Il était une fois Marseille

La Case du Siècle is a French television program launched in 2010 and broadcast on France 5. Hosted by Fabrice d'Almeida, it airs documentaries every Sunday that aim to shed light on the history of the 20th century, both in France and around the world. Through these documentaries, viewers can deepen their knowledge of a specific subject or simply discover a particular era. *La Case du siècle* offers an in-depth look at the events that changed the course of history.

This brief period in French history (1934–1938), known as the “Popular Front,” has left an indelible mark on the nation's collective memory. Set against the backdrop of a polarized and divided France, this film chronicles a social and cultural revolution, traveling back in time to uncover the places, testimonies, and hidden archives of this formative experience that permanently transformed French society.

In September 2020, a trial opened at the Palais de Justice in Paris to judge those who participated in the murderous attempt to destroy a newspaper. This historic trial is that of those days in January 2015, when France witnessed live the assassination of the editorial staff of "Charlie Hebdo", the very person who had revived the newspaper in 1992. In 2020, it is in a bunker in Paris, that a new editorial staff still keeps freedom of expression alive. Starting with the trial of the January 2015 attacks and immersed in the current editorial staff of the newspaper, this documentary returns in archives, testimonies and drawings on the history of "Charlie Hebdo".

This is the “embedded” French Revolution that we want to share: an exceptional, immersive experience seen through cameras that dive into the heart of history, following its every jolt. It's the story of the fall of the world's most glorious, most powerful ad most ancient monarchy.

Trace the overlapping journeys of exceptional women swept up in World War I and hear their tales of bravery on history's front lines

April 15, 1874, boulevard des Capucines, Paris: a group of young feverish painters shunned by the official Salon and mocked by the classical masters, chose to come together to exhibit their paintings freely, in the studio of photographer Nadar. At the end of a teeming century, when modernity was emerging, this group of rebellious artists, revolutionized the world of art.

In February 1944, in a courtyard at Fresnes Prison, the Germans staged a spectacle to stigmatize a group of communist resistance fighters—all foreigners and mostly Jewish—who had been arrested a few weeks earlier. The propaganda aimed to discredit these fighters, portraying them as terrorists and criminals, even though they had managed to carry out numerous attacks against the occupiers in Paris. The red poster, plastered in thousands of copies across the country, would immortalize them in legend. They were subsequently executed at Mont-Valérien, near Paris. Missak Manouchian, the Armenian who led these fighters, now embodies this group in the collective memory as he is enshrined in the Panthéon, on behalf of all his comrades, 80 years after their execution.

Mothers, nurses, soldiers and deportees - these women fought against persecution for freedom and survival amid the turbulence of World war II.

In 1900, the eyes of the whole world are on Paris. The World's Fair welcomed 50 million amazed visitors, and the city celebrated itself in a glamorous era. This period went down in history as the "Belle Époque." Elaborately restored and colorized historical photographs bring to life the exciting life in Paris between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of World War I in 1914. Bicycles, cars, airplanes, moving pictures, newly founded film studios, revolutionary composers and painters, avant-garde ballet performances, fashion houses, summer resorts on the Atlantic coast – life was intoxicating. People celebrate in the variety shows, cabarets, and revue theaters of Paris. Moulin Rouge, Folies Bergères, Bal Tabarin—in Paris, the nights are long and life is too short to sleep through. It is a dance on the volcano, given the political developments in the world.

Georges Remi, known as Hergé, a complex and complicated artist, created Tintin, one of the most famous characters in the world. With exceptional access to the archives of Studios Hergé and Moulinsart, this documentary looks at Remi's life and the way he changed the art of comic.

In 1945, twelve million homeless children wandered through the rubble of a Europe that had just emerged from the deadliest conflict it had ever known. An unprecedented number of children were separated from their parents or orphaned. Under the guise of the best interests of these children and of the nation, France, the United States, Great Britain and the countries of Central Europe embarked on a veritable race for children. By demographic opportunism, by fear of seeing them indoctrinated by a new totalitarianism, these countries move and adopt these orphans, erasing their history and their identity.

A never-before-seen portrait of the artist’s life through his entire body of work, from his sketches as a child prodigy until his final paintings.