Thomas Hardy: Fate, Exclusion and Tragedy

A portrait of the British writer Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), who, although he had radical instincts, hated hypocrisy, was of great poetic brilliance, had a tragic perception of life and a calm outward appearance, was at heart a man of seething and somber darkness.

160 meters: A Story Of Rock In Biscay

160 meters is the distance between the two banks of the estuary of Bilbao. An economic, social and cultural approach at two ways of looking at life.

Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power

The views and thoughts of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood have never been more relevant than today. Readers turn to her work for answers as they confront the rise of authoritarian leaders, deal with increasingly intrusive technologies, and discuss climate change. Her books are useful as survival tools for hard times. But few know her private life. Who is the woman behind the stories? How does she always seem to know what is coming?

The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone

An attempt to create a bridge between the different political positions that coexist, sometimes violently, in the Basque Country, in northern Spain.

The Perfumed Garden

THE PERFUMED GARDEN is an exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos and of erotic literature. Through interviews with men and women of all ages, classes, and sexual orientation, the film lifts a corner of the veil that usually shrouds discussion of this subject in the Arab world. Made by an Algerian-French woman director, the film begins by looking at the record of a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. It examines the personal issues raised by the desire for pleasure, amidst societal pressures for chastity and virginity. The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, private vs. public spaces, social taboos (and the desire to break them), and issues of language.

The Satanic Verses Affair

Twenty years ago, novelist Salman Rushdie was a wanted man with a million pound bounty on his head. His novel, The Satanic Verses, had sparked riots across the Muslim world. The ailing religious leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, had invoked a little-known religious opinion - a fatwa - and effectively sentenced Rushdie to death. This film looks back on the extraordinary events which followed the publication of the book and the ten year campaign to get the fatwa lifted. Interviews with Rushdie's friends and family and testimony from leaders of Britain's Muslim community and the Government reveal the inside story of the affair.

Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?

Documentary tracing the extreme life of outlaw writer, performance artist and punk icon, Kathy Acker. Through animation, archival footage, interviews and dramatic reenactments, director Barbara Caspar explores Acker's colorful history, from her well-heeled upbringing to her role as the scribe of society's fringe.

Na slovo s Alexandrom Matuškom

Hello My Dear

The documentary is titled after Arkadaş Z. Özger’s poem “Hello My Dear” which had caused much controversy in the period it was first published. Considered to be in defiance of heteronormativity, the said poem includes references to the poet’s personality, his family, his relationship to the society, and his “unexpected” death, which came three years after its publication. Today, 50 years after it was written, the documentary follows these same lines in the poem utilising cinematic elements. The documentary also rediscovers the poetics; reaches out to the family, the comrades, the friendships, departing from the official historical accounts, cognizant of his experience of otherness, in pursuit of the “lost” portrait of Arkadaş Z. Özger.

Milan Kundera: From the Joke to Insignificance

The brilliant Czech writer Milan Kundera has not given an interview in thirty years; nor does he appear in public. How did he become a legendary author? What is so unique about his books?

Wuthering Heights: Love, Hate and Vengeance

In 1847, British writer Emily Brontë (1818-48), perhaps the most enigmatic of the three Brontë sisters, published her novel Wuthering Heights, a dark romance set in the desolation of the moors, a unique work of early Victorian literature that stunned contemporary critics.

Flannery

Explore the life of Flannery O’Connor whose provocative fiction was unlike anything published before. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, newly discovered journals, and interviews with Mary Karr, Tommy Lee Jones, Hilton Als, and more.

I Am Joke, Said Joke

Documentary about the Dutch author, illustrator and performer Joke van Leeuwen, who has won various awards for her literature for children which sometimes uses a quest as a theme.

Stefan Zweig - Histoire d'un européen

Stefan Zweig was the most read author of the German language in the 1930s. He believed in a united, peaceful Europe and travelled most parts of the world. He was a pacifist and was torn apart by to the cruelties and horrors of the second World War. He committed suicide in Brasil. This documentary tells the story of his life.

Vom Glanz und Vergehen der Gruppe 47

Founded in 1947, “Group 47” made half‐yearly authors read publicly and endure brutal critique, launching postwar German literature (including Nobel winners). Its 1967 end still influences writers; veterans recall its power, while Kehlmann and Biller debate a modern equivalent.

Provocando con Sampedro

Autism and the Arts: Poetry with Peter Street

Born in 1948, Peter Street struggled at school with epilepsy and illiteracy in Bolton, Lancashire, and, later in life, as a slaughterman, a gravedigger and a war poet. At 66 years old he was then diagnosed with autism, and his world changed forever.

The Last Bookshop of The World

The documentary is a true story of four real intellectual Europeans from different cultures who are worried about the decline of literature’s life and the destiny of the street level bookshops in every country. That is why they have a mission to save symbolically “the world's last quality books”.

In Search of Dracula

Mark Gatiss explores and celebrates Dracula, an icon of popular culture, asking just why we keep coming back to the count.

Hubert Krejčí – Smrt divadlu!