Michèle Cotta

Empreintes is a French television program, broadcast on France 5 from 2007 to 2012, presented by Annick Cojean, consisting of a timeless library of 120 portraits of personalities from the world of music, literature, politics or sport, who have marked the era.

French current affair show

On n'est pas couché was a French talk show broadcast on France 2 on Saturdays at 11 p.m., hosted by Laurent Ruquier assisted by various columnists.

The behind-the-scenes story of French television… This documentary unveils the lesser-known history of two audiovisual decades that have shaped today's television. To explain from the break up of the French broadcasting service ORTF, in 1974, to the creation of Arte, via the birth of Canal+, the life and death of La Cinq and the privatization of TF1 — the succession of political, economic and cultural decisions that have shaped what is known as the “PAF” (French Audiovisual Landscape).

Six weeks of exclusive behind-the-scenes access to Lionel Jospin's 2002 presidential campaign, from the strategy rooms to the night everything collapsed. A gripping inside account of France's most shocking political upset.

After years of poverty, Carrier, a repairman, inherits a large sum of money upon his brother's death in an accident. Now rich, he decides it is time to make his mark and be known at any cost. Becoming more and more mentally unstable, he begins to threaten police and the government signing his tracts, "Armaguedon". A detective from Interpol heads the investigation and prepares a trap at an international conference of world leaders in Paris.

Christophe Dechavanne recounts the provocative, scandalous, and irreverent television of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, which he experienced from the inside. From political programs to talk shows, entertainment to news programs, no genre escaped its sometimes provoked, often unexpected missteps, which amused, shocked, and even upset the public. Thanks to the testimonies of Léa Salamé, Michèle Cotta, Marie-Laure Augry, Enora Malagré, Patrice Carmouze, Alain Bougrain-Dubourg, Michel Field, Benjamin Castaldi, Eric Naulleau, and Marc-Olivier Fogiel, this documentary takes us behind the scenes of these cult sequences of French television.

In 1932, the writer Paul Nizan published "The New Watchdogs" to denounce the philosophers and writers of his time who, sheltering behind intellectual neutrality, imposed themselves as true watchdogs of the established order. Today the watchdogs are journalists, editors, and media experts who've openly become market evangelists and guardians of the social order. In a sardonic manner, "The New Watchdogs" denounces this press that, claiming to be independent, objective and pluralist, makes out it is a democratic force of opposition. With forcefulness and precision, the film puts its finger on the increasing danger of information produced by the major industrial groups of the Paris Stock Exchange and perverted into merchandise.

Fourty years ago, in May 1981, with François Mitterrand's election, some people were letting themselves dream about a better life while others were predicting the coming of soviet tanks upon the Champs-Élysées. If we gladly remember the turning point of austerity in 83, there were also the wage rises, the fifth week of paid leave, the abolition of death penalty, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, or the advent of independent radio stations. Rare archives and accounts by those who were at the heart of this story give an overview of it and shed light on lesser-known aspects.