By decoding ancient hieroglyphic texts, Jean-François Champollion gave voice to an enigmatic civilization, but behind his legendary feat is a mysterious brother who made it possible. The recent discovery of correspondence between Jean-François Champollion and his brother Jacques-Joseph now allows us to fully understand how a young, self-taught genius was able to make one of the most important discoveries of the 19th century. Without the ingenuity and unfailing support of his older brother, Jean-François would never have succeeded in solving this enigma, which had international repercussions. With animated sequences of their private correspondence, and with the help of archives and expert analysis, this film revisits this unique scientific, human and intellectual adventure to celebrate the bicentenary of the decoding of hieroglyphics.

Insights into the automobile production line at Studebaker.

Arvitarniit is a series of short videos presenting the journeys of inspiring post-secondary students from Nunavik. In this clip, we invite you to meet Louisa Papigatuk Argun, from Salluit.

Most of us think of death as something clear-cut, and that medical science has it neatly figured out. This feature documentary explodes such assumptions through its exploration of a phenomenon that blurs life and death to an unprecedented degree.  In what Tibetan Buddhists call tukdam, advanced meditators die in a consciously controlled manner. Though dead according to our biomedical standards, they often stay sitting upright in meditation; remarkably, their bodies remain fresh and lifelike, without signs of decay for days, sometimes weeks after clinical death.  Following ground-breaking scientific research into tukdam and taking us into intimate death stories of Tibetan meditators, the film juxtaposes scientific and Tibetan perspectives as it tries to unravel the mystery of tukdam.

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on.  Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

In Presidio, Texas, it is customary to hear Norteña music, typically Mexican, in the bars of the city. John Ferguson, american, governs the 4,426 inhabitants of the small town, is the principal of the city high school. As mariachi, John and Mariachi Santa Cruz also play in nearby Ojinaga, Mexico, distant the Rio Grande river from Presidio. The need to understand the history that binds Mexico to the United States, during one of the periods where the thread that weaves them seems to have become tangled. Viva Presidio! tells the story of a man whose ethnicity represents 2% of the population who voted to elect him, of the affection for his city and of the walls and customs in a reality where, the real cultural accents,represent an element of union between two communities in conflict today.