William Klein
William Klein (April 19, 1926 – September 10, 2022) was a photographer and filmmaker noted to for his ironic approach to both media and his extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography. Trained as a painter, Klein studied under Fernand Léger and found early success with exhibitions of his work. However, he soon moved on to photography and achieved widespread fame as a fashion photographer for Vogue and for his photo essays on various cities. Despite having no training as a photographer, Klein won the Prix Nadar in 1957 for New York, a book of photographs taken during a brief return to his hometown in 1954. Klein's work was considered revolutionary for its "ambivalent and ironic approach to the world of fashion", its "uncompromising rejection of the then prevailing rules of photography" and for his extensive use of wide-angle and telephoto lenses, natural lighting and motion blur. Klein tends to be cited in photography books along with Robert Frank as among the fathers of street photography, one of those mixed compliments that classifies a man who is hard to classify. The world of fashion would become the subject for Klein's first feature film, Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, which, like his other two fiction features, Mr. Freedom and Le Couple Témoin, is a satire. Klein directed numerous short and feature-length documentaries and produced over 250 television commercials. Though American by birth, Klein lived ...
La Jetée
(1962)
A man is sent back and forth and in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a perpetual ... (more)
A man is sent back and forth and in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a perpetual ... (more)
The French
(1982)
Roland-Garros in 1981 : For the very first time, a documentary team is allowed to shoot sequences in the backstage of the French Open of tennis of Roland Garros. William Klein's camera takes us on the heels of the greatest players of the time: Björn Borg, Jimmy ... (more)
Roland-Garros in 1981 : For the very first time, a documentary team is allowed to shoot sequences in the backstage of the French Open of tennis of Roland Garros. William Klein's camera takes us on the heels of the greatest players of the time: Björn Borg, Jimmy ... (more)
The Panafrican Festival in Algiers (1969)
Festival panafricain d'Alger is a documentary by William Klein of the music and dance festival held 40 years ago in the streets and in venues all across Algiers. Klein follows the preparations, the rehearsals, the concerts… He blends images of interviews made to ... (more)
Festival panafricain d'Alger is a documentary by William Klein of the music and dance festival held 40 years ago in the streets and in venues all across Algiers. Klein follows the preparations, the rehearsals, the concerts… He blends images of interviews made to ... (more)
Messiah (1999)
Filmmaker William Klein takes on Handel’s Messiah and has created a concert film that mixes the sacred with the profane. Performed in its entirety, the oratorio provides a narrative of Christ’s nativity, passion and resurrection juxtaposed against images of ... (more)
Filmmaker William Klein takes on Handel’s Messiah and has created a concert film that mixes the sacred with the profane. Performed in its entirety, the oratorio provides a narrative of Christ’s nativity, passion and resurrection juxtaposed against images of ... (more)
The Little Richard Story (1980)
Klein goes on the hunt for Little Richard, the legendary ‘Architect of Rock and Roll’, who quit show business in 1957 at the height of his fame to become an evangelist. Richard was then lured back to secular music in the 1960s and 70s, but the excesses of stardom ... (more)
Klein goes on the hunt for Little Richard, the legendary ‘Architect of Rock and Roll’, who quit show business in 1957 at the height of his fame to become an evangelist. Richard was then lured back to secular music in the 1960s and 70s, but the excesses of stardom ... (more)
The Model Couple
(1977)
In 1977 France, the Ministry of the Future chooses two “normal,” white, middle-class citizens, Claudine and Jean-Michel, for a national experiment. They will be monitored and displayed on television for six months in a model apartment outfitted with ... (more)
In 1977 France, the Ministry of the Future chooses two “normal,” white, middle-class citizens, Claudine and Jean-Michel, for a national experiment. They will be monitored and displayed on television for six months in a model apartment outfitted with ... (more)
Far from Vietnam
(1967)
In seven different parts, Godard, Ivens, Klein, Lelouch, Marker, Resnais, and Varda show their sympathy for the North-Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. (more)
In seven different parts, Godard, Ivens, Klein, Lelouch, Marker, Resnais, and Varda show their sympathy for the North-Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. (more)
Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?
(1966)
In this excoriating satire of the fashion industry, Polly Maggoo is a 20-year-old Brooklyn-born fashion model in Paris, on the runway at the big shows where magazine editor Ms. Maxwell is the reigning opinion maker. The ridiculous passes for sublime. Polly becomes ... (more)
In this excoriating satire of the fashion industry, Polly Maggoo is a 20-year-old Brooklyn-born fashion model in Paris, on the runway at the big shows where magazine editor Ms. Maxwell is the reigning opinion maker. The ridiculous passes for sublime. Polly becomes ... (more)
Mr. Freedom
(1969)
Mr. Freedom, a bellowing good-ol'-boy superhero decked out in copious football padding, jets to France to cut off a Commie invasion from Switzerland. A destructive, arrogant patriot in tight pants, Freedom joins forces with Marie Madeleine to combat lefty ... (more)
Mr. Freedom, a bellowing good-ol'-boy superhero decked out in copious football padding, jets to France to cut off a Commie invasion from Switzerland. A destructive, arrogant patriot in tight pants, Freedom joins forces with Marie Madeleine to combat lefty ... (more)
Muhammad Ali: The Greatest (1974)
Universally accepted as a true icon of the 20th century, Muhammad Ali’s phenomenal achievements spanned sport, politics and religion. One man – photographer William Klein had comprehensive access to the events that shaped Ali’s legend. In 1964, the young ... (more)
Universally accepted as a true icon of the 20th century, Muhammad Ali’s phenomenal achievements spanned sport, politics and religion. One man – photographer William Klein had comprehensive access to the events that shaped Ali’s legend. In 1964, the young ... (more)
Mode in France (1985)
Highlighting the work of emerging fashion world all-stars like Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Paul Gaultier and agnès b., Klein surveys the state of women’s fashion in the 1980s with this eccentric hybrid documentary scored by Serge Gainsbourg. (more)
Highlighting the work of emerging fashion world all-stars like Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Paul Gaultier and agnès b., Klein surveys the state of women’s fashion in the 1980s with this eccentric hybrid documentary scored by Serge Gainsbourg. (more)
Cassius le grand (1964)
In and Out of Fashion (1998)
The legendary photographer William Klein has designed this fascinating book on fashion photography, with a selection of images from throughout his career, including material from his films. Though Klein claims roots in areas as diverse as painting, street ... (more)
The legendary photographer William Klein has designed this fascinating book on fashion photography, with a selection of images from throughout his career, including material from his films. Though Klein claims roots in areas as diverse as painting, street ... (more)
Broadway by Light
(1958)
William Klein’s first film is an impressionistic study of late-fifties Broadway, an ominous city-symphony lit by bright flickering light. Orson Welles would delcare it "the first film I've seen in which colour was absolutely necessary". (more)
William Klein’s first film is an impressionistic study of late-fifties Broadway, an ominous city-symphony lit by bright flickering light. Orson Welles would delcare it "the first film I've seen in which colour was absolutely necessary". (more)
May Days (1978)
Filmmaker William Klein documents the Paris student riots that occurred in May of 1968. (more)
Filmmaker William Klein documents the Paris student riots that occurred in May of 1968. (more)
Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther
(1970)
The portrait of Eldridge Cleaver, the "Minister of Information" for the Black Panthers movement, in exile in Algiers. (more)
The portrait of Eldridge Cleaver, the "Minister of Information" for the Black Panthers movement, in exile in Algiers. (more)
Delphine Seyrig, portrait d'une comète (2000)
Delphine Seyrig, an extraordinary woman and actress, died on October 15, 1990. From "Last Year at Marienbad" by Alain Resnais to "India Song" by Marguerite Duras, she played in 34 films for cinema, 13 films for television and 33 plays. Jacqueline Veuve, filmmaker ... (more)
Delphine Seyrig, an extraordinary woman and actress, died on October 15, 1990. From "Last Year at Marienbad" by Alain Resnais to "India Song" by Marguerite Duras, she played in 34 films for cinema, 13 films for television and 33 plays. Jacqueline Veuve, filmmaker ... (more)
記録 / Movie In London, Daido Moriyama (2013)
Kiroku(RECORD)| Movie in LONDON, DAIDO MORIYAMA” is a Documentary Film about the acclaimed photographer Daido Moriyama's journey through his own legendary personal photo magazine “Kiroku”. (more)
Kiroku(RECORD)| Movie in LONDON, DAIDO MORIYAMA” is a Documentary Film about the acclaimed photographer Daido Moriyama's journey through his own legendary personal photo magazine “Kiroku”. (more)
The King of Ads, Part 2 (1993)
Part II of a compilation movie featuring European T.V. commercials directed by a variety of well-known directors from across Europe and the U.S. Compiled and produced by Jean-Marie Boursicot. (more)
Part II of a compilation movie featuring European T.V. commercials directed by a variety of well-known directors from across Europe and the U.S. Compiled and produced by Jean-Marie Boursicot. (more)