Cédric Defert

Eleven major film makers from Europe, America and Asia talk about Akira Kurosawa and discover surprising influences on their own work.

A legendary entertainer and a pioneer of gay activism, Miwa was born Akihiro Maruyama. As a young singer, Miwa popularized androgyny as a fashion statement, fusing the masculine and the feminine into a signal of a new generation of aesthetics. This evolved into performing as a woman and living off-stage as a man. With glitter, wit, evening gowns, and enchanting storytelling, Miwa looks back over a 50-year career and a fascinating life in music, film, and television.

Using testimonies by pioneers and witnesses of the times, delve into the feverish visual culture the media generated – with far-fetched examples of canine television games, seduction manuals, aerobics class while holding a baby, among others.

For several decades, geoscientists have been observing that the Earth is changing rapidly due to human intervention. This action has such a great impact on the biological, geological and atmospheric processes of the Earth that some scientists speak of the dawn of a new epoch: the Age of Man or the Anthropocene.

A group of friends from Digne-les-Bains, the Potes of the Top, are attempting to renovate a disused cinema in the town center, the Top, and transform it into a cultural third place.

Join the members of the historic Rosetta mission through the years as they launch, wait and then deploy the lander onto the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Experience the dramatic highs and lows of the first mission to land a probe on a comet in space.

In 2014 a large painting representing Judith Beheading Holofernes was discovered in an attic in Toulouse, France. A controversy ensued immediately about the attribution of the painting's authorship to Caravaggio. The documentary follows a famed art expert in charge of organizing the sale of the painting on behalf of the owners, while specialists debate on its authenticity.

Can Homo sapiens evolve into Homo spatius? For over 50 years now, we have been testing our human nature in our effort to conquer outer space, and still 30 years away from a possible human exploration of Mars, a question remains: Can our body take such travels? Will it ever adapt? Combining human adventure and the exploration of the human body, this film offers unique insights into the physical and psychological effects of space travel on the Astronauts and measures the impact on medical sciences.

Jérémie has a job recruiting subjects for testing. He'd rather recruit Rodrigue for something else entirely.

Set in Tokyo 7 years after WWII, a 9 year old boy wanders into a strange mansion. Confined inside are four adults suffering from an incurable disease, which prevents them from having exposure to the sun.

Frank Capra was one of Hollywood's most popular and respected directors in the 1930s and 1940s. His best-known films include "Isn't Life Beautiful?", "The Bottom Ten Thousand" and "Arsenic and Lace". His career from poor Sicilian immigrant to successful director stands for the American dream and brings him surprisingly close to his characters. But what in his depictions of America and its everyday heroes is reality, and where does the dream begin?

It's Paul's birthday and his grand-mother is about to give him a present. Unhappily, it is not the electric train he was expecting... But the surprising gift will bring the big boy on tremendous emotions.

How did the Third Reich manage to finance its war machine, in action as soon as Hitler came to power? When his armies invaded Poland, the coffers were empty. A vast raid began in the conquered countries. The Nazis plundered gold, works of art and central bank funds. But how to change these colossal assets? Switzerland was to act as the Third Reich's bureau de change, guaranteeing it the foreign currency it needed to acquire raw materials for its armaments factories. How did this story come about?