Natan

"Paul Duane and David Cairns [have unearthed] an extraordinary, largely forgotten story and invested it with eccentric energy in this superb documentary.” – Irish Times

Bernard Natan is considered by some to be one of the fathers of French cinema. He dominated the French film industry during the 1920s and 1930s and made the renowned Pathé film company a success and produced Le Misérables and Joan of Arc. So how is it that he has been all but forgotten?

Natan is an investigation into an intriguing and complicated character who, along with commercially successful and lauded films to his name, also had an alleged career in early gay and BDSM pornographic movies. This documentary finally brings the truth to light by digging up an extraordinary tale that writes Natan back into the history of European cinema. It also asks what, after imprisonment and death, is left of a person but their reputation? And how does what is believed to be the truth about a person inform their legacy?