Heirs of the Beast

Charismatic and resourceful, seducer and daredevil, Jean-Paul Belmondo has always played his roles as he lived, at a thousand miles an hour. He had only one passion: to entertain the public with his smile, his naturalness, his energy, his stunts. But contrary to appearances, his destiny was full of pitfalls. This film lifts the veil on a founding childhood that allowed him to overcome many obstacles throughout his life thanks to the tutelary figures of his father and mother. Told from the inside with the help of his autobiography, interviews and unpublished archives, this epic story traces the career of this turbulent young actor who launched the New Wave in Breathless before becoming the popular Bebel, an indestructible and provocative vigilante. From film to film, this documentary paints an intimate portrait of a man who built himself up to reach the top: his triumphs but also his trials, his doubts, his secrets, his angers, his clowning, his disappointments or his personal dramas.

Documentary about Buster Keaton's The 'High Sign' (1921) and Keaton's developing style.

Short documentary on the making of Buster Keaton's One Week.

Documentary about the development of Buster Keaton's The Haunted House (1921).

Documentary about the Buster Keaton short Hard Luck (1921).

A short documentary on the works of Buster Keaton.

The special effects in The Play House (1921) are discussed.

Ben Model discusses scoring music for silent movies.

The actors in My Wife's Relations (1922) are discussed in this documentary.

This film documents Hollywood's efforts to bolster support for the Allied forces in WWII by creating propaganda films.

French documentarist Sonia Kronlund follows actor and director Salim Shaheen, an Afghan movie star who produced more than 110 low-budget movies in a country devastated by war.

Bruce Lawton discusses Buster Keaton's The Blacksmith (1922), a film that Keaton had dismissed as a "lesser" work.