade of the 20th century, she became a critically acclaimed and sought after designer and decorator in the next before reinventing herself as an architect, a field in which she laboured largely in obscurity. Apart from the accolades that greeted her first building –persistently and perversely credited to her mentor–her pioneering work was done quietly, privately and to her own specifications. But she lived long enough (98) to be re-discovered and acclaimed. Today, with her work commanding extraordinary prices and attention, her legacy, like its creator, remains elusive, contested and compelling.

Bis auf die Knochen - Leben mit FOP

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

With one of the most memorably stunning voices that has ever hit the airwaves, Linda Ronstadt burst onto the 1960s folk rock music scene in her early twenties.

In the Eyes

Documentary about the life and career of Vittorio Mezzogiorno through the voice of his daughter Giovanna.

Dylan

A young trans man tells his story on a early morning journey to Coney Island.

The Look of Silence

An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

I Am a Dancer

Documentary about the dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

Darwin's Darkest Hour

In 1858 Charles Darwin struggles to publish one of the most controversial scientific theories ever conceived, while he and his wife Emma confront family tragedy.

Mel Brooks: Unwrapped

At the age of 91, Mel Brooks is unstoppable, with his musical "Young Frankenstein" opening to great critical acclaim in London in late 2017. Alan Yentob visits Mel at home in Hollywood, at work and at play.