George Barker
This film was made with George Barker (1913-91), the charismatic English poet, novelist and critic, a few years before he died. It looks back over his prolific writing career, traces his full and extraordinary life, and includes Barker reading from his own work.
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal has long been a thorn in the side of the American establishment, which he goads constantly with his liberal opinions, his controversial political analyses and his incisive wit. In interview, Vidal – as outspoken as ever – discusses his work and the birth and death of the American empire.
Confidencen – The Ulriksdal Theatre
Built in 1753, the Ulriksdal Theatre, also known as Confidencen, is the oldest preserved palace theatre in Sweden. The empty theatre provides a setting for a charming musical harlequinade, set to pieces by Gluck, in which a band of commedia dell’arte actors takes over Ulriksdal and banishes the malevolent spirits and demons who have allowed the theatre to fall into decay.
Patrick Dupond
This portrait documents a star’s effort to be, and to stay, the best. The cameras follow Patrick Dupond to Tokyo, Paris and Milan and show him training, rehearsing, performing and talking about his career. He is seen dancing Coppelia with the National Ballet of Marseille, working on Daniel Ezralow’s Soon and Alwin Nikolais’s Arc en ciel, performing in the Salome choreographed for him by Maurice Béjart, and rehearsing Giselle with Carta Fracci.
Sir Georg Solti
At the age of seventy-five, fifty years after he was forced to leave Hungary because of its anti-semitic regime, maestro Solti (1912-97) went back to conduct his country’s State Symphony Orchestra for the very first time. This film records his emotional return to his homeland. It centres on a searching interview about his early life, accompanies him to landmarks of his youth, such as the Franz Liszt Music Academy where he studied, and shows rehearsals for the triumphant concert he gave.
Sylvie Guillem at Work
This portrait shows the prima ballerina in her daily round of classes, rehearsals and performances, revealing her dedication to perfection. Sylvie Guillem’s preparation for Nureyev’s Raymonda, her first performances in Rudi van Dantzig’s Four Last Songs and William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and her appearance at a gala, dancing Bejart’s La Luna, are all recorded for posterity in this film.
George Bernard Shaw
For biographer Michael Holroyd the writer George Bernard Shaw is an all-consuming passion. This programme follows Holroyd’s detective processes, his research through paperwork and visits to locations where Shaw spent time, to get under the skin of the renowned playwright and political theorist. Rare archive footage of Shaw is used as Holroyd considers to what extent Shaw’s life fed his art – and vice versa. The writer’s role as biographer also comes under scrutiny.
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature, has established herself as a leading chronicler of the black experience in America and as one of the country’s finest novelists. She talks in interview about her highly-acclaimed novel, Beloved. Based on a true story, it tells how a mother murders her baby rather than have it taken into slavery. Morrison talks about the problems of dealing with such painful material.
J. M. W. Turner
Master of the landscape genre and one of the finest painters Britain has ever produced, Turner (1775-1851) bequeathed a huge body of his work to the nation. In 1987, a permanent Turner exhibition finally went on display, in a newly-built wing, at London’s Tate Gallery. An exclusive preview of this collection forms the framework for this celebration of the artist’s life and work, which includes contributions from critics and painters – Patrick Heron, Howard Hodgkin and Peter Blake among them.