Hollywood between Paranoia and Sci-Fi: The Power of Myth

The dashing and dazzling Douglas Fairbanks was the movie star who "swashbuckled in Zorro, dueled exuberantly in Robin Hood and soared magnificently in The Thief of Bagdad"-- He was the "First King of Hollywood".

This documentary by Clara and Julia Kuperberg examines how a set of moral guidelines known as the Hays Code influenced movie-making in Hollywood from the 30s through to the late 60s.

Looks at roles given to women in Hollywood over the years and the development of 'chick flicks'. Writers, critics and studio executives including Nora Ephron, Molly Haskell and Linda Obst, discuss the rise of chick flicks.

Biography on the famous writer-director, Billy Wilder.

For over 100 years, Hollywood cinema has crafted the ultimate "villain"- the Indian, as they were labeled in early Westerns. Confined almost exclusively to this genre, the Western became a vehicle for American racism, obscuring the genocide upon which the United States was built. In this documentary, only Native Americans are given a voice to share their story, one that has been overshadowed by Hollywood's portrayal. Their narrative, part of the larger American story, highlights how cinema has long been used as a powerful propaganda tool, distorting history and perpetuating harmful stereotypes.

Joni Mitchell has been called the queen of folk music and one of the biggest pop stars of the 60s and 70s. Even today, her lyrics and unique guitar style continue to inspire new generations of singers and songwriters.

Misunderstood genius, superstar, Hollywood’s fallen angel... Orson Welles left his indelible mark on the 20th century.

The first talkie was directed by Alice Guy, the first color film was produced by Lois Weber, who directed more than 300 films over 10 years. Frances Marion wrote screenplays for the Hollywood Star Mary Pickford and won two Oscars, Dorothy Arzner was the most powerful film director in Hollywood. And what do all of them have in common? They are all women and they have all been forgotten. Incredibly, it also took until 2010 for the first woman, Kathryn Bigelow, to win the Oscar for Best Director. Even if underrepresented women have always played a big part in Hollywood and it is this part of the film history left untold that this documentary sets out to uncover.

Mary Pickford's name remains inseparable from the legend of American cinema. She invented the star system at the beginning of the 20th century, and was the biggest star ever known, not just in Hollywood, but worldwide, at a time when actors didn't even have their names on movie posters. She was more than a pioneer, she was a jack-of-all-trades: world-famous star, producer and formidable businesswoman, screenwriter and director in the shadows, studio boss, Mary Pickford alone embodied the entire legend of cinema and the advent of women in that particular era.

Mehdi lives with his mother in the suburbs of Paris. He plays poker online. After a lucky strike he decides it is time to risk it all in Montecarlo.

Martin Scorsese is among those paying tribute to Gene Tierney, the Academy Award-nominated American actress who was a leading lady in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s.

A documentary studying the archetype of the witch in Hollywood cinema from the 1930s to the present and shows, between the lines, how it is linked to the social history of female power.

A documentary about film noir films made in Los Angeles.

Portrait of a deceptively smooth "everyman", whose excessiveness as a great actor Billy Wilder was able to reveal with a bang in the seven films they shot together, including "Some Like It Hot", "The Bachelor's ", "Irma the sweet" and "Avanti, avanti".

A history of anti-Asian racism and yellowface in Hollywood after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack.

Deep rooted religious beliefs seemingly going back to the Pilgrim Fathers' puritanism dominate a society which is entertained by violence to no end on a daily basis. If it is true that American movies reflect American society, the United States have yet another severe problem: a lack of open sexuality and eroticism.