History Documentary hosted by Dana Westberg, published by Arte in 2012 - English narration
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"Images tell stories, we tell the stories of images." Mysteries in the archives, ten investigations into ten events of the twentieth century that have marked our memory and our imagination. In the French series, we learn about the historical events of the 20th century by closely investigating archive films. Who is in the picture, who is missing? Why was the camera pointed right here? Who is sitting next to whom?
By looking at the pictures again and more closely, the series reveals how history has been processed, told and manipulated in the pictures. Each image is carefully studied and analyzed until its secrets are revealed. The series explores the power of pictures to tell otherwise. It raises the question: do we see what we know or can we know more with the help of the image?
"Mysteries in the Archives" is a collection aiming to uncover and rediscover known or unpublished images that bear witness to our history. The audiovisual document becomes a piece of evidence that it is up to us to question, to make people talk. The image is scrutinized, dissected, and often, Mysteries in the Archives takes our gaze away from what the camera operator had seen or expected. Each episode is constructed as an investigation. Some are about cheerful and amusing topics, others are about more solemn, momentous events.
Serge Viallet, a true detective of the image, reveals a multitude of new elements and significant anecdotes hidden behind the story as it was shown to us in cinemas and then on television. Meticulous investigations are undertaken - film is rummaged, sifted through and sorted, examined frame by frame and analyzed until it finally reveals its secrets. This collection includes all 10 episodes of season 3.
Series idea & director Serge Viallet ; A Co-Production of ARTE France and INA-Institut National de l'Audiovisuel in Association with YLE Teema and RTSI-Televisione Svizzera
6) 1945: Secret Meetings in Yalta
We are in February1945 on the southernmost tip of Ukraine, the Crimean Peninsula. War is still raging in Europe. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Franklin Roosevelt left London and Washington D.C. in the greatest secrecy. They go to a summit meeting with Joseph Stalin, the man at the head of the USSR. In a palace near the seaside resort of Yalta, the three heads of state allied against Nazi Germany discuss how to end the war and how to prepare for the time that follows. Before one of the last talks, the politicians pose with big smiles for photographers and cameramen to capture this moment of - at least officially - perfect unity forever.
But were they really able to overcome their different interests and come to an agreement? Why did they decide to have a secret meeting in the furthest corner of Europe, where the press was not allowed? And then who were the reporters whose pictures from Crimea are the only footage of the so-called "Yalta Conference"?
