Pedro Almodóvars Rückkehr nach La Mancha

Volver, le retour à la Mancha de Pedro Almodóvar

Invito al Viaggio: 'Volver', la Mancia di Almodóvar

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Volver (2006) starring Penelope Cruz is one of Pedro Almodovar’s most personal films. The iconoclastic director returns to his native region of La Mancha to pen a love letter to his mother who had recently died.

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Inspiring Places

<p>Volver (2006) starring Penelope Cruz is one of Pedro Almodovar’s most personal films. The iconoclastic director returns to his native region of La Mancha to pen a love letter to his mother who had recently died.</p>

Volver - Almodóvar Returns to La Mancha

Volver (2006) starring Penelope Cruz is one of Pedro Almodovar’s most personal films, both a love letter to his mother and his home region of La Mancha.

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From its steep peaks to its wild coast, the Pyrenees is a wild land. During a pilgrimage on the way to Compostela, the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho got lost in these mountains. It was then that he entered into a strange pact with the mountain range that he would honour for years to come: he promised if he could write, he would return every year. He then went on to write his best-selling book The Alchemist.

Paulo Coelho, Alchemist of the Pyrenees

Discover the genesis of The Alchemist, the novel by Paulo Coelho.

Warsaw seems to have preserved the medieval architecture of its old town from the ravages of time. Following the destruction caused by the Second World War, certain districts were rebuilt exactly as they were before. Ernst Lubitsch experimented with this reconstruction in Hollywood in 1942 with To Be Or Not To Be, his comic film poking fun at the Nazis.

After the destruction of  World War II, some districts of Warsaw were rebuilt exactly ,brick by brick. Ernst Lubitsch experimented with a reconstruction Warsaw in Hollywood in 1942 in a comic film.

Ernst Lubitsch and the Warsaw Resistance

In the early 1990s, the wilds of Kenya inspired Walt Disney Studios to create one of their most famous productions: The Lion King.

Kenya: Lion King Country

A declaration of love from a New-York filmmaker to a Spanish city. Oviedo in Asturias, northern Spain served as the backdrop for Woody Allen’s comedic exploration of free love: Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

A declaration of love from a New-York filmmaker to a Spanish city. Oviedo in northern Spain served as the backdrop for Woody Allen’s comedic exploration of free love: Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Woody Allen Eroticises Asturias

In the 1950s, Havana was the Babylon of the Caribbean. At night it turned into a paradise for illegal business, hard liquor cocktails and wild parties. The traveler, journalist and occasional spy Graham Greene had already achieved notoriety with his work The Third Man, when he plunged into the turbulent nightlife of the Cuban capital with relish. His novel Our Man in Havana was published just a few weeks before Fidel Castro and his guerrillas came to power.

Journalist and spy Graham Greene plunged into the turbulent nightlife of Havana, the Babylon of the Caribbean

Graham Green's Havana

Vivian Maier was an impatient, perhaps incompetent nanny... but in her time off, she was one of the most talented and prolific photographers of her generation. But she never sold a single photograph, or exhibited her work. Often, she wouldn't even get her pictures developed. It was only by chance that her hidden photographic genius was finally brought to light after her death.

Vivian Maier never exhibited or got paid for her photographs, but after her death rocketed to fame for her work

Vivian Maier's Portraits of New York

Te Ika a Maui, the North Island of New Zealand, is said to have been plucked from the Pacific by the demigod Maui. Writer Witi Ihimaera’s fiction is filled with the myths of the Maori people, with his novels reaching an international audience.

Witi Ihimaera’s fiction is filled with the myths of the Maori people, with his novels reaching an international audience.

New Zealand: The Voice of the Maori

Writer Marguerite Yourcenar brought ancient Rome to life, “with narrow streets, crowded forums, bricks the color of old flesh.” She wrote of the imagined life of Emperor Hadrian in her novel Memoirs of Hadrian, published in 1951, now thought of as one of her masterpieces.

Writer Marguerite Yourcenar brought ancient Rome to life, “with narrow streets, crowded forums, bricks the color of old flesh”

Rome with Hadrien and Marguerite Yourcenar

At 21 years old, Aurore Dupin visited the Pyrenees where she discovered a love of nature. It was the push she needed to emancipate herself and to become George Sand.

George Sand in the Pyrenees

On the Aegean island of Lesbo a women celebrates love between women for the first time in literature, around the 6th century BC. Sappho revealed a world of ardent desire and heartache through her lyric poetry.

Sappho and Lesbos

French writer Annie Ernaux grew up in Yvetot, a quiet small town in Normandy and studied in the regional capital of Rouen. It was here that she found the raw material for her literary work in novels such as Shame and The Years.

Annie Ernaux's Normandy

French writer Annie Ernaux finds inspiration for her novels from her native Normandy.

Robert Doisneau is famed for his photos of Paris city life. But he also captured the happiness and serenity of life in a part of southwest France that he loved, the Dordogne.

Robert Doisneau in the Dordogne

The Soča river valley in Slovenia saw bloody battles during the first world war. Witness to this violence was a young Ernest Hemingway whose experiences informed his novel A Farewell to Arms.

Slovenia: Hemingway's Farewell to Arms

In 1880, French writer Jules Verne published The Steam House, inspired by the landscapes and culture of northern India, a country he had never seen, which also portrayed the harsh realities of British colonialism. The novel narrates the duel between a fictional British colonel, Edward Munro, and real life rebel fighter, Nana Sahib.

In 1880, French writer Jules Verne published The Steam House, inspired by the landscapes and culture of northern India as well as the harsh realities of British colonialism. The novel narrates the duel between a fictional British colonel, Edward Munro, and real life rebel fighter, Nana Sahib.

Jules Verne's Extraordinary Indian Journey

The elusive and enigmatic nature of Prague is captured in Milan Kundera’s cult novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The Czech writer explores the philosophical vertigo of the difficult quest for freedom in human existence.

The elusive and enigmatic nature of Prague is captured in Milan Kundera’s cult novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. 

Kundera's Prague

Is Perpignan an espionage hotspot? A look at how a famous fictional spy came to be in the Capital of French Catalonia.

James Bond in Perpignan

When Asterix, Goscinny and Uderzo go to Corsica, it requires the cartoonists to go on a study visit to prepare, as they were careful not to upset the Corsicans, who are fiercely proud and notoriously anti-mainlander. The clichés in the comic are legion, but done with a sensitivity and humour.

Turning Corsica into a comic would require sensitivity and humour, but the creators of Asterix pulled it off 

Corsica: Asterix Island

Since the end of the 19th century, Deauville has been an upper class beach resort for France's well-to-do, and it was here that Gabrielle Chanel was inspired to create her characteristic style that freed women from the constraints of corsets, frills and many-layered frocks.

It was here that Gabrielle Chanel was inspired to create her characteristic style

Deauville, the Seaside Town that Inspired Coco Chanel

In the 1920s, Berlin recovered from the horrors of the First World War and began its roaring twenties. Bertolt Brecht, a young Bavarian playwright settled there. Immersed in Berlin's intellectual life, he had a heavily critical eye and wrote pacifist plays for a mainstream audience.

In the 1920s, Bertolt Brecht moved to Berlin where he began to write pacifist plays for a mainstream audience

Berlin, Bertolt Brecht's Urban Jungle

The novel The Remains of the Day charts the death throes of a bucolic, rustic England run by its aristocracy, on the eve of modernity. Japanese-British author Kazuo Ishiguro writes from the perspective of a butler who tours the countryside as he reflects on the estates he has served.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The novel The Remains of the Day charts the death throes of a bucolic, rustic England run by its aristocracy, on the eve of modernity

Tokyo is a city that never sleeps with a nightlife like nowhere else. Photographer Daidō Moriyama has been capturing the city for decades, revealing the seedier side of Tokyo and showing the evolution of Japanese society.

The Seedy Tokyo of Daidō Moriyama

The East End of Paris is where artists and punks hang out and was also the setting for French writer Virginie Despentes acclaimed Vernon Subutex trilogy.

The Punk Paris of Virginie Despentes

Amid Provence’s olive groves and lavender fields stand ancient castles that dominate the landscape. It was in this timeless countryside that the Marquis de Sade wrote his most transgressive works on eroticism and libertinism that shocked 18th century society.

The Provence of the Marquis de Sade

With its ochre beaches and its Gallo-Roman remains, the Languedoc was a place full of inspiration for painter Gustave Courbet. The South of France, which he painted with realism, became for him a vast open-air workshop.

the Languedoc was a place full of inspiration for painter Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet and the Open Horizons of the Languedoc

Once upon a time, there were strange little creatures, somewhere between trolls and hippos, that inhabited a quiet green valley in Finland. The Moomins, created by the writer Tove Jansson, remain in the hearts of people the world over as an ode to family and childhood.

Tove Jansson and the Moomins

In a rural setting just to the north of Paris, Claude Monet made his home and created some of his best-known works, including his famous water lilies.

Giverny: Claude Monet's Water Lilies

Northwest of Paris, behind wheat fields and windswept plains, is the picturesque village of Auvers-sur-Oise, which depends on agriculture and tourism. At the end of the 19th century the painter Vincent van Gogh came to the village and spent the last few weeks before his death there. Despite his anguish, he created numerous works here in which he immortalised the nature of the village.

At the end of the 19th century, Vincent van Gogh spent the last few weeks of his life at this village

Auvers-sur-Oise: Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Fields

The chain of the Pyrenees, on the border with Spain, was a stunning backdrop for writer and poet Edmond Rostand. He visited the area throughout his life. It's here that he got his inspiration for his poetry collection Les Musardises, the work that heralded a series of successes.

The chain of the Pyrenees, on the border with Spain, was a stunning backdrop for writer and poet Edmond Rostand

Edmond Rostand in the Pyrenees

At the beginning of the 20th century, five-year-old Albert Cohen arrived in Marseille. His family had fled a pogrom in Corfu, and France became his new home. The future writer spent much of his youth in the city. Cohen's autobiographical works, such as “My Mother's Book”, often talk of his childhood experiences of anti-Semitism, but the Mediterranean is also ubiquitous, taking on a metaphorical maternal role.

At the start of the 20th century, Albert Cohen arrived in Marseille. His family had fled a pogrom in Corfu

Albert Cohen's Escape to Marseille

South of the Loire estuary, Pornic has everything to offer: beautiful summer walks on its beaches, its port, and its castle. In the 19th century, the painter Auguste Renoir came to the town to rest, and it was here that he reconnected with the impressionist painting of his early career.

It was at Pornic that Auguste Renoir reconnected with the impressionist painting of his early career

Renoir's Brittany

In the southwest of France, Pyrenees make a masterful setting appropriate for a literary giant. Victor Hugo was enchanted by them. In 1843, the writer traveled to the region with his mistress Juliette Drouet. Between the immensity of the ocean and the drama of the peaks, Victor Hugo was enchanted by the Pyrenees.

Between the immensity of the ocean and the drama of the peaks, Victor Hugo was enchanted by the Pyrenees

Victor Hugo: The Revelation of the Pyrenees

Albert Uderzo was one of the creators of Asterix, and spent part of World War II in Brittany. These Breton landscapes have become, under his pencil, the settings for one of the most famous comics in the world.

These Breton landscapes have become, under his pencil, the settings for one of the most famous comics in the world

Asterix's Brittany

The landscapes of Provence are integral to Paul Cézanne. It's here the artist gives himself over to his art, body and soul. He tirelessly strove to capture the essence and nuances of these beautiful landscapes. This commitment to his craft enabled Cézanne to revolutionise painting.

The landscapes of Provence are integral to Paul Cézanne and his art.

Cézanne, Master of Provence

Mysterious and wild landscapes stretch across the Jura. There are green plateaus and deep valleys with water running through them. It's in this are that Gustave Courbet grew up. The brilliant painter developed a unique pictorial technique here, depicting scenes from everyday life.

It is the wild landscapes of the Jura that shaped the eye of the artist Gustave Courbet

Ornans and Courbet's Origin of the World

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Spotlight on the Sztuki Museum's collection of radical contemporary art, which has flourished in an old textile factory in the heart of the industrial city of Lodz, dubbed the ‘Polish Manchester’.

Muzeum Sztuki, Łodz

From Industry to Art

As a show of solidarity, Europe is displaying the colours of Ukraine, a country whose desire for democracy and freedom is perceived as a danger by Vladimir Putin's Russia. The pursuit of freedom is the subject of this episode of Twist. A desire shared by artists from all over the world.

The Pursuit of Freedom

The pursuit of freedom is the subject of this episode of Twist. A desire shared by artists from all over the world.

Twist

Women artists and thinkers give their view on women's progress. Alice Schwarzer, French icon of the women's movement, talks to us about 4,000 years of patriarchy and why women are still there are too nice. Viennese choreographer Florentina Holzinger doesn't give a damn about body norms and classic images of women. María Hesse, an author from Madrid, explores female sexuality.

Women artists and thinkers give their view on women's progress

Women's Rights in 2022: Progress or Backslide?

In the southern French town of Arles, the Luma Foundation, created by Swiss billionaire Maja Hoffmann, has transformed former railway workshops into an artistic and cultural space. The inclusion of a glittering 56-metre high tower by Frank Gehry divides opinion.

The Luma Arles

In the southern French town of Arles, the Luma Foundation, created by Swiss billionaire Maja Hoffmann, has transformed former railway workshops into an artistic and cultural space.

A look at the tormented life of Clara Haskil (1895-1960), and the dazzling purity and fluidity of her unique sound. Her 10 year professional career was short but disproportionately influential.

The Magic of Interpretation

A look at the tormented life of Clara Haskil (1895-1960)

Clara Haskil

In Belgium, the former colliery site of Grand-Hornu is now home to a remarkable museum of contemporary art, which brings together the history of the industrial complex with works of art.

MACS in Grand-Hornu, Belgium

The Falckenberg Collection is one of the top-class private art collections in Europe, located in the Phoenix AG factory buildings in Hamburg. More than 2,000 works of contemporary art are on display and it's a who's who of contemporary art, including: Daniel Richter, Jonathan Meese, Monica Bonvicini and Katharina Sieverding.

The Falckenberg Collection in Hamburg

The Falckenberg Collection is one of the top-class private art collections in Europe.

An author once described this work as a portrait of a woman done by a painter who had forgotten to paint the feet, legs, thighs, stomach, hips, chest, hands, arms, shoulders, neck and head. 

The Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet

Look but Don't Touch

With Estonia celebrating 30 years of independence this year, TWIST goes to Tallinn to discover the city’s cultural scene. Featuring writer Sofi Oksanen, artists Flo Kasearu and Timo Toots, the Estonian Voices ensemble and rapper Tommy Cash

Estonia: Young, Digital, Provocative

With Estonia celebrating 30 years of independence this year, TWIST goes to Tallinn to discover the city’s cultural scene.

TWIST

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Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

A portrait of the Chinese president giving an unprecedented insight into his politics and showing how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

The New World of Xi Jinping

After two months of fighting, the Russian troops had their advance towards the West blocked by fierce Ukrainian resistance. Forced to leave the suburbs of Kyiv, the occupying army left behind mass graves and horrific accounts of rape and abuse in their wake. Russia is now turning its efforts to the Dobas and the coastline along the Sea of ​​Azov. In Kyiv, the return of spring is also the return of many residents who had fled.

 In Kyiv, the return of spring is also the return of many residents who had fled

Ukraine: Kyiv in Spring

The Maginot Line is a giant: Thousands of underground bunkers and concrete defences lining the French border, from Belgium to the Mediterranean. In its time it was celebrated as a technical masterpiece and thought to be impregnable, today it also stands for the trauma of the French defeat in 1940. The documentary looks at a military construction that is as fascinating as it is controversial.

France's Defensive Barrier

Thought to be impregnable, the French defensive barrier did not halt the German invasion in 1940.

The Maginot Line

The literary source for Richard Strauss’s opera immortalizing the degeneracy of Herodes Antipas, King of Judea, and his step-daughter Salome, was supplied by Oscar Wilde. It tells of Herodes, who is keeping the prophet Jochanaan captive inside a cistern. Salome tries to seduce him and on being rebuffed, forces her stepfather to serve her the prophet’s head on a silver platter.

Directed by Christof Loy in Helsinki

Rejected by the prophet Jochanaan, Salome forces her abusive stepfather to exact revenge.

Richard Strauss: Salome

Far away from the South Korean capital of Seoul is the Buddhist Gameunsa Temple. Three nuns live, pray and cook together here as they preserve the knowledge of centuries-old temple cuisine. The abbess of this small monastery is the charismatic Wookwan Sunim, revered in Asia as one of the best cooks in the world.

South Korea: Magic Temple Food

Far away from the South Korean metropolis of Seoul is the Buddhist Gameunsa Temple where three nuns live, pray and cook together 

Geo Reportage

Lockdowns, crop failures due to climate change and the war in Ukraine are all to blame for soaring prices around the world.

Geopolitics of Inflation

Mapping the World Essentials

The Supreme Court is now made of a majority of ultra-conservative judges since President Trump's term in office. The court now looks set to overturn the Roe v Wade case which gave women the constitutional right to have an abortion if they so wish or need. This worrying step backwards for women's rights doesn't mean women won't have abortions. It means they'll die trying.

Abortion: A Threatened Right

This worrying step backwards doesn't mean women won't have abortions. It means they'll die trying

Mapping the World

ARTE Concert Festival welcomes a legend, Damon Albarn. He performs his new album live: The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows.

ARTE Concert Festival 2021

ARTE Concert Festival welcomes a legend, Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn

Three Japanese men have fallen under the charms of high school student Rinko, a character from the video game Love Plus. The game finally leads them to the seaside resort of Atami, where the virtual world and real life collides.

Three Japanese men have fallen under the charms of high school student Rinko, a character from the video game Love Plus

Petit ami parfait

On May 9, Russia celebrated its victory day without a victory in Ukraine. Instead, President Putin further pushed the narrative of Russian victimhood, despite the fact that Moscow, not Kyiv, is the agressor. As the battle continues to rage, we take a look at Ukraine before and after the conflict.

Ukraine, Before and After the War

As the battle continues to rage, we take a look at Ukraine before and after the conflict

In 2020, for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Philippe Jordan and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra recreated the mythical evening of December 22 1808, when  the composer presented his Sixth Symphony, also known as his Pastoral.

Philippe Jordan recreates the evening of December 22, 1808, when Beethoven presented his Pastoral symphony

Philippe Jordan Conducts Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony

An investigation into a little-known story from the Second World War. Having planned and executed their mass murders, the Nazis meticulously eliminated traces of their crimes against humanity between 1942 and 1944: The so-called Operation 1005.

How the Nazis Covered up their Crimes

The Nazis meticulously eliminated traces of their crimes against humanity between 1942 and 1944: The so-called Operation 1005.

Operation 1005

Ordinary Ukrainian citizens are preparing to resist the Russian invader by joining the army and helping the resistance in any way they can.

Ukraine: Resisting the Agressor

ARTE Reportage

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought the people of Kyiv together like nothing else. Calling on the spirit of the Maidan Revolution of 2014, they are ready to resist.

Ukraine: Maïdan Spirit

A breakaway region of Moldova that is not recognised internationally, Transnistria is largely pro-Russian. The war in Ukraine has awakened fears that Russia will try to annex the region.

Moldova: Transnistria and Russia

Thirty years after the end of apartheid, South Africa has still not overcome its many problems: Endemic violence, economic and racial inequalities, state corruption. However, the rainbow nation has a lot to offer: tourism, natural resources and a leadership role on the African continent.

South Africa and its Demons

Live from the Teatro Real in Madrid, an adaptation of Prokofiev’s flamboyant masterpiece by the ever-radical Calixto Bieito.

An adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev’s flamboyant masterpiece by radical director Calixto Bieito.

Prokofiev’s "The Fiery Angel" at the Teatro Real in Madrid

We will be able to upgrade our brains with a microchip, blurring the boundaries between man and machine in a way that we've never seen before. But what will happen to us when our computers become smarter than we are? Helen Fares is on a mission to test the limits of the human brain.

Homo Digitalis

Helen Fares is on a mission to test the limits of the human brain

The Upgraded Brain

Since its invention in the 19th century, the bicycle has allowed Western women to move around independently. Today, it is the turn of women in Arab countries to discover its power. Though at first glance innocuous and common, the bicycle is unexpectedly feminist.

The Freedom to Cycle

Though at first glance innocuous and common, the bicycle is unexpectedly feminist

Volver - Almodóvar Returns to La Mancha

Inspiring Places