For an awkward, self-conscious girl like Kiki (Julia Roberts), being the personal assistant to a beautiful megastar like Gwen (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is no bowl of cherries. But when she dutifully accepts the task of helping Gwen and her estranged megastar husband Eddie (John Cusack) make it through one last public appearance masterminded by legendary but neurotic press agent Lee Phillips (Billy Crystal), forever devoted Kiki finds that her job satisfaction...

Mark Rappaport's creative bio-pic about actress Jean Seberg is presented in a first-person, autobiographical format (with Seberg played by Mary Beth Hurt). He seamlessly interweaves cinema, politics, American society and culture, and film theory to inform, entertain, and move the viewer. Seberg's many marriages, as well as her film roles, are discussed extensively. Her involvement with the Black Panther Movement and subsequent investigation by the...

Known as “The B-Movie King”, Roger Corman’s filmography has paved ways for genre films, igniting the screen with his rambunctious exploitation cinema. This portrait, made by Christain Blackwood who at the time was an aspiring filmmaker himself, takes a closer look at Corman’s plentiful career. Corman’s early casts and crews were oftentimes bursting with young talent such as Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme and David Carradine. His horror-comedy...

Working largely uncredited in the Hollywood system, storyboard artist Harold Michelson and film researcher Lillian Michelson left an indelible mark on classics by Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick and many more. Through an engaging mix of love letters, film clips and candid conversations, this documentary offers both a moving portrait of their marriage and a celebration of the unknown talents that helped shape the films we love. ...

In 1982 Peter Brosnan heard a story about an ancient Egyptian City buried in California. For thirty years he has been fighting to dig it up. In 2012, with funding from an independent "angel," an archaeological excavation of the site finally took place. Because the filmmakers began their work in the 1980's, they were able to capture interviews with many of the people - actors, writers, chariot drivers and extras - who worked with DeMille in 1923. They...

The deliciously scandalous story of Scotty Bowers, a handsome ex-Marine who landed in Hollywood after World War II and became confidante, aide-de-camp and lover to many of Hollywood’s greatest stars. In the 1940s and ‘50s, Scotty ran a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots where he would connect his friends with actors and actresses who had to hide their true sexual identities for fear of police raids at gay bars, societal shunning and...

Inspired by the backstage Hollywood musicals of the 1930’s, this later period Rivette recounts the adventures of three young women in Paris, each at a turning point in her life – and with a musical number (or two)!

The story of Nigeria's home grown film industry, which is gaining recognition as a cultural and cinematic phenomenon. First came Hollywood, then Bollywood and now Nollywood, Nigeria’s booming film industry, which released 2000 feature features in 2006 alone. Where else can you shoot a full-length dramatic film for {dollar}10,000 in 7 days? Until recently little known outside its own country, THIS IS NOLLYWOOD explains why Nigerian video production...

Behind the Screens explores the trend toward "hypercommercialism" in Hollywood film: product placement, tie-ins, merchandising, and cross-promotions. The film mixes clips from popular Hollywood films with expert commentary to show how movies have become vehicles for the ulterior marketing and advertising motives of studios and their owners. Featuring Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jeremy Pikser; Mark Crispin Miller; Susan Douglas; Robert McChesney,...