Emmanuel Priou Movies

French comic and filmmaker Antoine de Maximy visits America and offers his own unique perspective on the people he meets in this witty documentary. Serving as his own one-man camera crew (with a special camera rig that allows his to shoot from two different angles at once), de Maximy arrives on the East Coast and makes his way to California by train, by bus and by hitchhiking. Hoping to meet ordinary people rather than V.I.P.'s or folks in the film business, de Maximy avoids upscale neighborhoods and knocks on the doors of random strangers in each city where he lands, asks if they'd be willing to put him up for the night. A surprising number say yes, and de Maximy's film includes interviews with some of the characters he met who also reveal a generous and down-to-earth side to America that's both funny and moving. J'irai dormir a Hollywood (aka Hollywood, I'm Sleeping Over Tonight) was the first theatrical feature from Antoine de Maximy, who is a popular television personality in his native France. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

While many people think of penguins as comical birds who look like they've been decked out in tuxedos, the truth is they're among the strongest and most resilient creatures in the animal kingdom. And they have to be -- each year, the emperor penguins of Antarctica travel through the most punishing environment on Earth to their nesting grounds, and after the females lay their eggs, the males keep them warm while their mates walk 70 miles back to the sea to fatten themselves with fish for themselves and their young. Filmmaker Luc Jacquet spent over a year braving the frigid temperatures of the South Pole to film this annual ritual of the penguins, and March of the Penguins documents their brave struggle to survive, as well as the close emotional bonds between the penguin families. March of the Penguins was first screened in France as La Marche de l'Empereur, with a handful of French actors providing a voice-over in which they expressed the "thoughts" of the penguins; for the American edition, Morgan Freeman was brought in to deliver a more straightforward narration. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi