2001
A city of ocean and light, of sailors, surfers, and businessmen, Australia's largest metropolis is itself a good reason to venture down under. The capital of New South Wales, Sydney represents two extremes of western civilization: from a penal colony to the home of the 2000 Olympic Games. Founded by a handful of convicts and soldiers, Sydney is now the most dynamic and populous of Australian cities, boasting some 3.5 million inhabitants. Nestled between the beaches and waters of Port Jackson and Botany Bay, between the Pacific Ocean and the wooded slopes of the Blue Mountains, Sydney is a town surrounded by water, with beaches dominating the hearts and minds of all its citizens. One of the world's most fascinating cities, Sydney offers some spectacular sights - such as the Opera House and the Iron Bridge spanning the estuary of the Parramatta River. It nevertheless has few historic monuments. Its claim to fame lies rather in its extraordinary symbiosis with the sea: the beaches and the port, where sailboards, container ships, yachts, and ferries cross paths every day, are key threads in Sydney's cultural fabric. Intoxicated by the sea breeze, descendants of British settlers sally forth after hours for a final nightcap or to take in the latest band. A city with an interesting history - and lots of stories to tell - Sydney is the largest metropolis in Oceania.
2001
The only way to approach London and discover its hidden charms is to become a Londoner. You must immerse yourself in its various locales and soak up its many moods. The way to experience London is not by visiting its monuments, but through the incredible diversity of its people. This maze of a city with no right angles, no plan, and no centre was built into the countryside, as its numerous green spaces attest: St. James Park, Green Park, and Hyde Park, to name just a few. And of course the London stage would not be complete without its star performer - the stately Thames. The monuments must not be judged according to the classical standards of beauty; they are simply moments in time, distinct from the rest of the city. Above all, London is a patchwork of neighbourhoods with strong identities and a community life organized around those identities. To the west, the aristocracy; to the east, democracy. From Portobello to the City, by way of Hoxton (the pulse of happening London), Soho, and the formerly industrial East End, now the headquarters of insular Bohemia, each district has one thing in common: its vitality. A bastion of conservatism nostalgic for its glory days? Not London, where everything is on the move: the clubs, the fashion, the cuisine, the design, the urban planning. Even the traditional taxis have thrown off their widows' weeds. By day, London still clings to some deep-rooted traditions, but by night, it is the undisputed trend capital of Europe: bars, squat pubs, nightclubs - they're all part of the shifting scene. Every night, 60,000 tickets are sold for concerts, plays, and other cultural attractions. Every weekend, more than 500,000 young people head out to the clubs in wildly eccentric get-ups. London thus has a split personality: that of an aging capital, proudly bearing the weight of its thousand-year history, and that of a revitalized metropolis, where, it seems, anything goes.
2001
Barcelona mixes styles like no other metropolis. A city both gothic and modern, it is a showcase of architectural treasures and a plethora of plastic arts. Its uniqueness lies as much in its geography as in its history. Wherever you look, the city's independence from the rest of the peninsula and the world is manifest in the shapes, objects, and styles that Barcelonans seem to cultivate like a religion. From the roof of the Pedrera (an apartment block designed by Gaudi) at the corner of passeig de Gracia and Carrer Provenca, the view is chaotic. After the fashion of Puerta de la Paz and its architectural anarchy, all seems to defy order and logic. The Mediterranean horizon and the colors evoked by the Catalonian sun create an almost surreal backdrop. The city is a kind of living painting, an immense canvas worthy of its excess and fantasy. The Mediterranean atmosphere is apparently the only influence it will tolerate from the outside world. The city's history is embodied in its neighborhoods. From the Barrio Gotico to the village of Montjuic, built to host Barcelona's 1929 World Exhibition, and from the Eixample to the new Olympic Port, each district bears witness to a key period in the city's history. Proof of its pride and attachment to its tumultuous past, the city has constructed a museum in its honor. Cut off from the rest of Spain during the civil war and oppressed by Franco's yoke, Barcelona now claims for Catalonia and itself an identity defined by a language, a culture, and - perhaps most importantly - an economy that set it apart from the rest of the country. Barcelona is a festival unto itself. Diversity is its only watchword.
2001
People may think they know New York, but the "city that never sleeps" is constantly reinventing itself. Amid the unrelenting noise and flashing lights, there is always something new and extraordinary to discover. Around every corner is a slice of street theatre in which chaos and eccentricity take centre stage by turn. For many years, the city had a reputation for crime, corruption, and pollution, earning it such unflattering descriptions as the Sodom of the twentieth century. Those days are gone, however, and New York has a new look. There are a few classic images frozen in time, such as Central Park and its joggers, but the town of Manhattan evolves with every season and with every passing fad. Some establishments have come to symbolize the New York way of life, such as the Royalton on West 44th Street, hangout of editors and designers, and the Café Gitane, one of the most happening haunts in New York. For Upper East Side society, lounges are now all the rage: for music, reading, or poetry, such as at the Barnes and Noble bookstore. Most representative of this trend, no doubt, is Woody Allen, who can be found giving a very private concert at the Carlyle on Monday nights, or, hands-in-pockets, heading to his Park Avenue office. In fact, for the past few years, the entire city has been undergoing a radical transformation. Every district is experiencing its own revolution, and New York continues to evolve - unabashedly combining a brash, powerful, energetic style with more gentle elements. Often outrageously arrogant and over the top, the city can be unassuming as well. Such out-of-the-way spots are less well known but equally authentic. New York is a cocktail of styles, demeanours, and fashions that touch the heart of every visitor. Love it or hate it, this exciting metropolis leaves no one indifferent.
2001
From the first metro (5:30 a.m.) to the first batch of baguettes (4:30 a.m.), Paris regulates its daily life to the rhythm of its clocks. Fashionable Paris, popular Paris, the Paris of monuments and grand avenues, the Paris of boroughs and narrow streets, celebrated Paris, secret Paris, trendy Paris, the Paris of the Parisians. This first documentary spotlights all of the many facets of this great city, from various points of view, showing viewers the daily life of Parisians, hour by hour - from sun-up to sun-down and all through the night. It takes them on a private behind-the-scenes tour of all that makes Paris Paris - 24 hours a day.
2001
The Latin Quarter, Saint-Denis Street, Berri Street, the Saint-Sulpice seminary, Notre-Dame Island, the Café de Paris, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel - We'd almost be there and yet, an ocean and a few thousand kilometers separate Paris from Montreal whose streets, neighborhoods and places strangely carry the same names, as if these two cities had them in common. In some other way, the city also compares to Manhattan. It is an island. Its dimension (51 kilometers long and 16 kilometers at its largest) however tops her New-Yorker sister city. This is not a casual comparison for Central Park and the Mont Royal Park, symbols of the two cities, have been built by the same architect, Frederick Law Olmstead. Second largest francophone city in the world, Montreal is a double-faced (bicephalous) city whose identity is borrowed from two universes seemingly foreign from one another. It is also the most cosmopolite and the most 'European' city of the American continent. She actually counts up to more than 100 different ethnic groups reunited around two principal cultures, two languages and two eras. Montreal is to the image of pluralism. On one side, the Nouvelle France who pays homage to its past in preserving its patrimony and in cultivating the memory of its first masters. On the other, the Nouveau Quebec who only rose conscientious of its identity at the International Fair, EXPO'67, attracting more than 50 million visitors. Thus the city reflects this division. The old city reveals monuments and places that can be compared to the ones of the old continent; Victorian houses, Gothic churches, cobble-stoned squares that recall the colonial past of the country. Not far away, the Maisonneuve Park accommodates the Olympic complex built for the 1976 games; a tilted tower dominates the stadium. A railway takes visitors to the top. There, the panorama enables us to embrace the city and much further for it opens onto a landscape whose limits merge with the horizon. But beyond the city's charm, so to speak, one must go to meet its inhabitants who harbor treasures of warmth. Under this particular angle, Montreal could pass for an equatorial city.