In 1948, ‪Edith Piaf offered a Paillard-Bolex 16mm camera to ‪Charles Aznavour. It was his first camera, and he has kept it with him ever since.. Until 1982, Charles would shot hours and hours of material which became his personal diary.

Aznavour filmed his life and lived like he filmed. Everywhere he went, his camera was with him. He recorded everything: moments of life, the places he passed through, his friends, loves, hassles. A few months before he died, he started working through the abundant footage with Marc di Domenico. Together they made a film out of it – Aznavour’s film.

Frank Zappa (1940-1993) was a musical innovator with a socially critical and sharply analytical view of the world, an enigmatic rock star, and one of the most important composers of the second half of the 20th century. During his lifetime, he released more than sixty albums, and after his death, he left behind an impressive archive known as The Vault, to be kept by his four children and wife.

Director Alex Winter (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) was given unlimited access to performances, interviews, family scenes, and animated films for this long-awaited documentary, exploring the private life behind the enormous musical career. ZAPPA features appearances by Frank’s widow Gail Zappa and several of his musical collaborators including Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David Harrington, Scott Thunes, Ruth Underwood, Ray White and others.

In Alex Winter’s own words, he wanted to ’tell a story that is not a music doc, or a conventional biopic, but the dramatic saga of a great American artist and thinker; a film that would set out to convey the scope of Zappa’s prodigious and varied creative output, and the breadth of his extraordinary personal and political life.‘

His thoroughful approach was recognized by selection comittees of festivals across the globe, such as CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, SXSW in Austin, Texas and IDFA in Amsterdam.

Directed by celebrated documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield; Marianne & Leonard – Words of Love is a beautiful yet tragic love story between Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse Marianne Ihlen. Their love began on the idyllic Greek island of Hydra in 1960 in a bohemian community of foreign artists, writers and musicians. Including never-before-seen footage, the film follows their relationship from the early days on Hydra, a humble time of ‘free love’ and open marriage, to how their love evolved when Leonard became a successful musician.

Marianne and Leonard’s was a love story that would continue for the rest of their lives, until they passed away, only three months apart from each other.

Jean-Luc Godard never shied away from innovation and stress-testing the boundaries of film conventions. He swiftly rose to fame with his debut film, crime drama À bout de souffle, but did not want to repeat himself and framed Une femme est une femme as a ‘neorealist musical’. Godard admitted himself that the concept was a deliberate contradiction, but nevertheless the film became a staple of the French New Wave cinema and one of most loved films by audiences worldwide.

Featuring French superstars Anna Karina, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Jean-Claude Brialy at their peak of popularity, Une femme est une femme is a sly, playful tribute to the American musical comedy, showcasing Godard’s signature wit and sharp mind.

The film tells the story of exotic dancer Angéla (Karina) as she attempts to have a child with her unwilling lover Émile (Brialy). In the process, she finds herself torn between him and his best friend Alfred (Belmondo). A dizzying collection of color, humor, and the music of renowned composer Michel Legrand, Une femme est une femme finds the young Godard at his warmest and most accessible, reveling in and scrutinizing the mechanics of his great obsession: the cinema.

Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this free-form and juicy homage to American film genres that he prized during his time as a writer for Cahiers du cinéma, the eminent French film magazine. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, yes-to-all crime narrative, and radiant young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, À bout de souffle helped kickstart the French New Wave and made sure that the world of cinema would never be the same.

Alongside the debut film of François Truffaut (who also co-wrote the script for À bout de souffle), it garnered international acclaim for pioneering new styles in French filmmaking. Breathless was particularly praised by critics for its daring visual approach, but simultaneously adored by the audiences, drawing more than two million viewers to cinemas. Over time, it has earned a place among the greatest films of all time, frequently appearing in top-lists of filmmakers and critics.

Le Mépris stars Michel Piccoli as a screenwriter who attempts to edit the script for a new film version of The Odyssey. He finds himself torn between the demands of his disillusioned wife (Brigitte Bardot), a proud European director (Fritz Lang) and a crude and arrogant American producer (Jack Palance).

Godard’s dissident entry into the world of highly commercial films is a refined, immersive epic; a penetrating study of marital discord, artistic compromises, and the filmmaking process, featuring an unforgettable soundtrack by the award-winning composer Georges Delerue.

De Balie is screening this beloved French New Wave gem in a freshly restored 4K version, that premiered at Cannes Classics last year.

The film is based on the book Il disprezzo (Contempt) by Alberto Moravia.

Dissatisfied in marriage and life, Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) takes to the road with the babysitter, his ex-lover Marianne Renoir (Anna Karina), and leaves the bourgeois world behind.

This is, however, no ordinary road trip: the tenth feature in six years by the renowned filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard is a stylish mash-up of anticonsumerist satire, au courant politics, and comic-book aesthetics. It portrays the violent, zigzag narrative about what Godard called ’the last romantic couple’, travelling from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea as Marianne is being chased by hitmen from Algeria.

With stunning color cinematography by cinematographer Raoul Coutard and Belmondo and Karina at their peaks, Pierrot le fou is one of the high points of the French New Wave, and was Godard’s last creative outburst before he immersed himself further into politically radical cinema.

Eeuwenlang is het niet gelukt. Maar nu de paling met uitsterven bedreigd wordt, krijgt de zoektocht naar het mysterie van haar voortplanting een nieuwe urgentie. Met een expeditie naar de Sargassozee en een laboratorium in Volendam tracht een kleurrijk gezelschap dit raadsel op te lossen. Geeft de paling zijn geheim prijs om gered te worden?

In Japan, waar de ‘unagi’ ongekend populair is, is palingliefhebber Kenichi volledig in de ban geraakt van het raadselachtige dier. Met nog niet eerder vertoonde onderwateropnamen brengt de film een ode aan het verborgen en sierlijke (seks)leven van dit ongrijpbare dier.

Terwijl een grote witte surveillance-luchtballon voortdurend boven het kleine grensstadje La Joya, Texas zweeft, patrouilleren lokale politieagenten in de buurt op zoek naar mensensmokkelaars. Het gebied is bezaaid met sporen van mensen die hebben geprobeerd de VS binnen te komen door de Rio Grande over te steken. Maar in plaats van de immigranten te arresteren, verzamelen de agenten inlichtingen over de smokkelaars en de smokkelbazen die verbonden zijn met Mexicaanse kartels.

Met een visuele stijl die afwisselt tussen intieme momenten, meditatieve reflectie en spannende sequenties, vertelt de film het verhaal van Chief Ramon Gonzalez, detective Manuel Casas en agent Mayra Garza, terwijl zij navigeren door de complexiteit van hun bestaan aan de grens. Ironisch genoeg was het gebied dat zij patrouilleren ooit Mexicaans grondgebied. Langzaam wordt de onderlinge afhankelijkheid tussen politie en smokkelaar onthuld, een systeem gevangen in een eindeloze cyclus waarin de immigrant vastzit.

Eighth grader Renko sees her parents divorce, but finds her own, unperturbed path in Shinji Sômai’s 4K-restored coming-of-age classic that was named Best Restoration at the Venice Film Festival.

When her parents separate and her father Kenichi leaves the parental home, twelve-year-old Renko (Tomoko Tabata) is left alone with her mother Nazuna in Kyoto. While Nazuna sets new rules for their life together, Renko makes her own plans. All changes in the family happen on her terms.