The Witches of Hollywood

A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.

Hollywood is a town of tinsel and glamour; but there is another Hollywood, a place where maverick independent exploitation filmmakers went toe to toe with the big guys and came out on top.

A documentary about the life of Carl Laemmle, early cinema pioneer and founder of Universal Studios, documenting his life in Hollywood and his efforts in the 1930s to save Jewish families in Nazi Germany.

In late 1955 and early 1956, the citizens of Boise, Idaho believed there was a menace in their midst. On Halloween, investigators arrested three men on charges of having sex with teenage boys. The investigators claimed the arrests were just the tip of the iceberg-they said hundreds of boys were being abused as part of a child sex ring. There was no such ring, but the result was a widespread investigation which some people consider a witch hunt. By the time the investigation ended, 16 men were charged. Countless other lives were also touched.In some cases, men implicated fled the area. At least one actually left the country. The investigation attracted attention in newspapers across the nation, including Time Magazine. The "Morals Drive" left scars which remain to this day.

This documentary highlights the historical contexts that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals have occupied in cinema history, and shows the evolution of the entertainment industry's role in shaping perceptions of LGBT figures. The issues addressed include secrecy – which initially defined homosexuality – as well as the demonization of the homosexual community with the advent of AIDS, and finally the shift toward acceptance and positivity in the modern era.

Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.

In a Hollywood career spanning more than 50 years and with 60 movie credits to his name, Jack Nicholson has conquered everyone, becoming the archetypal star who lives according to his own rules. Unmoved by critical approval and conventions he remains the most elusive of American actors.

A young woman discovers that she is a witch when people close to her begin to die under mysterious circumstances. She comes under the protection of a white magic coven/yoga studio. But the real danger may be right in front of her.

A film about America between the world wars that attempts to capture and interpret the vital moving forces in American society that caused the United States to emerge by the end of World War II as a dominant world power.

A film crew shoots a gory movie with realistic special effects. The gore looks real, because it is. The film director, a evil warlock, need a blood sacrifice to complete his pact with Satan. Who better than the film's scream queen? Who will survive the final cut.

An intimate portrait and saga of four film pioneers--Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack who rose from immigrant poverty through personal tragedies persevering to create a major studio with a social conscience.

A tribute to producer Irving Thalberg.

Heroine of the Halloween film series, or accomplice in a crazy scam in A Fish Called Wanda, Jamie Lee Curtis is, at 62, still as credible, funny, and a wildly free pop actress.

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.

A documentary about the pioneer of independent American cinema and television by sisters Julia and Clara Kuperberg, who specialize in documentaries on American film history. We follow Ida Lupino's journey from being a teenage Hollywood star, through social realism cinema, to her appearances in popular television series.

Well-educated and upper middle class, Maude Findlay is the archetypal feminist of her generation. She lives in suburban Tuckahoe, New York, with her fourth husband, Walter, their divorced daughter, Carol, and grandson Phillip.

Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood is a 2011 BBC documentary series written, directed and presented by Paul Merton. The three-part series traces the rise of the American film-making industry in Hollywood through from the early years of film-making to the foundation of the major motion-picture studios and the new class of the film star.

Ed Asner tells the story of RKO Pictures from the 1920s to the 1960s.

A worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made and the story of international cinema through the history of cinematic innovation.

Five programmes that trace a remarkable decade in British film-making through interviews with its stars and directors.

The extraordinary story of how Hollywood changed World War II – and how World War II changed Hollywood, through the interwoven experiences of five legendary filmmakers who went to war to serve their country and bring the truth to the American people: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Based on Mark Harris’ best-selling book, “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War.”

My Journey Through French Cinema (2017), Bertrand Tavernier’s César-nominated three-and-a-half-hour tour through French film history, was too short to introduce audiences to all that he wanted to share. In this new eight-part series (8x55min), the acclaimed director of such films as Coup de Torchon and ‘Round Midnight guides us through a roster of filmmakers both influential and forgotten, explores how his country’s cinema was shaped by the German occupation and changed again through the New Wave, spotlights little-known female filmmakers, and more. Subjects include: René Clément, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Julien Duvivier, Henri Decoin, Claude Autant-Lara, as well as composers who made movie music an art in and of itself, far from the Hollywood spotlight.

A unique portrait of how art and activism for black people in film are indivisible from race and cinema.

The Age of Steam was born in Britain, it was one of the greatest technological breakthroughs the world had ever seen. It changed everything from the food we could eat to the jobs we could do and it powered Britain's rise to the summit of imperial power. It lasted 130 years and then was gone. Lines were axed and steam was replaced by diesel and electric trains. Yet out of the ashes the steam lines rose again as enthusiasts re-opened old lines and fired up long silent steam engines. Today the heritage lines are thriving bringing the age of steam back to life and with it bringing joy to 8 million passengers every year.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard's chair of Afro-American Studies, travels the length and breadth of the United States to take the temperature of black America at the start of the new century. He explores this rich and diverse landscape, social as well as geographic, and meets the people who are defining black America, from the most famous and influential to those at the grassroots.

A filmmaker heads to Hollywood in the early ’90s to make her movie but tumbles down a hallucinatory rabbit hole of sex, magic, revenge — and kittens.

As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic history of the cinema focuses on women’s integral role in the development of film art. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Mark Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world’s greatest filmmakers – all of them women.

A look at 400 years of human trafficking from Africa to the New World with each episode following three separate story lines: the quest for a sunken slave ship, a personal journey by Samuel L. Jackson and a historical investigation led by investigative journalists Simcha Jacobovici and Afua Hirsch.

Revisit the extraordinary story of a girl who sprang from nowhere to become the most famous woman in the world. Narrated by Golden Globe-winning actress Jessica Chastain and featuring a star-studded cast of female voices, this series re-examines Monroe’s story to uncover themes of feminism, sexuality and power that continue to drive the cultural conversation today.

Tracing a century of movie and TV history, these four documentary specials explore the unparalleled global impact of Warner Bros. on art, commerce, and culture.