Stephen Frears

A rare look at the the career of film director Pedro Almodóvar, especially his early works, with interviews with the director himself and his stars and admirers.

The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.

This is a history of the England's Ealing Film Studios, from its beginnings in 1902. It follows the studio's successes through the 1930's, World War II dramas, the well-known 'Ealing comedies' with Alec Guinness, and the BBC's television productions

Robert Altman interviewed during the making of GOSFORD PARK (2001), as well as members of the cast and crew. Also, revealing behind the scenes footage and information about his career leading up to this feature.

Documentary on the history of gay and lesbian film.

A powerful short documentary inspired by the launch of the genre breaking PlayStation 3 title HEAVY RAIN. 

Directed by the acclaimed filmmaker Neil LaBute, the seven minute short was filmed in London, LA & Paris and asks leading luminaries, 'How far would you go to save someone you love?' 


In true Peter Richardson fashion, "30 Years Of Comic Strip" defies the conventional norms of a retrospective documentary. It brings together some of the most prominent figures in UK comedy, reflecting on the show's impact and influence on the British comedy scene over the past three decades. The documentary unveils previously unseen footage and reconnects with characters from iconic episodes. The cast and crew of The Comic Strip share anecdotes about the making of the show, recounting experiences marked by a playful disregard for health and safety.

An in-depth look of the 40 year journey, from post-war Germany to Hollywood royalty, of Hans Zimmer, the man who’s become the dominant force in the world of movie soundtracks. His film credits include The Lion King, Rain Man, Pirates of The Caribbean, Gladiator, The Dark Knight Trilogy, 12 Year A Slave, The Thin Red Line, The Da Vinci Code and Dune.

Oscar-winning cinematographer Philippe Rousselot offers a master class in image making, with insightful examples from his work on Diva, Hope and Glory, A River Runs Through It, Dangerous Liaisons, Interview with the Vampire and many more in this cineaste's delight.

She's chic, slim and sexy like Brigitte Bardot. She's French. But she's not all French women, right?

Documentary about Hans Zimmer.

An anti-short short. On three occassions a man overhears a car accident while relaxing in his room. He reacts with less and less concern to each crash.

French Cinema Mon Amour is an ensemble film in which each contributor brings their own voice, their own particular approach, their culture, and their language to produce a portrait of French cinema.

Released in 2006, British filmmaker Stephen Frears' "The Queen" dramatizes the brief but intense conflict between Prime Minister Tony Blair and Elizabeth II in 1997, following the death of Princess Diana. The documentary underlines the film's boldness. By taking the living royal family as its subject, it breaks a taboo in British cinema and reveals a deeply human queen. Blending freedom of tone with documentary rigor, it offers a lesson in how fiction can serve historical truth.

Stephen Frears and a quartet of film industry notables - representing different cinematic periods - drink tea and discuss ups and downs of British cinema.

Features conversations with ten of the world's greatest living directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles. The film documents Ismailos' voyage of discovering the creative personalities behind the camera.

Sam was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder called Familial Dysautonomia. When born, he had 50 per cent chance of making it to his fifth birthday. Now, at the age of 39 we follow this exceptional person as he pursues his joint goals of getting his acting career back on track and finding love.

British film-maker Alan Clarke was championed by the likes of Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Ray Winstone - Stephen Frears even called him the best. And yet Clarke only ever made 3 feature films. This documentary explores the life and career of an exceptional director - Alan Clarke.

Episode of the BBC Scotland television series focusing on Lindsay Anderson's 1968 film "If...", featuring interviews with star Malcolm McDowell, cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček, assistant editor Ian Rakoff, director’s assistant Stephen Frears, producer Michael Medwin, and screenwriter David Sherwin

Alan Clarke's films exposed a real, raw world as no other films have. Works such as "Scum," "Made in Britain," "The Firm," "Rita, Sue and Bob Too" and "Elephant" inspired a generation of British actors, writers and directors that changed cinema forever. This documentary features rare behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with friends and colleagues of Clarke, including Tim Roth, Danny Boyle, Stephen Frears, Ray Winstone and Phil Daniels.

Against the backdrop of the 1977 Edinburgh Film Festival, two low-budget filmmakers attempt to talk up some finance as they hunt for cash, cast and ‘name director’ Sam Fuller to shoot their Aberdeen-set oil-boom adventure ‘Gulf and Western’. Along the way, they encounter a plethora of filmmaking luminaries including Wim Wenders, Stephen Frears, John Boorman, Bill Forsyth and Alan Bennett.

A brand new feature-length documentary on the film’s production, including new interviews with director Stephen Frears, director of photography Oliver Stapleton, editor Michael Audsley, executive producer Barbara Defina and co-producer Peggy Rajaki.

Alexandre Desplat is one of the most famous film music composer of today. Innovative artist with a singular expression, he is the successor of french masters of film music: Georges Delerue, Antoine Duhamel, Maurice Jarre. Writing music for films gather his two passions: music and cinema. Between working sessions, confidences, films and personnal archives, Alexandre Desplat offers, through this documentary, a great record on the creative process and today’s cinema.

Documentary about the making of Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film "Notorious."

Scottish Television's film on the 40th Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1986, starring Robbie Coltrane (a former EIFF chauffeur) and featuring interviews with Bill Forsyth, Samuel Fuller and Barry Norman, among many others.

A feature length documentary about the real state of the British film industry in relation to UK structures past, present and currently for the future. This film exposes the shocking truths about the UK Governments' will to grow an indigenous British film industry, the legacy and testament of the now closed UK Film Council (UKFC), the current British Film Institute and the new Creative England.

A look at the career of Oscar-winning cameraman Chris Menges. Filmed on location of 'Comfort and Joy'. Chris Menges discusses his early career in television and film. Featuring interviews with Bill Forsyth, Bill Paterson, Ken Loach, Neil Jordan, and Jeremy Isaacs.

Chris Wade's documentary film is a personal, intimate and affectionate look at the life and work of Lindsay Anderson, the legendary film and theatre director behind if. - and O Lucky Man. With new recollections from director Stephen Frears, if - star David Wood, plus actor and friend Brian Pettifer, Memories of Lindsay Anderson paints a portrait of a stubborn, self assured artist, an anti establishment non conformist who refused to play the game, and a private man who, though on the surface seemed confident, held his emotional cards close to his chest. This is an in depth study of one of our most brilliant yet undervalued filmmakers.

Thirteen filmmakers share personal reflections on Henri Langlois—the visionary founder of the Cinémathèque Française—recounting his influence on their lives, his role in preserving film history, and his enduring impact on world cinema.

A tribute of Howard Hawks by the British Film Institute.

Stephen Frears in a interview with film scholar and producer Colin MacCabe. The topics which he touches upon include his career in theater and TV prior to making the film, his impressions of Hanif Kureishi, his relative ignorance of immigrant life and the world he was unwittingly stepping into, the impact of the release of the film, and plenty more.

Director Stephen Frears, film historian Ian Christie, and author and British film historian Richard Dacre discuss the unique qualities of The Man in the White Suit as well as the legacy of its director, Alexander Mackendrick.

The first episode of a new arts documentary program from BBC Scotland was dedicated to Michael Powell in his centenary year. The program interviews many people who knew or worked with him or were influenced by his work.

A multi-part documentary about Alan Clarke, featuring interviews with various actors, writers and producers.

Documentary about the beginnings and the Channel 4 years of the Comic Strip.

The story of one of Britain's most celebrated actors of the 20th century, told by those who knew and admired him.

Documentary, based on a British poll, listing the 100 sexiest movie and TV moments. Supplemented by new interviews with performers, filmmakers, and authors/critics.

Documentary on the making of the 2006 film 'The Queen'.

A look at the life and work of television producer Innes Lloyd

After his long-time girlfriend dumps him, a thirty-year-old record store owner seeks to understand why he is unlucky in love while recounting his "top five breakups of all time".

The Queen is an intimate behind the scenes glimpse at the interaction between HM Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair during their struggle, following the death of Diana, to reach a compromise between what was a private tragedy for the Royal family and the public's demand for an overt display of mourning.

An intimate story of the enduring bond of friendship between two hard-living men, set against a sweeping backdrop: the American West, post-World War II, in its twilight. Pete and Big Boy are masters of the prairie, but ultimately face trickier terrain: the human heart.

In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.

Recently widowed well-to-do Laura Henderson purchases the Windmill Theatre in London as a post-widowhood hobby. After starting an innovative continuous variety review, which is copied by other theaters, they begin to lose money. Mrs Henderson suggests they add risqué burlesque acts similar to the Moulin Rouge in Paris.

An undocumented immigrant finds a human heart in one of the toilets of the west London hotel where he works with other undocumented immigrants.

A young Pakistani Briton manages a rundown laundrette with his lover while dealing with tension in his family, the local Pakistani community, and a persistent mob of skinheads.

Bernie Laplante is having a rough time. He's divorced, his ex-wife hates him and has custody of their son, the cops are setting a trap for him, then to top it all, he loses a shoe whilst rescuing passengers of a crashed jet. Being a thief who is down on his luck, Bernie takes advantage of the crash, but then someone else claims credit for the rescue.

The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.

Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow.

In a working-class quarter of Dublin, 'Bimbo' Reeves gets laid off from his job and, with his redundancy payout, buys a van and sells fish and chips with his buddy, Larry. Due to Ireland's surprising success at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, their business starts off well, but the relationship between the two friends soon becomes strained as Bimbo behaves more like a typical boss.

Stephen Frears’ first film, "The Burning" is a chilling exploration of racial tensions in Apartheid-era South Africa. On a sweltering summer’ day, a wealthy white matriarch insists on taking her household on a planned trip to the country, in spite of their urgent warnings that an uprising is underway.

A housemaid falls in love with Dr. Jekyll and his darkly mysterious counterpart, Mr. Hyde.

Sharon Curley is a 20-year-old living with her parents and many brothers and sisters in Dublin. When she gets pregnant and refuses to name the father, she becomes the talk of the town.

A would be private eye gets mixed up in a smuggling case.

When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they start an affair. As Orton becomes more comfortable with his sexuality and starts to find success with his writing, Halliwell becomes increasingly alienated and jealous, ultimately tapping into a dangerous rage.

The tragic true story of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by British police in 2005 at the height of the London terrorist alerts.

Sammy and Rosie are an unconventional middle-class London married couple. They live in the midst of inner-city chaos, surround themselves with intellectual street people, and sleep with everybody - except each other! Things become interesting when Sammy's father, Rafi, who is a former Indian government minister, comes to London for a visit. Sammy, Rosie, and Rafi try to find meaning through their lives and loves.

It is approaching an election in the UK when the leader of the Labour party, John Smith, suffers another in a line of heart attacks and dies. With the leadership campaign about to start the clear choice appears to be Gordon Brown, a stanch Scotsman. However Tony Blair is also beginning to appear more likely as he will appeal to Southern voters who would be turned off by Brown. Blair rings Brown to arrange a meeting to discuss which will go for the job. The film flashbacks to the start of their relationship, sharing an office in Westminster on their first seats.

A young newspaper writer returns to her hometown in the English countryside, where her childhood home is being prepped for sale.

A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

A 1976 play concerning an unemployed school leaver becomes involved with professional car thieves. Part of the ITV Playhouse strand.

A 1976 play concerning an unemployed school leaver becomes involved with professional car thieves. Part of the ITV Playhouse strand.

A morality tale of xenophobia, religious prejudice, mob violence, poverty, and their effect on two children in Liverpool during the Depression. When a shipyard closes, Liam and Teresa's dad loses his job. Liam, who's about 8, making his first Holy Communion, gets a regular dose of fire and brimstone at church. Teresa, about 13, has a job as a maid to the Jewish family that owns the closed shipyard. The lady of that house is having an affair, and Teresa becomes an accomplice. Liam stutters terribly, especially when troubled. Dad comes under the sway of the Fascists, who blame cheap Irish labor and Jewish owners. A Molotov cocktail brings things to a head.

Two boys pull a Saturday night prank on the police in a seaside British town.

Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution. However, while on the way, whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.

A former stripper's talent with numbers lands her a job with a professional gambler who runs a sports book in Las Vegas.

A man with learning difficulties suffers neglect and ill-treatment, and this is only exasperated when his parents die and nobody seems to know what to do with him. A sequel to this film, titled "Walter and June", was released in 1983 and set 19 years later in time. In the United States, these two are sometimes bundled together under the title "Loving Walter".

One hot June day, three friends decide there is nothing they would like to do more than to get away from London. A boating holiday with lots of fresh air and exercise would be just the very thing, or so their doctors tell them. So, after debating the merits of hotel or camp beds and what to pack, they set off on their voyage - a trip up the Thames from Henley to Oxford - but very quickly find themselves ill-equipped for the trials of riverbank life.

Alan Bennett's debut play for television follows the members of a Halifax cycling club, on an outing from Halifax to the ruins of Fountains Abbey. Set in the summer of 1911 and projects an idyllic vision of Edwardian England .

A married couple, after a life time of work and bringing up a family, retire and awaken to the fast changing world around them, the habitual nature of their relationship, and what they have left.

Arthur Dodsworth has recently retired. He lives alone except for his budgie and memories of his late wife Winnie. One afternoon his nap is interrupted by the doorbell; his former secretary, Peggy Prothero, has come to visit. A brash, charmless woman who seems to take no pleasure in anything but putting people down, Miss Prothero wants to fill her old boss in on all the changes that have taken place at work since he left. Dodsworth isn't very curious, and as the visit wears on it puts a little strain on his politeness and patience. Miss Prothero doesn't enjoy it much either, but lingers on as there's a bombshell she wants to drop. The docketing system Dodsworth introduced thirty years earlier, which revolutionised the firm, has been scrapped by her adored new boss Mr Skinner. The crowning achievement of Dodsworth's career has just become obsolete, and she wants to tell him all about it.

A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.

Sequel to the TV film "Walter". In the United States, the two films have been released together on DVD as a package, called "Loving Walter".

Muhammad Ali’s historic Supreme Court battle from behind closed doors. When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, his claim to conscientious objector status led to a controversial legal battle that rattled the U.S. judicial system right up to the highest court in the land.

As a traveler searches for a place called Confidence, he keeps running into other versions of himself.

Part coming-of-age story, part true-life portrait of the beloved Billy Wilder, the film is set during the summer of 1977, when an innocent young woman begins working for the famed director and his screenwriter Iz Diamond on a Greek island during the filming of Fedora.

Alan Bennett's play about the mid-life crisis of an estate agent.

An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong's performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will expose Armstrong.

A couple of bored escorts find themselves suddenly involved with a hit gang and an ax murderer - Mr. Jolly. Gratuitous violence, rivers of blood, and maximum hilarity, all rolled into one.

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

Stephen Frears' "Dangerous Liaisons," fiercely adapted from Choderlos de Laclos, and revisited here in a one-minute animated version by Leon Moh-Cah.

Chance has missed the match, but the girls at his sister's wedding might make up for it

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

A program of debut shorts from some of cinema's greatest diectors. Curated by Emir Kusturica and Stephen Frears, featured auteurs include George Lucas' "1.42.08 to Qualify" (1966), Ridley Scott's "A Boy and a Bicycle" (1965), Robert Zemeckis' "The Lift" (1972), Tony Scott's "One of the Missing" (1969), Kusturica's "Guernica" (1978), Luc Besson's "L'avant dernier" (1981), Lars von Trier's "Nocturne" (1980), Terry Gilliam's "Storytime" (1968), Paul Verhoeven's "A Lizzard Too Much" (1960), Roman Polanski's "Le gros et le maigre" (1960), Jane Campion's "Peel" (1982), and Frears' "The Burning" (1967).

A series of pink forms has Doris and Doreen fearing for their cushy jobs.

An amateur historian defies the academic establishment in her efforts to find King Richard III's remains, which were lost for over 500 years.

Janie, daughter of Commander Jackson, the head of D15, has been kidnapped and there are only two men who can save her - former agents Bonehead and Foyle.

Jessica, the second Mrs Saunders, arrives with her new husband John at his country estate. Very much left to her own devices she is unnerved by the power that Consuela, the sinister Spanish housekeeper,seems to wield, comparing her to John's first wife and forbidding her to enter a mysterious locked room.

A repressed night-school teacher, secretly homosexual, struggles to cope with his demanding, eccentric mother.

A series of pink forms has Doris and Doreen fearing for their cushy jobs.

Lee, a Chinese man, works as a waiter in a hotel in England, despite speaking very little English. Told that a girl called Iris might be interested in him, on his afternoon off work he buys a box of chocolates and sets off to find her.

Play about two elderly cancer patients suffering in hospital.

Jessica, the second Mrs Saunders, arrives with her new husband John at his country estate. Very much left to her own devices she is unnerved by the power that Consuela, the sinister Spanish housekeeper,seems to wield, comparing her to John's first wife and forbidding her to enter a mysterious locked room.

The year is 1974, and Barbara Dean (Judi Dench), a British assistant manager in a foreign bank in Saigon, begins a relationship with American Bob Chesneau (Frederic Forrest). She quickly realises that he works for the CIA and he knows that the fall of South Vietnam is very near.

Morgan, an aggressive and self-admitted dreamer, a fantasist who uses his flights of fancy as refuge from external reality, where his unconventional behavior lands him in a divorce from his wife, Leonie, trouble with the police and, ultimately, incarceration in a lunatic asylum.

Queen Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim.

Stephen Frears and a quartet of film industry notables - representing different cinematic periods - drink tea and discuss ups and downs of British cinema.

A beautiful Chilean exile called Tina is stranded in a new country.

Play For Today written by and starring Neville Smith. Christian Harvey , a local radio DJ and ageing rocker, is an obsessive fan of Elvis and the news of Elvis's death is for him a personal tragedy as well as the end of an era.

As the Lady Chatterley court case puts its seal on the 1950s, three boys set out for a day's train-spotting. They see more than just trains, though, on a day when innocence and illusion are lost.

Alan Bennett's play about the mid-life crisis of an estate agent.

Newly widowed Etta visits her beloved Aunt M and discovers her bedridden and listless. Etta's struggle to restore her aunt's dignity and cheer brings renewed meaning to the lives of both women, but also reveals family secrets and forces confrontations with her aunt's indifferent son and hostile daughter-in-law.

A bittersweet drama on a familiar theme - the frictions forced to the surface during a Christmas family get-together - Michael Abbensetts' Black Christmas is an understated and affecting study of relationships, unexpressed pain and a tormented nostalgia for a distant home.

The true story of Stephanie Slater, a British estate agent who was kidnapped, raped, and held for ransom by Michael Sams, who imprisoned her in a coffin-like box for eight days.

Lee, a Chinese man, works as a waiter in a hotel in England, despite speaking very little English. Told that a girl called Iris might be interested in him, on his afternoon off work he buys a box of chocolates and sets off to find her.

Thirteen filmmakers share personal reflections on Henri Langlois—the visionary founder of the Cinémathèque Française—recounting his influence on their lives, his role in preserving film history, and his enduring impact on world cinema.

Kevin's wife walked out and left him holding the baby – no sleep, dirty nappies, and a career in pop music at risk. And ahead lies a visit to the clinic. Will Kevin succeed as a mother?

A young man volunteers to work with a children's play group in a deprived London area. Adapted by Peter Prince from his own novel.

Thomas Able, once a successful writer, has not written since the war. He lies paralysed and dying. His family gather at the family home.

A middle-class family living in a house filled with superfluous electronic appliances see the arrival of a new item, a 29" TV-set.